Korean Corn Dogs are an amazing and fattening treat filled with meat, cheese, or both.
The crunchy deep-fried outside leads the way to a perfectly soft and chewy inside with gooeyness that goes beyond words.
Are Korean Corn Dogs beef or pork? Honestly, it depends on who is making the corn dogs. In general, however, it’s often a combination of the two.
This is because many places use typical hot dogs, which comprise both pork and beef. However, some places will feature 100% beef or chicken sausage.
Also, sometimes there’s just cheese in the center, and yet it’s still called a Korean Corn Dog.
Therefore, what makes a Korean Corn Dog isn’t necessarily the meat. It’s the preparation, seasonings, batter, and cooking that makes it purely Korean.
Let’s dive deeper.
Meat that Comprises a Korean Corn Dog
At most Korean restaurants throughout the world, Korean Corn Dogs have some type of sausage. Oftentimes, this is the general run-of-the-mill hot dog.
These are almost always a combination of pork and beef. However, some places will have 100% beef hot dogs.
In other cases, they may use bratwurst, Italian sausage, ground pork links, or other all-pork varieties of sausage.
But you can usually bet that it will be the classic hot dog inside.
Other Meats Used in a Korean Corn Dog
Even though most Korean Corn Dogs you find at restaurants will be hot dogs, many people use all kinds of things inside.
This is especially true if you’re making it at home. It’s not uncommon to find recipes online for vegan hot dogs as part of the Korean Corn Dog Recipe.
In Korea, you’ll find ones comprising fish cakes.
However, some people use pork loin, pulled pork, chicken sausage, turkey links, and even bologna.
But, there are others that will opt for beef sausage, not necessarily hot dogs, but actual beef with a beef casing.
This way, they can use the spicy, hot Italian sausages to emphasize the sweet and spicy play on taste.
Restaurants that Serve Other Types of Meat in a Korean Corn Dog
All around the world, you can find a Korean restaurant or street vendor featuring their classic version of the corndog.
While almost all will use hot dogs, some do give options for other types of meat. For instance, in Ottawa, Canada, Seoul Dog offers the option of all-beef or chicken sausage in the center.
The Two Hands franchise in New York City has all-beef, spicy sausage, or plant-based sausage as an option rather than a hot dog.
In Orlando, Florida, there are myriad Korean Corn Dog trucks, and any one of them will offer alternative proteins.
Additionally, there’s a place called Kong Dog throughout the Chicago, Illinois area as well as in Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and other locations.
They offer it all! They use beef sausage as their main meat, but you can get pork, chicken, vegan dogs, and plant-based proteins in sausage form.
Finding Korean Corn Dogs with Other Meats
Therefore, if you want to try a Korean Corn Dog before attempting to make it at home, do a search online.
Type into the search box [be sure to use the quotes] “Korean Corn Dogs in (city).” Browse their menu and see what they have as options.
Every restaurant does things differently, so educate yourself before you go there.
How to Use Other Meats in a Korean Corn Dog at Home
Along with all the restaurants beginning to pop up across the United States, so are a plenitude of recipes.
You can make your Korean Corn Dogs at home any old way you’d like.
What’s great is you can cater it specifically to your diet, so you don’t have to risk consuming something that may cause a health issue.
If interested in making them at home, any compact meat will do as long as it will skewer onto a stick. You just want to make sure the batter adheres to whatever meat you use.
Also, ensure the protein will accompany the flavors of the batter.
For example, you may not want to use chorizo (although you could if you do it right).
Considering Preparation of the Meat
The only thing you have to make sure of is that the meat you use will be long, thin, and compact enough to skewer.
For instance, some recipes will include pulled pork as part of the center. Pulled pork generally comprises loose and thin pieces of meat that didn’t skewer well on their own.
However, if you skewer the cheese, then dip it in batter and finally roll that onto the pulled pork, it should work like a charm.
Alternatively, you can use an ice cube mold (or some other device) and fill the wells with the pulled pork. Stick skewers in them and put them in the freezer for an hour.
There’s No Limit to the Type of Meat
Some people have gone so far as to create the breakfast Korean Corn Dog. This artery-clogging gem contains breakfast sausage, egg, and cheese, which then deep-fries to perfection.
So, as you can see, there’s really no limit to what kind of meat you can put into a Korean Corn Dog.
Certain things may require a little creativity and some freezer time, but you can put anything inside. You could put sirloin strip steak, chicken strips, tofu, or anything else you can think of.
Conclusion
Korean Corn Dogs are typically beef and pork since they often comprise the classic hot dog.
However, you can find some with things like 100% beef, Italian sausage, chicken sausage, turkey links, and even breakfast sausage.
In the event you have special dietary needs, you can make them at home and put whatever you want inside of them.
