That little hot dog chart brought back good memories of my mission. I served in the New Hampshire Manchester Mission which covered Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and little slices of New York and Massachusetts. I ate a lot of hot dogs.

My first area was Plattsburgh, New York, which is about 30 minutes away from the Canadian border and right across Lake Champlain from Burlington, Vermont. Michigan hot dogs (we just called them Michigans) are huge there (or at least were when I was bangin'). Michigans are hot dogs with onions and meat sauce, which sounds awesome, but the thing is the meat sauce was always really bland. Michigans never really met their full potential, in my humble hot dog opinion. To my knowledge, Michigans are not eaten in Michigan.

Mid-coastal Maine was my next area (Brunswick). The hot dogs there were known for their firm red casings. We called them snappy dogs because they literally snapped when you bit into them. I loved those things so much. Maybe it's just because I was caught up in the hoopla of eating something different, but I really felt like those snappy red casings made so much of a difference.

Of course hot dog buns in New England are different than hot dog buns everywhere else. New England hot dog buns sit flat on the bottom and are split at the top, as opposed to regular hot dog buns which lay flat on one side and are slit down the side. Extra points if you butter both sides and fry 'em on both sides for a bit. Oooooh baby.

New England is the best.