Corn syrup and ... hot dogs

[ChrisTaylor]

I'm making the hot dogs from Ruhlman's Charcuterie. To 1.5 kg beef he adds 30mL light corn syrup. I understand is popular in the States but it's not popular in Australia. Without searching high and low--I'm sure it exists somewhere--what I have access to is dark corn syrup, which includes some sort of caramel flavouring, and vanilla-flavoured light corn syrup. Would I be better off just using, say, golden syrup?

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Yes.

[Mjx]

Regular (not high-fructose) corn syrup has a relatively weak sweetness, compared to golden syrup, which is far sweeter. I don't care for the flavour of corn syrup, but if you use golden syrup you might end up with pork candy (depending on how much of it is involved).

[mkayahara]

Can you get glucose syrup?

[annabelle]

Can you get invert sugar syrup in Oz? You can make it at home, if it is unavailable in shops. There are many recipes on the interwebs.

[Snadra]

If glucose is an acceptable substitute you can get it in the baking aisle at Coles and Woolies. Like you, the only light corn syrup I see here is vanilla flavoured.

[ChrisTaylor]

I can get glucose, yes.

[Porthos]

Just a side note: As someone who lives in the USA, sugar in any form in hot dogs is one of the main reasons I dislike hot dogs. (Texture is the other major one).

[ChrisTaylor]

I think you're giving me permission to just not include it at all. I dislike sweet things.

[Mjx]

Unless the corn syrup has some other function in the recipe than adding sweetness (it would probably say, if that was the case), I think you can safely skip it. Hot dogs in Denmark have a virtually identical texture to typical US ones, but are not sweet, and I have to say I really do prefer them (and I like sweet things); the meatiness and savouriness come through far better.

[Tri2Cook]

With the disclaimer that I've never made hot dogs, I can't imagine 30 ml of standard grocery store corn syrup imparting an objectionable sweetness on 1.5 kg of meat and the requisite salt and seasonings that go along with the recipe. A low DE glucose would stand in perfectly and if you can get one lower than 40 it will lower the sweetness factor even further than with the corn syrup.

[nibor]

Why would there be sugar in hot dogs at all?

[Tri2Cook]

Why would there be sugar in hot dogs at all?

Why would there be salt in desserts? Sometimes things enhance other things even when they look out of place on paper.

[Katie Meadow]

You could try making hot dogs with no added sweetener and decide if you like them or not. Another option, if you think it needs something sweet to balance a savory taste, instead of corn syrup you could try a small amount of pure cane syrup; it isn't nearly as sweet as golden syrup, and has a slight molasses tang. Plain molasses could work, maple syrup, or possibly a little bit of brown sugar; sort of like the old baked beans with hot dogs in it flavour. I've developed a bias against corn syrup, so I always sub something else whenever it's called for. I haven't eaten a hot dog in a long time, but I would guess most commercial ones have a high corn syrup content along will all sorts of other strange unpronounceable things. The only reason you might not realize how much sweetener is in a hot dog is because there is so much salt in it.

[ChrisTaylor]

Well, I've made the mince and it's sitting in the fridge. I didn't add any kind of sweetener.