“Ein með öllu” — one with everything. Reykjavík’s most famous meal is a hot dog: a thin lamb sausage in a soft, slightly sweet bun, with Vals ketchup, sweet brown SS mustard, crispy fried onions, a little raw onion and a stripe of remúlaði on top. Bill Clinton had one. So has everyone who has ever landed at Keflavík.
We can’t post the sausages — meat can’t be sent by parcel into the United States or most other countries — but everything else that makes it Icelandic travels fine. So we pack the toppings, the buns and the Appelsín into one chilled box and send it by DHL Express:
→ The Icelandic Hot Dog Kit — everything but the sausage ($69.90)
SS mustard, Vals ketchup, Gunnars remúlaði, crispy fried onions, 10 Myllan buns and 2 Egils Appelsín.
How to make an Icelandic hot dog at home
- The sausage: the closest thing to an Icelandic pylsa is a good lamb sausage or a thin, natural-casing pork-and-beef frankfurter from a butcher or deli. Nothing smoky or heavily spiced — the toppings are the flavour.
- Warm it in hot (not boiling) water for a few minutes — the proper way, even if plenty of Icelanders grill them at home. A splash of beer in the water is the old trick.
- Warm the bun so it just gives.
- Into the bun, in this order: a line of ketchup, then a spoon of crispy fried onions and a little raw chopped onion.
- Sausage on top. Finish with a zigzag of SS mustard down the length, then a stripe of remúlaði.
Serve with a cold Appelsín and eat it standing up — that’s how it’s done at Bæjarins Beztu.