How The Recipe For 100-Year-Old Fenway Frank Changed

Baseball flourishes on tradition. Think of those grainy, black-and-white videos of legendary batters leaping in the air to celebrate as the announcer’s voice crackles. For long-time fans, a game is as much about the park as the action on the field. That is why, to celebrate its 100th anniversary, the Boston Red Sox searched high and low to find a new purveyor for that ballpark staple: the hot dog.

Fenway has the Fenway Frank, a classic brownish-red tube of pork and beef slapped on a New England roll – steamed white bread. Accoutrements? Just mustard, please (after all, this is New England, not Chicago). As the oldest park in the league, the 106-year-old Fenway Park was revamped by Red Sox officials in 2009. That same year, plans were underway to revamp another icon: the Fenway Frank. For decades, the same company had made the hot dog in the image of those served at baseball games in the late 1800s: mild, unoffending and with few toppings.
Tastes had changed. The explosion of interest in the hot dog as a culinary experiment encouraged bold flavors and new pairings: hot dogs with kobe beef; hot dogs with pickled red cabbage; on a pretzel bun; hugged with bacon. The hot dog was a blank canvas.

The surge in hot dog gourmets heaped pressure on even the most iconic of staples. So, in 2009, the Red Sox brought in a new, local company, Kayem, to overhaul its dog.

Work began in earnest. The company ran careful, secret taste tests to hone its creation – a part-beef, part-pork dog still mild but also meatier, with more garlic and smoke flavor (a blend of hickory and maple) than Fenway faithful had seen before.

Most Kayem employees were kept in the dark about the project, and only a select team was in on the plan. They tested some 30 different versions, tweaking lean cuts of meat and dialing in spices, as well as cooking techniques.

Kayem cools its dogs in a special process they say locks in the juicy flavor. While other ballparks grill or steam their hot dogs, Fenway boils them before a quick roast over a flame.

The numbers seem to back up the change. Even as Major League Baseball attendance slumps, the number of Fenway Franks still goes strong, with hundreds of thousands consumed each year.

Even as lobster poutine makes a splash in the concession stands at Fenway, the frank holds its place; it defeated every other Major League Baseball team’s hot dog and was voted the best by fans, according to a National Hot Dog & Sausage Council poll in 2017.

landscape with balloons floating in the air

KEEN TO EXPLORE THE WORLD?

Connect with like-minded people on our premium trips curated by local insiders and with care for the world

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.