Chilean Hotdogs: Completo Chileno

These large sandwiches are common fast food and street food in Chile, but they aren't truly "fast food" at home, unless you've already got everything in the refrigerator and all you have to do is toast the buns briefly and cook the hotdogs. Chileans often use homemade mayonnaise* for their "completo" (some make their own bread rolls too). These hotdogs are boiled, not grilled or fried. "Salsa Americana" is a condiment sauce or relish of onion, carrot, cucumber and seasonings often used by Chileans, especially for a "completo."** Sauerkraut is not always used, but many Chileans love it on hotdogs, although the avocado is then "supposed to be" omitted, but since both toppings are popular, many people opt for both avocado*** and sauerkraut.

 

I seldom buy mayonnaise or mustard in squeeze bottles, so I use a spoon for each, and for the salsa Americana and mashed avocado.

Ingredients (4 servings):

 

4 hotdogs 

4 bread rolls

1/3 cup chopped fresh tomato

1/4 cup finely chopped white onion

1 large avocado, mashed with a teaspoon or 2 of lime juice (or lemon juice) and a pinch of salt

salsa Americana (see link below for the recipe)

sauerkraut

mayonnaise (it's my understanding, Chileans don't skimp on adding mayo)

(optional) mustard

(optional) ketchup 

 

In a skillet or a pan, use enough water to completely cover the hotdogs, then bring the water to a boil; adjust the heat to maintain a steady simmer and cook the hotdogs until well heated through. 

Heat a skillet over medium heat and open the hotdog buns/rolls and place them down to toast them briefly. You can certainly put the various toppings (condiments) onto the hotdogs however you choose, but I prefer to spread the bread rolls with the mashed avocado, then I add some chopped tomato and chopped onion, then some salsa Americana topped with sauerkraut, and then some mustard and ketchup, and finally the mayonnaise. Ah... you'll need some napkins. 

 

* To make your own mayonnaise, here is the link to the recipe: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2022/06/homemade-mayonnaise.html 

 

** For the recipe for "Salsa Americana," here is the link: https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2022/06/chilean-salsa-americana-american-sauce.html 

 

*** A Latino acquaintance mixes his mashed avocado with lime juice, so that's what I used here, but you can certainly use lemon juice instead, but it will be a bit more tart. The thing is, if you've never used avocado, it has to have some acidic component, or it will begin to turn dark; so, either lemon, lime or vinegar can be used. When I was at my friend's house, he told me the avocado needed acid, but then he raised hell with me when his flashlight wouldn't work, and he said you don't use flashlight battery acid. That scolding was bad enough, and I won't even tell you how mad he was when his car wouldn't run; so, no, you don't use acid from your car's battery either. Damn, I wish these people would say what they mean. hahaha   

 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Complete-This prefixed word means, "fulfilled, lacking nothing, finished," and the main part of the word is distantly related to "fill" and to "full," both words from the Germanic roots of English, and it is related to the main parts of "replenish" and "supply," and to "plenty," all Latin-derived words borrowed by English from French, and to "depletion," another Latin-derived word, but borrowed by English directly from Latin. The "com" prefix goes back to Indo European "kom" which meant, "beside, near, together," and this gave Latin both "con" and "com," with the idea of "together, with," and the "com-" and "con-" forms sometimes were reduced to "co-." The main part of the word goes back to Indo European "pel/pleh," which had the notion of "sufficient, full, enough, complete." This gave Latin "plere," meaning "to fill," and with the prefix, "complere," meaning "to fill up, to fill out, to fulfill." A participle form of the word was "completus," also used as an adjective, and from this, French had the adjective "complet," meaning "full, total." English borrowed the word in the latter part of the 1300s as "compleet/complet," from some combined borrowing from Latin and French. The adjective spawned the verb "completen" circa 1400, and this then became "(to) complete," meaning "to fulfill, to make whole or full, to totally finish."