Mom used to cook the dogs dry in a cast-iron skillet, but she'd also throw buttered buns in the pan, so there was some additional grease. Noms, though (as far as hot dogs are noms - I enjoy them, but only so much).

For mac & cheese I'd much rather use kielbasa or something similar than hot dogs.

My mom put sliced up hot dogs in lentil soup. Now, I use kielbasa for a slighty more spicy yumminess.

Microwave. If I'm going to the trouble of grilling, I'm using something better.

My mom put hot dogs in split pea soup. We called it "hot dog soup."

Brenda, how do you keep them from exploding?

My mom would always cut up hot dogs, fry the pieces a little bit, and then scramble eggs with them. It might be objectively disgusting, but I love it because it was yummy kid food.

Is the term frying dependent on there being grease in the pan? It is, right? Then you hot dog friers are disgusting people, who should be heavily penalised for your willful perversions.

I embrace my perversions. They are warm and buttery.

Brenda, how do you keep them from exploding?

Not Brenda, but I poke holes in them with a fork. It lets the steam escape.

I am finding this conversation a bit surreal, but I only eat hot dogs under duress. My kids like them, though. FTR I think they should be grilled or boiled, although I'm not above nuking them for 20 or 30 seconds before I feed them to the kids.

You know, until just now I never realized I need a glowing angler fish tricycle....

Glowing Angler Fish Tricycles

It might be objectively disgusting, but I love it because it was yummy kid food.

It is objectively delicious! Never had it 'til I was an adult, so that's something like an objective opinion.

Then again, I am oddly fond of Spam as an occasional treat. So.

My parents had some kind of UFO looking thing that would cook the hot dogs on spindles rotisserie style and also heated the buns somehow, though I forget how that worked. I come by my love of kitchen gadgetry honestly.