Venezuelan street-style hot dogs: Perros Calientes Recipe (2024)

July 17, 2023July 4, 2023 by Enri

If you haven’t tried Venezuelan perros calientes, I must tell you: you’re missing something. Even more: your life won’t be completed until you enjoy the combinations of flavors we Venezuelans put in ourhot dogs, a.k.a. Venezuelan street-style hot dogs.

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For us, buns and hot dogs are pretty much the standard. What makes the difference and will tele transport you to the streets of Caracas, the city where I was born and raised, is the toppings.

Toppings: the classics

When it is about the toppings, the classics are:

• Minced raw onion (the ideal cut is brunoise.)
• Raw cabbage, finely chopped.
• Crispy potato sticks (the ones we call shoestring potato sticks), chopped. Some hot dog vendors process potato chips and use them as potato crumbs.
• Ketchup, yellow mustard, plus mayo (yes: we add mayonnaise to the classic Venezuelan hot dog.)

Venezuelan out-of-this-world toppings

We know nothing aboutsauerkraut or sweet pickles.But besides the above-mentioned typical toppings, we get creative and may add:

• Parmesan cheese
• Mozzarella cheese
• Bacon bits
• Avocado

In addition, we use all kinds of sauces and condiments. Some popular toppings aresalsa rosada(pink sauce,) tartar sauce, corn sauce, garlic sauce,salsa verde(green sauce,) and our flavorful guasacaca sauce. You name it!The thing is, with these Venezuelan street hot dogs, the more, the merrier. They have to be overloaded!

Caracas street-style hot dogs

I must confess, I’m not that extravagant. I’m happy with the classic toppings I learned to eat on the streets of Caracas. One of the best things during my teenage and early adult years was stopping at the hot dog cart in Plaza Venezuela.

Or, even better, at Filippo’s cart, located on a street corner in Plaza Francia and later close to Plaza La Castellana. Filippo Sanglibeni was an Italian immigrant. We all agree that with Filippo, the tradition of eating perros calienteson the streets of Caracas was born.

​Later, another iconic hot dog vendor came to the street food scene: Joao, a Portuguese immigrant with a cart in Las Mercedes. Soon, Joao’s clientele grew up so much that he became one of the first food trucks in Caracas, staying in one place for decades.

Perros calientes: perfect any time

Ourperroswere perfect as a rapid lunch, a snack, and even dinner! Of course, you could take them to go. But enjoying them while standing with other customers, asking forun perro(one hot dog) orotrocon todo(another one with everything), was so much fun.

Around the hot dog carts, we customers were all the same. Theperritoswere a unifying factor. It doesn’t matter if you are a student, a lawyer, or a secretary. We all maneuvered the same so we didn’t mess up our school uniforms or office attires with all those toppings. That was part of the experience. And it was fun too!

So, when visiting Caracas, you must experience these unique, flavorful, and overloaded hot dogs.

Tips to make the best Venezuelan-style perros calientes

You can also succeed at home recreating the icon of Venezuelan street food at home, following these tips:

1. In Venezuela, the sausages are wieners made of beef and pork.
2. We boil our hot dogs. You can grill them or cook them in a skillet. But the Venezuelan way is to boil them.
3. Since we have at least two perritos calientes (or three or four), we prefer regular hot dogs and buns.
4. Our hot dog buns are cut on the top. Of course, you can use the ones opened on the side. But for the authentic Venezuelan experience, I get the one opened on top.
5. We steam the buns to be tender and warm when we assemble the hot dogs. I place a splatter guard on the pot where the sausages are boiled and use that steam.
6. As I said before, a hot dogestilo venezolanomust be overloaded. For us, hot dogs are the excuse to have a whole salad, carbs, and condiments on top of a bun with a wiener.

Venezuelan perros calientes recipe

I served my hot dogs in these cute mini fry baskets because they look so cute. I lined them with these deli wax paper sheets that my friend Faby from hostwithFaby.com gave me as a present. Following is the recipe card for these magnific Venezuelan perros calientes. I hope you like them as much as we do.

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