I'm Biggie: avid cook, speedy lunch packer, mom in San Francisco, & former expat fluent in Japanese. 
Octodogs revisited: Fry hard
Some Japanese readers commented on my article on how to make an octodog (octopus-shaped hot dog) that deep frying actually gives the most attractive results. I’d passed over oil-based cooking methods in an effort to produce a healthier octodog, so I decided to give them a go here for the sake of completeness. Japanese arabiki sausages with natural casings (in the foreground) showed the most pronounced difference over boiling — the deep-fried version has fantastically curled legs that really do evoke an octopus. (Click for the full review.)
The octodogs to the left of the chopstick below were pan-fried with about a tablespoon of oil, and those on the right were deep fried (see the earlier entry for sausage types). Compared to boiling, both frying methods produced a crispier exterior that was nice in the larger hot dog, but unpleasant in the smallest cocktail sausage. My texture-sensitive three-year-old wouldn’t eat the arabiki sausage legs and the smallest cocktail sausage, though, saying that they were too hard for him.
Compare the fried versions above with the water-cooked versions below (pan-fried with 1/2 cup water on the left, boiled on the right). While it’s true that deep frying produces more attractively curled octodog tentacles, I still prefer boiling them in water for health reasons. Boiling doesn’t add oil and even renders off some of the fat from the cut sausages. I already feel that processed meats aren’t the healthiest lunchtime option, so I’ll take every advantage I can get!
FURTHER READING:
- Decorative Food on Lunch in a Box (main page)
- How to make an “octodog” (hot dog octopus)
- Crab & rabbit-shaped sausage lunches
- How to make apple rabbits
- How to make decorative banana wedges
- Biggie’s list of top speed tips, tutorials and equipment reviews
February 23rd, 2008 | Categories: for kids, meat, tips, tutorial or how to | 
Print This Post
| 
Email this post
Loading ...
February 23rd, 2008 at 6:24 pm
What kind of oil did you use? I’ll use a little olive oil to help the octodog tentacles spread, but it’s a bit too much to use it to deep fry since it isn’t exactly cheap.
February 23rd, 2008 at 6:38 pm
These are cute! I’m a long time reader. I haven’t actually gotten to make a bento, mainly since I don’t have anyone to make them for. But I’m stuck with my picky 8 year old brother for a few days and I think I’m gonna try out the octodogs. And I know your a big fan of Lock & Lock containers, so anyone on near a Hannaford/Shop n’ Save supermarket, they’re currently selling most of the sizes.
February 23rd, 2008 at 6:53 pm
@1 from MercChan: I used canola oil that I get in a big jug at Costco. I do have an oil pot that filters out food bits and stores lightly used oil so I can use deep-fry oil more than once.
February 23rd, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Now that’s a thorough investigation! I love it.
February 23rd, 2008 at 11:22 pm
The deep fried ones look very appetizing, but much fattier. I think I may try this next week for my daughter. I just bought some little cocktail sausages. I may try the toaster oven though (my favorite cooking method). I usually use it to heat hot dogs and sausages. I press some foil down along the rack to make grooves and then curl the edges up to catch water or oils that run off.
February 24th, 2008 at 5:27 am
you have inspired me to order my first two bento sets! they’ll be arriving in the mail next month - can’t wait
February 24th, 2008 at 8:42 am
@2 from Megan: Thanks for the tip on the Hannaford Lock & Locks, Megan! Let us know what your picky brother thinks about the octodogs — they might just be weird enough that he’d get a kick out of them. Or not.
February 24th, 2008 at 8:45 am
@4 from Kitt: I thought that I shouldn’t ignore a potentially superior technique because of the added fat, even though I might not use it going forward. It was fun trying out the different cooking techniques on different sausages — I felt like I was in Cook’s Illustrated’s test kitchen!
February 24th, 2008 at 8:48 am
@5 from Amber in Portland: Definitely let us know how the toaster oven fares for octodog cooking, Amber! Is there a reason why you line the rack with foil instead of using a broiling pan in the toaster oven?
February 24th, 2008 at 8:49 am
@6 from sarahsouth: Woo hoo, very exciting! Happy bento-ing.
February 24th, 2008 at 9:14 am
Biggie, I hadn’t really considered the broiling pan. My husband caught the one that came with our toaster oven on fire almost 2 years ago and nearly took out our kitchen along with it. I never really thought about getting a new one. Also, its a pretty quick clean up.
February 24th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Hi, I tried doing this about a week or so ago and got very good results using Nathan’s brand all beef hot dogs. mine boiled in a couple cups of water produced fairly curly tentacles. not as much as the curliest you pictured in the deep fried versions, but more so than the boiled you share here. I *think* it has something to do with the type of meat used. I have heard some combinations of pork tend to “puff” more when you cook them (this was a hot dog review I read years ago) I will try that next, but I wanted to share in case you are still testing too
February 24th, 2008 at 11:40 am
@12 from Heidi: Thanks for the heads-up on Nathan’s hot dogs and beef vs. pork sausages. I’ll try some out! I’m amazed at how creative all of you are — very stimulating.
February 24th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Your site has started going to my Junk Mail everytime lately. When I “un-spam” it and forward it back to me, I am told that a server other than Outlook must be used and that I may receive even more junk mail as a result. Is there anything on your end that can be done about this?
February 24th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I was inspired by your post yesterday and did the octodogs for my daughter. We normally only eat hotdogs when my “bonus” sons, who are 16 and 18 so I didn’t do octodogs for them, are here, and their reactions were much better than my 23month old’s. I boiled the octodog with their hotdogs. They were surprised that the hotdog “exploded” like that. LOL
February 24th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
@14 from Tory: Hmm, that’s strange. I’ll ask a web guy I’ve been talking to about it. Thanks for the heads-up, Tory!
