Now the paste has to become a shape. There are two routes here. First, the fancy way: natural casings made from sheep or pig intestines. Yes, actual animal guts. They wash them, salt them, and stretch them over a stuffing machine. That’s why some hot dogs have a satisfying “snap” when you bite them—you’re biting a piece of cleaned, stretched small intestine.
Second, the cheap way: the “skinless” hot dog. They don’t use guts. Instead, they extrude the meat paste into a long tube of cellulose (basically plastic made from wood fiber). Then they cook it, peel off the plastic, and you get that smooth, shiny, perfectly cylindrical dog. It’s the Velveeta of the hot dog world: convenient, plastic, and perfect.
Fun fact: that cellulose casing is edible in theory, but they peel it off because it tastes like boredom.
