Introduction: Be a Lunch Hero
This is a simple way to amaze your kids at lunch time and get them excited about eating. A little creativity will make you a hero in the kitchen or by the BBQ.
Also see how to be a breakfast hero
It all starts with simple hot dogs.
Please check out my other instructables and I also have a diy podcast called mechanicalmashup.tv
Step 1: The Cuts
Everyone knows that when you cook a hot dog, it swells up. Enough swelling and it splits open. We can control these splits by making our own cuts through the skin.
I would advise caution in holding the knife as I do. You could use an exacto knife or wrap a bit of masking tape around some of the blade to protect your hand.
Experiment with the depths of the cuts as the deeper cuts equal more splitting
Step 2: Before Cooking
Here are some examples of designs you could try. The last one is my favorite but I have to admit the idea is not mine (It came from a friend) The octopus only has four legs so it is really a quadropus but if you try to cut 8 legs I find they curl too much and don't look good.
Step 3: Cooked
Here they all are ready to eat. We don't normally hide them in buns but who am I to tell you how to eat a hot dog?
Step 4: The Payoff
This is why I do it!
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54 Comments
16 years ago on Introduction
Does this work for boiling them?
Reply 16 years ago on Introduction
I have not tried boiling or microwaving them. I imagine boiling would work because they still split. - Let us know if you try it.
Reply 16 years ago on Introduction
Boiling works great for the octopus :D It makes the legs/arms extra curly
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
True, I was going to ask about whether or not you could grill the octopus, it doesn't look like you could that well. Of course, you could stand it up in the microwave.
16 years ago on Introduction
Awsome. though when I eat hotdogs, or smell them, I get lightheaded and dizzy. (I'm no vegitarian, I love my meat) They don't look right either.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
"I'm no vegetarian, I love my meat" I love that comment, though I'm not too sure if Hot Dogs actually count as meat. Anything that can survive inside of a can for 3 years without spoiling was never alive, I reckon.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
if you look at the ingredients of a hotdog it says, amongst many artificial things, "mechanically recovered chicken" why you would give that to your kids i have no idea. fyi i hate hotdogs too. i prefer normal sausages, or as we call them in britain, bangers.
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
"Mechanically recovered chicken." I don't even know what the heck that is. I also hate the processed ones. The real kind with the natural casing is the good stuff!
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
I think it means they use a machine to use every last bit of the chiken like tthe brain and claws and stuff
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
omg Cyborgk chinkins lol
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
"mechanically recovered chicken" ... Robot Chicken?
Reply 16 years ago on Introduction
by that "they don't look right" I mean hotdogs in general. not your modified ones, they look great. (octopus is the best) here's an idea, serve the octopus with corn "eggs"
Reply 16 years ago on Introduction
you could make the hotdog a squid, put corn "eggs" like you said, and put kethcup "ink" :D
Reply 16 years ago on Introduction
Lol, yea.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
ooh, and maybe make an old crimpled hotdog guy with a candy-cane cane :)
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
LOL!!!
15 years ago on Step 1
You can get special 'weaner cutters' used in bento boxes (from Jlist.com) which you put the sausage in and it will cut it into a shape for you like an octopus or a penguin! then kids can help cut then without the danger of them cutting their fingers off with a knife :D
15 years ago on Introduction
this works well for "NotDogs" vege sausages too!
15 years ago on Step 4
hahaha cutest reactions
15 years ago on Introduction
man! if i was a kid i would rather be scared then surprised my those demon like four legged,evil smiling food...haha