We’re suckers for a hot dog. But a hot dog wrapped in a pancake? Well now you’re just killing us. The Frank Blinchiki on Handlebar’s new Russian-inspired menu contains all the big flavors of a Chicago-style dog wrapped securely inside a teensy little package. A Russian pancake in lieu of a bun conveniently holds together the meat and all its fixin’s so you can eat your blinchiki with one hand and take a swig of beer with the other.
Frank Blinchiki
Courtesy of Handlebar’s Trevor “Flynt” McCoy
10 servings
½ cup draft beer (such as Six Row’s Vanilla Porter)
½ cup flour
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp. milk
½ Tbsp. vegetable oil, plus additional for cooking
10 hot dogs, fully cooked (such as Nathan’s all-beef franks)
10 thin slices dill pickle
10 slices tomato
20 slices red onion
5 romaine lettuce leaves, halved
Yellow mustard
Celery salt
• First, make the blini (Russian pancake) batter: Combine the beer, flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, egg, milk and oil in the bowl of an electric mixer and blend until smooth.
• Heat a 10-inch Teflon skillet to about 250 degrees. Once hot, coat lightly with oil.
• Slowly pour ¼ cup of the batter into the hot skillet as you carefully roll the skillet around to make a thin, uniform pancake. Cook for about 45 seconds or until the batter has set.
• Carefully pull the edges of the pancake up using a spatula, and use your hands to peel the pancake off the skillet and onto its other side. Cook for about 30 seconds, or until the other side is golden.
• Transfer the pancake to a plate.
• Repeat with the remaining blini batter.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Now, assemble the blinchikis: Top each blini with 1 hot dog, 1 pickle slice, 1 tomato slice, 2 red onion slices, half of a romaine lettuce leaf, a drizzle of mustard and a dash of celery salt.
• Fold either side of the blini into the middle and then carefully roll the blini up, so that all sides are tucked in and sealed.
• Repeat with the remaining blinis.
• Working in batches, place the rolled blinis in a pan and bake for about 8 minutes, or until the pancakes are crisp.
This article appears in May 2012.
