Birthday dinner with the family: Stuffed Crown Roast of Frankfurters with Pineapple and Nut Stuffing

Ok, perhaps serving this for dinner on my sisters birthday wasn't the best present she received, but it was interesting...kind of...maybe :) I do think my picture of the Crown is a wee bit more appetizing than the original, sorry...but those hotdogs/sausages just look nasty in black and white!

Hahah, the recipe states:  "A crown roast of wieners is an ideal solution for guest problems when the budget is low."  I can pretty much guess the family is going to rethink coming over for dinner again :) So...yes, it is an ideal solution for guests problems!

The stuffed crown is fairly simple, and might go over well for kids at a party or BBQ, but really, not so much for adults.  The original recipe calls for sauerkraut, but since they also add other options you can use, I chose stuffing. I picked a Pineapple and Nut stuffing from the same book - Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook - 1950.

Perhaps if I had chose sausages over beef wieners it might of been better too.  Ahh well, it's not about making the best food, but making what is in the cookbook :)  I'll keep telling myself that!

I cut the hotdogs in half since there was no way 4 of us would eat 20 or so hotdogs and figured it would be more stable that way too.

I carefully ran the thread through the bottom of the hotdogs and then another line through the top part and then pulled them all fairly tight in a row. Thread goes through hotdogs very easily, but they feel delicate, like the thread will tear through if you aren't careful.

It was easier to bundle them all up and then stand them upright before trying to stand them in a circle. The cut part of the hotdog definitely made them more stable for standing on end.  Building the crown was the best part of it,  truly an epic creation! ;)

Once they were all set in a circle, I tied the strings together to keep them a bit more in shape.

At this point, I carefully added the stuffing and then stretched out a piece of bacon so it would wrap around the entire crown roast.  It looks fairly impressive for just hotdogs and stuffing. I was a wee bit proud of that...but ... coming out of the oven a few of the hotdogs did split off the thread, so one side was sadly sagging.

I put a little tinfoil tent over the stuffing so it wouldn't dry out too much. It still ended up being dry, but I'm pretty sure that was the stuffing recipe's fault and not the cooking.

Overall, it tasted like hotdogs with dry stuffing with it. Nothing spectacular at all. Choosing a hotdog/sausage product that tastes good just baked in the oven would probably help this beauty improve in flavour too :)

As an extra, due to worry over people going hungry, I made a side dish of potatoes - Potato Triumph!

Sadly, I didn't get around to doing the baked banana's - the weather here has been hot! Having the oven on for the stuffing and Crown Roast was long enough. Instead I tossed a bunch of frozen bananas in a food processor and whipped them up. YUM! Light and airy :)

Stuffed Crown Roast of Frankfurters

Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook 1950 (pg 387)

INGREDIENTS

• 20 Frankfurters
• 2 cups cooked Sauerkraut

DIRECTIONS

1. Arrange frankfurters side by side, with curved side up.
2. Using large needle and string, sew through all the frankfurters 1/2 inch from the bottom and 1/2 inch from the top.
3. Tie ends of the top string together, bringing first and last frankfurter of the row together.
4. Repeat with bottom row.
5. Stand frankfurters on end to form a crown. (Concave side should be out)
6. Fill center of crown with sauerkraut.
7. Bake filled crown in moderate oven (375 F) about 20 minutes. 

Serves 10

Fill crown with stuffing, creamed cabbage, creamed cauliflower or Potato Balls instead of sauerkraut.