February 24th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
@15 from LoriAnn: Ha ha, how funny that your 16- and 18-year olds liked the octodogs! Your 23-month-old was nonplussed, I suppose?
February 25th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Heck, my stepfather is amazed at my octodogs. To make mac n cheese more interesting, I started making them to sit on top of it. It helps make an otherwise boring meal a little whimsical. I love whimsical!
I tried frying the dogs once, but I really didn’t like em. I’ll stick to the boiled. Seems more natural.
February 25th, 2008 at 10:35 am
@18 from Sile: Ah, if I’ve got sausages around next time I make mac & cheese for Bug at home, I’ll pop an octodog on top of it. Fun idea!
February 25th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
I do admit the fried version looks more “authentic” but I still would be a bit worried about their healthiness… Maybe for a special “treat!”
February 26th, 2008 at 12:29 am
I saw there was a bento-ish lunchbox on Cool Tools, and it had a link to a Flickr photo pool. Maybe you’re a member already, but if not, it looks like it could be a good place to get ideas.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/laptop_lunches/pool/
February 26th, 2008 at 12:50 am
@21 from Kitt: I just popped over to Cool Tools and turned up a review of the Mr. Bento. Was this it? http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/001906.php I’m on the Flickr groups for bento boxes, Laptop Lunchboxes, and Mr. Bento thermal lunch jars, BTW. Thanks for the heads up, though!
February 26th, 2008 at 12:51 am
@20 from Amber: Yeah, I just can’t feel that good about deep frying hotdogs. Good thing boiling does the trick!
February 26th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
That is really cool.
February 26th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I’ve been “sharing” my bentos at lunch at work. The others in the office get a kick out of them.
I used the hotdog flower idea off of justbento.com and then had to show everyone the octo-dogs here so they could see them! I’m thinking there will be a couple more people making octo-dogs than there used to be!
February 26th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Hiya Biggie, I was browsing my food blog sites, and I stumbled a long a site that featured this article. You’re one popular bentolady!
http://www.seriouseats.com/required_eating/2008/02/photo-of-the-day-deepfried-octodogs.html
I just thought you’d like to know (:
February 26th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
@24 from chriesi: Thanks for the kind comment, chriesi.
February 26th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
@25 from sarah: I figure little octodogs and other little sausage creations are popular with kids in Japan for a reason — a little bit of whimsy to brighten up your afternoon. Glad your coworkers are getting a kick out of your bento habit! Just remind them that bento lunches don’t have to feature time-consuming food art to be attractive or delicious.
February 26th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
@26 from gatekeepers_21: Hey, thanks for the heads up on the octodogs making Serious Eats’ Photo of the Day today. Way cool. A big welcome to everyone making their way here from Serious Eats!
February 26th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
@14 from Tory: Tory, the web guy I asked about your Lunch in a Box e-mail update spam issue wrote back with the following:
“…from the sounds of your e-mail, the server that the ladies email comes through has just become a bit more strict on its e-mail policies. Thus feedburner using certain methods to send out emails, it has now been flagged. I’m not sure what to do about that at the moment, I’ll put my mind to it though.”
February 27th, 2008 at 6:23 am
[...] Read all about it over at LUNCH IN A BOX. [...]
February 27th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Has anyone tried this with veggie dogs? My son’s obsessed with squids (close enough to octopi in my book :D), and he’d love these.
If not, maybe I’ll be the pioneer and let you know how they turn out!
March 12th, 2008 at 6:57 am
[...] over at lunch in a box has posted a great tutorial on how to make octopus sausages, click here to view it. I tried it out today for the first time and it worked [...]
March 27th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
[...] thought I loved my daughter as much as any mother could, but Lunch in a Box makes me think that there are mothers who love their children more. If food is love and parenthood [...]
December 6th, 2008 at 1:20 am
[...] startpunkt kan vara sidan Lunch in a Box. Mycket information, recept och instruktioner. T.ex. på hur man gör en bläckfiskkorv, lite som grisfötter on steroids. My Lunch Can Beat Up Your Lunch! är en annan trevlig engelsk [...]
May 2nd, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Hi,
This is in response to both this post AND the question regarding veggie dogs:
I stumbled upon this site about a week ago because I am excited about my daughter attending Kindergarten this fall. Her school has a great lunch program, but she is picky (both with food selection, and she prefers smaller & more numerous meals throughout the day. Le sigh). Bentos sound like an excellent idea for her, and I’m already looking at boxes and sets online.
I decided to try the octodogs tonight, but I didn’t have any meat dogs (only veggie–Morningstar Farms brand). I made one long octopus, and cut another sausage in half to make two small ones. Once boiled they remained rather floppy, but she really liked the small ones. She even asked if I had any more, which was awesome! The longer one was way too floppy to look like an octopus, so I made some creative cuts and emerged from the kitchen with a Giant Squid-dog. She thought it was hilarious.
Next time, I’ll try either frying a veggie dog, or boiling an all-beef dog. Thank you all for the tips; this site is really quite fabulous.
August 18th, 2010 at 6:37 am
[...] Little animals lurking in the lunch box can be great fun. To make an octopus hot dog—an octodog—you can cut eight legs into one end of a hot dog up to about an inch and a half from the [...]
April 16th, 2011 at 4:55 pm
I know this is random, but I totally love the bendy straw you used as a separator < 3
January 22nd, 2012 at 4:37 pm
Sorry for the necro-post, but my mom *hates* the taste and texture of boiled sausages, so I’ve been making these and baking them. It gets a bit weird if you do 8 legs, but 6 seems to work out pretty well as long as you bake them “sitting up”.