Our family has two or three of these when I was little (early 60's), We, me and my three brothers, loved them. We kept Hormel, and Oscar Meyer in business with all the hot dogs we ate. The only rule was clean it after you use it. The hot dog grease on the points got rancid if you didn't. Our parents loved it because they didn't have to cook. The kids could do it by themselves. The world was so simple back then. People weren't afraid of their own shadow.
Excellent comments. In class we do measure the resistance; regular hot dogs work best, the low fat ones don't. We apply that resistance to Ohm's Law with the supply voltage of 120V. Then we can calculate the current going through the hot dog. We apply that to Watt's Law and usually arrive at a 250 Watt weenie. Great for demonstrating how a little current can cook tissue. My students are always a little safer around electricity after this lab.
Excellent question, goodhumorwagon. They taste fine, except for a slightly burned taste on the ends. My class has repeated this demonstration many times and I can now suggest that if you intend to consume the weenie, to use the standard ball park type, and not any of the leaner types. The regular type of weenie cooks better because of the fat content. It's also easier to test resistance in one that's not so dry.
This is SO funny! I was born in 1961 and my mom always used one of these for hot dogs. When I had kids my oldest (who is now 23) freaked out on it and called it "Hot dog electrocution" when my mom would cook hot dogs on it. Thanks for the laughs!
I only remember these being big in the mid-to-late 1970s! I didn't know they were around so early. To me, they also taste fine, if you don't mind an electrical taste on the ends. I still have one that's packed away in my garage, and still works great.
I would have had concerns about whether or not the metal of this appliance could transfer into the food at the atomic level via electrolysis. Then again, electrolysis would be a problem only if this appliance operated on DC current, where current would flow in one direction and could carry metal atoms from one place towards the other through the food. As this appliance operates on AC current, the AC sine would inhibit electrolysis since the cathode and anode are changing positions, 60 times a second in this case.
I remember those from my childhood, at the 1st house I grew up in from which we moved in 1963 so ours was probably c. 1961-62. The scent of the hot dogs cooking on that thing was a very distinctive one which I did not re-experience until 2 decades later when I started working in an operating room and smelled human tissue being cauterized by a surgeon using a Bovie electrocauterizer. To this day, I salivate whenever a surgeon makes the first cautery with a Bovie. I wonder if this could get UL approval in this day and age.
Those things were terrible! We had that in the 70's. While it would 'cook', you'd see sparks inside and then when you ate them, there was this weird 'electric' taste to the hot dogs.
I used to draw faces on my hot dawgs and torture them. I used to stop the process halfway through to interrogate them. It was fun when I was a kid. When they didn't talk I sentenced them to death!.
Our family has two or three of these when I was little (early 60's), We, me and my three brothers, loved them. We kept Hormel, and Oscar Meyer in business with all the hot dogs we ate. The only rule was clean it after you use it. The hot dog grease on the points got rancid if you didn't. Our parents loved it because they didn't have to cook. The kids could do it by themselves. The world was so simple back then. People weren't afraid of their own shadow.
Our family has two or three of these when I was little (early 60's), We, me and my three brothers, loved them. We kept Hormel, and Oscar Meyer in business with all the hot dogs we ate. The only rule was clean it after you use it. The hot dog grease on the points got rancid if you didn't. Our parents loved it because they didn't have to cook. The kids could do it by themselves. The world was so simple back then. People weren't afraid of their own shadow.
That thing works pretty good. Better than any hot dog cooker made today. Very simple design but it works well.
Excellent comments. In class we do measure the resistance; regular hot dogs work best, the low fat ones don't. We apply that resistance to Ohm's Law with the supply voltage of 120V. Then we can calculate the current going through the hot dog. We apply that to Watt's Law and usually arrive at a 250 Watt weenie. Great for demonstrating how a little current can cook tissue. My students are always a little safer around electricity after this lab.
And they always changed the hotdogs texture to something gritty.
Excellent question, goodhumorwagon. They taste fine, except for a slightly burned taste on the ends. My class has repeated this demonstration many times and I can now suggest that if you intend to consume the weenie, to use the standard ball park type, and not any of the leaner types. The regular type of weenie cooks better because of the fat content. It's also easier to test resistance in one that's not so dry.
We made our own with 2 nails into a 2x4. Wire it up & plug into 120VAC. It did a good job cooking hot dogs.
This is SO funny! I was born in 1961 and my mom always used one of these for hot dogs. When I had kids my oldest (who is now 23) freaked out on it and called it "Hot dog electrocution" when my mom would cook hot dogs on it. Thanks for the laughs!
I only remember these being big in the mid-to-late 1970s! I didn't know they were around so early. To me, they also taste fine, if you don't mind an electrical taste on the ends. I still have one that's packed away in my garage, and still works great.
I wonder if you could hook an ohm meter to the hot dog and measure its resistance. Then you could calculate how much current it was drawing.
I had one in college in the 70's, sold alot of hot dogs. Traded hot dogs for whatever too.
Good points. I don't think Presto intended for this to be anything more than a novelty impulse buy. The cooked hot dogs do taste a little strange.
I heard tales of this thing from my dad. The legends are true
A strange lost technology from long ago...
I would have had concerns about whether or not the metal of this appliance could transfer into the food at the atomic level via electrolysis.
Then again, electrolysis would be a problem only if this appliance operated on DC current, where current would flow in one direction and could carry metal atoms from one place towards the other through the food.
As this appliance operates on AC current, the AC sine would inhibit electrolysis since the cathode and anode are changing positions, 60 times a second in this case.
the contact points, were of a zinc alloy. the ends did taste a little off.
I remember those from my childhood, at the 1st house I grew up in from which we moved in 1963 so ours was probably c. 1961-62. The scent of the hot dogs cooking on that thing was a very distinctive one which I did not re-experience until 2 decades later when I started working in an operating room and smelled human tissue being cauterized by a surgeon using a Bovie electrocauterizer. To this day, I salivate whenever a surgeon makes the first cautery with a Bovie. I wonder if this could get UL approval in this day and age.
This is hauntingly accurate to my own recollection of this capital punishment hotdog cooker.
So if it uses 250 Watts, it's only a couple of amps correct?
I might have to build one of these with my arc welder.... 250 amp weenie
If you use this on a GFI protected outlet there should be no danger to you at all. I have one for sale on ebay if you want to go back to the 60's
Those things were terrible! We had that in the 70's. While it would 'cook', you'd see sparks inside and then when you ate them, there was this weird 'electric' taste to the hot dogs.
I used to draw faces on my hot dawgs and torture them. I used to stop the process halfway through to interrogate them. It was fun when I was a kid. When they didn't talk I sentenced them to death!.
What did that taste like, 120 VAC 60Hz?
+coondogtheman1234 OK except for the ends. The spots where the spikes made the electrical connection were black and burned.
My younger students look at that contraption and shake their heads with pity for my generation.
how did it taste dude? looks gross.
Our family has two or three of these when I was little (early 60's), We, me and my three brothers, loved them. We kept Hormel, and Oscar Meyer in business with all the hot dogs we ate. The only rule was clean it after you use it. The hot dog grease on the points got rancid if you didn't. Our parents loved it because they didn't have to cook. The kids could do it by themselves. The world was so simple back then. People weren't afraid of their own shadow.