One of my favorite recipe development and photography projects was all about baseball stadium hot dogs and involved very little in the way of “recipes.”
A few years back, I celebrated the Spring of Hot Dogs, developing, testing, and shooting a series of concoctions inspired by concessions at Major League Baseball (MLB) stadiums for a summer issue of PARADE Magazine.
The Pitch
The journey started in March when I pitched a summer What America Eats column based on over-the-top MLB stadium hot dogs. I pitched a visually driven concept with minimal text – no formal recipes, just simple ideas anyone could pull together with ready-made ingredients. Sometimes the most effective food ideas aren’t recipes, as such, but fun combos to inspire a reader.
I came up with a dozen possibilities based on hot dogs that were on MLB stadium menus at the time. After some back and forth, we whittled it down to four.
The Curveball
A week or so later, my editor came back with an ad request: Could we include some chicken nuggets in the mix?
This might seem like it came out of left field. But given the crazy stuff we were loading on our hot dogs, chicken nuggets were really so out there. The solution: I shot the nuggets and a few other fun toppings that were also featured on the page as their own element, rather than forcing them into our already-approved hot dog lineup. If pulled pork and tater tots belong on a hot dog, chicken nuggets fit right in on the page.
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The Hot Dogs
These are the franks we landed on, and because they were meant to be easy-to-recreate ideas for home cooks, we could take some liberties based on image needs.
For all, I used grilled quarter-pound Hebrew National beef franks, a bit larger than regular hot dogs so they’d provide plenty of hot dog “presence,” paired with regular ole Ball Park buns (cheap but great looking).
None of these concoctions are still on the teams’ menus, which isn’t surprising. Changing up concession offerings, always striving for bigger and trendier, is a key strategy for stadium dining venues. Regardless, they’re still flavor home runs.
The Dixie Dog
Atlanta Braves’ Dixie Dog: pulled pork + creamy coleslaw + barbecue sauce + pickles
This one was based on a classic at the Braves’ former home, Turner Field. The original called for mustard barbecue sauce, which was delicious, but I used a red barbecue sauce for the photo so it registers at a glance.
The Royal Blue Dog
Kansas City Royals’ Royal Blue Dog: chopped bacon + chopped red onion + chunky blue cheese dressing + chives
The classiest and most restrained of the bunch, this combo is just as delicious.
Top Tot Dog
Arizona Diamondbacks’ Top Tot Dog: chili + nacho cheese sauce + potato tots + green onion
Yes, tots belong on hot dogs. This concoction was based on a footlong dog that was served at Chase Field.
Cracker Jack ‘n’ Mac Dog
Pittsburgh Pirates’ Cracker Jack ‘n’ Mac Dog: mac ‘n’ cheese + Cracker Jacks + pickled or fresh red or green jalapeños
This sweet, savory, crunchy, and kind of unhinged combo from PNC Park was my personal fave.
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Here’s how it all came together on the page:
The Takeaway
This is typical of how I approach any brief: with the primary goal, in this case a visually driven concept vs. recipe complexity. We wanted people to understand these ideas at a glance.
That doesn’t mean I skipped testing. I prepped test batches and shared images with my editors so we could see what would actually read on the page. With some minor changes (like swapping the Cracker Jack dog’s green chiles for red so the final spread would have real pops of color and switching up to better-looking buns), the final images look pretty much like the test version.
It’s a good reminder that a visually punchy concept can carry a story with almost no recipe content at all, sometimes with even more impact than a fully developed dish.
Want a framework for briefing projects like this before day one? Grab the free Brand Recipe Brief – the same tool I wish more editors and brand teams used before a shoot.