Make Way More Flavorful Hot Dogs By Making Them Norwegian-Style

European cuisine has no shortage of admirers, but one country's food is seriously underrated: Norway. Sure, everybody gives it credit for popularizing salmon sushi or the unnervingly infamous Salmon Eye restaurant, but beyond that, the country rarely gets the props it deserves. One classic Norwegian dish that might change people's perceptions about its cuisine is the hot dog. You're probably picturing the all-American frankfurter topped with ketchup or mustard, then stuffed into a bun. However, over in Norway, they do things a little differently.

Hot dogs are a way of life in Norway, and you'll find them served from charming carts dotted around towns and cities. But a trip to a Norwegian hot dog vendor might come with a few surprises for tourists who haven't done their research. Known as pølse i lompe (hot dog in a lompe), the bun is swapped out for lompe — a soft, traditional Norwegian potato flatbread that doesn't look too dissimilar from a small tortilla. Unlike a dense bun, its light texture lets the flavors of the sausage and toppings shine.

Speaking of toppings, a proper pølse i lompe usually comes loaded with a mix of ketchup, mustard, fried onions, raw chopped onions, and either a creamy potato salad or rekesalat, the latter of which (unfortunately) isn't really a thing in the States. Made from small, cooked cold-water shrimp dressed in mayo, sour cream, dill, and lemon, rekesalat is Norway's answer for when you're hit with savory, briny cravings. Then there's the sausage itself. Like American wieners, Norwegian pølse are either grilled in a pan (grillpølse) or heated slowly in warm water (wienerpølse). These two methods, however, should never be combined.

Though they may not like to admit it, the Scandinavian nations — made up of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden — have a whole lot in common. There are the mutually intelligible languages, the shared Viking raider history, and it goes without saying that they all love a hot dog. Yet despite their many similarities, each country's hot dog carts churn out a very different wiener.

For starters, Norway is the only Scandinavian nation to serve its pølse in lompe. Over in Denmark, bread, or brød, still reigns supreme. The sausage is traditionally served "med brød," meaning the bread comes on the side rather than wrapped around the sausage. Sweden, meanwhile, serves its sausages in a classic bun or, for something more indulgent, in a tunnbröd. Known as tunnbrødsrulle, this uniquely Swedish street food swaps Norway's potato-based flatbread for a grain-based one, then piles on not one but two hot dogs, creamy mashed potatoes, skagenrøra (Sweden's own take on shrimp salad), fried onions, ketchup, and mustard.

But it's not just the weiner's vessel that can differ. In Denmark, tourists often do a double take when a vendor hands over a bright red sausage. Known as "rød pølse," the sausage was reportedly dyed red as a way to make them look fresher than they actually were. That practical need is long gone, but the color stuck around, and today you'd be hard-pressed to find a Danish hot dog without that signature red hue. While most countries stick to a weiner made from pork or beef, Norway occasionally breaks from the pack, and it's not unusual to find sausages made from reindeer meat there, especially in the country's Arctic north.