Heinz Repackaged Ketchup As 'Chicago Dog Sauce' To Goad Us All

By Stephen Gossett in Food on Jul 18, 2017 6:11PM

Photo via Heinz

The first rule of Chicago is: do not put ketchup on your hot dog. The second rule of Chicago is... well, you know.

Truth be told, this non-Chicago-native has always been of the mind that, it's hard enough in this life to find simple pleasure, so if some arbitrarily verboten condiment brings you that joy, so be it. But that's very much a minority opinion here; and the rule remains so, um, doggedly reinforced that we here in Chicago apparently represent something of a white-whale direct challenge to Big Ketchup.

To that end, In honor of National Hot Dog Day, Heinz unveiled on Tuesday its new so-called Chicago Dog Sauce—"a delicious recipe made with red ripe tomatoes and a special blend of spices and flavorings."

Yeah, it's ketchup.

Heinz even apparently found some unsuspecting, low-taste-bud subjects right here in town that were ripe for the foolin'.

We had a lot of questions for those Heinz troublemakers (Will this actually be available in stores? Is the point to stir up the age-old controversy? How long will it be around?). It wasn't all clear, but we do know that you can buy the "sauce" now online, if you're a masochistic sort of native, or if you're looking for a way to playfully offend a hidebound Chicago buddy.

And you'll be able to sample the not-ketchup-ketchup on Wednesday—to dovetail with National Hot Dog Day, no less—at Wrigleyville Dogs (3737 N. Clark St.) and at the Kim & Carlos Hot Dog Cart, near the Field Museum, while supplies last.

Despite the temptation, please don't throw any "Chicago Red Plants," or however one might try to impishly rebrand tomatoes.

Via Heinz