Lincoln Log Sandwich (hot dog with cream cheese)

In May 2007, The Sopranos (an Italian-American television drama set in New Jersey) featured a sandwich called “Lincoln Logs”—split hot dogs filled with cream cheese. It is not known where the recipe or the name originated (or if one or both originated with the Sopranos show). Many Sopranos fans had never heard of Lincoln Logs, while a few insisted that it’s an old New Jersey recipe that’s served on white bread instead of hot dog buns.
 
“Lincoln Logs”-named foods have been served on some menus on Lincoln’s Birthday in February, but recipes differ. In 2002, peanut butter spread onto white bread and then rolled were called “Lincoln Log sandwiches.”
 
Seattle (WA) hot dog carts have served “cream cheese hot dogs” (sometimes called “Seattle dogs”) since at least 1999.
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The Food Channel - Ask the Chef
What is a Lincoln Log Sandwich?
(...)
Lincoln Logs (as seen on the Soprano’s) are apparently hot dog buns or white bread, in which you place hot dogs layered with cream cheese. They can be served warm or cold. They are also known as Seattle Cream Cheese Dogs, although the Lincoln Logs variety is said to be an East Coast version. The basic recipe appears to be:
 
Take a slice of white bread, spread cream cheese on it, split a cooked hot dog lengthwise and place each half, cut side down, on the bread. To get the Lincoln Log effect, you may need a second hot dog that is laid over the first in the other direction. Some versions appear to mix a little mayonnaise with the cream cheese for spreading ease. You can lightly toast the bread or add a piece of American cheese before adding the spread and hot dog.
 
Yahoo! Answers
Q: What are the ingredients in a Lincoln Log sandwich?
A: It was hot dogs split open in the middle with cream cheese in them and on a slice of white bread. The name itself appears to be “made up”.
But they are know as Seattle Cream Cheese Dogs. Supposedly putting cream cheese on a hot dog is done often in Seattle.
 
Yahoo! Answers
Q: What does Carmela Soprano make Lincoln Log sandwiches out of?
On last night’s episode right before AJ tried to kill himself she told him she had made “Lincoln Log sandwiches. They look like split hot dogs with cream cheese spread on them on bread.
A: Hotdog buns, either bolgna or hotdogs with cream cheese. It’s an East coast thing. My family did it, too. My Mom used to tell me it was considered “peasant food”
 
12 February 1958, Fresno (CA) Bee, pg. 1D, col. 3 photo caption;
Try these Lincoln Log sandwiches. They are simple triple deck sandwiches cut into halves and covered with cream cheese. Chopped ripe olives make the hatchet garnish as well as part of the filling.
 
12 February 1967, Mansfield (OH) News Journal, Lunchroom Plan Menus, pg. 3, col. 1:
MANSFIELD
Monday—Lincoln log sandwich, peas, cabbage and cafrrot slaw, applesauce, milk.
   
9 February 1975, Mansfield (OH) News Journal, “Here’s What They’ll Serve at Schools,” pg. 3, col. 3:
Wednesday—Lincoln log sandwich, baked beans, cabbage carrot slaw, chocolate pudding with chipped cream, bread and buter, milk.
     
The Stranger (Seattle, WA)
From the Mar 18 – Mar 24, 1999 issue
Restaurants
Hot Diggity!
by Traci Vogel
(...)
A few hot dog stands around Seattle warrant mention. The first, and most highly recommended, is the stand in front of the Showbox. Operated in the evening hours when drunken show-goers crave something they can cradle, this stand consistently offered up well-cooked, beefy dogs on every one of 15 or 20 trial visits. Not only that, but they make something which, when I first heard it described, sounded repulsive, but turned out to be sublime (and nothing endears me more to food than this turn of events): the cream cheese hot dog. This hot dog, nicely cooked, appears in a crispy bun smeared with cream cheese—simple enough to hold up as a ritual, rich enough to visit unexpectedly, like the Holy Ghost.
 
Big Big Forums   
heartlvrs
02-07-2002, 08:05 PM
LINCOLN LOG SANDWICHES
Use a rolling pin to flatten slices of whole wheat bread. Spread on peanut butter and roll up bread to create a log. Slice into pieces.enjoy!
     
Seattle (WA) Times
Thursday, September 16, 2004
Ballard hot-dog vendor capitalizes on nightlife, need for a late-night bite
By Marc Ramirez
Seattle Times staff reporter
(...)
Also available is cream cheese, something he’d never heard of on hot dogs before Seattle.
   
Mouthfuls
hotdoglover
Jan 16 2006, 09:45 PM
Today I went to the Grand Opening of a new hot dog restaurant. Called Amazing Hot Dog, it is located in a small strip mall at 148A Bloomfield Ave. in Verona. http://www.amazinghotdog.com.
 
The serve natural casing 1/4 lb Best’s all beef dogs. The dogs are quickly flash fried and pulled from the oil before the skin rips. This is a well seasoned beef frank that doesn’t need to be in the oil for as long as a milder pork based dog. This place specializes in toppings. You can get cream cheese and scallions on your dog as well as a fried egg and bacon wrapped around it.
     
Seattle (WA) Times
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
How to dress a haute dog
By Karen Gaudette
Seattle Times staff reporter
(...)
Seattle: Though he says the Emerald City isn’t much of a traditional hot-dog town (folks in the Northwest are just as likely to toss vegetarian or salmon dogs on the grill), Matt’s Famous Hot Dogs owner Matt Jones has an offering on his menu deemed the Seattle Dog, with mustard, onions, tomatoes and Tillamook cheddar cheese.

“The Seattle Dog is just a dog people would ask for a lot,” Jones said. “We made it up because we have the authority to do that.”
 
He’s also noticed a steady stream of locals asking for hot dogs with, of all things, cream cheese, sometimes with mustard and onion as well.

“Some people just swear by it,” he said.
     
kraftfoods.com
Mr. Muckle
Re: Lincoln Logs
Posted: May 21, 2007 4:59 PM
This hot dog dish is a New Jersey Italian-American classic.
It is made with white bread, not buns. You lay out a slice of bread, spread cream cheese on it, and split a cooked hot dog lengthwise placing each half, cut side down on the spreaded bread, about a half inch apart from each other. You can add whatever other condiments you like. You should make at least 4 of these to really get that Lincoln Logs look.
 
I suggest a nice Valpolacella with these tasty treats, but not for the kids..
         
Slate
Sopranos Final Season
Week 7: A Handy, Portable Heart Attack on a Bun
From: Brian Williams
To: Jeffrey Goldberg and Timothy Noah
Posted Wednesday, May 23, 2007, at 1:51 PM ET
(...)
Would that my mother were here to defend herself. She went to her reward years ago, and with her went the Lincoln Log recipe. During what has been a painful day of culinary reminiscence on my part, all I can recall were Oscar Mayer “frankfurters” (as my dad still calls them, I believe in deference to the Supreme Court justice) split suggestively down the middle (I never watched that part, because as with lobsters, I was never really sure they were dead) and then slathered—in our version—lengthwise in mayonnaise. I know. How do you think I feel? That was my life in north Jersey.
 
Google Groups: alt.tv.sopranos
Newsgroups: alt.tv.sopranos
From: Shep Hellerman

Date: 23 May 2007 15:19:23 -0700
Local: Wed, May 23 2007 5:19 pm
Subject: Re: Lincoln Log Sandwich
 
Now see… I just heard a long conversation on a local talk radio station… with callers confirming.. that the hot dogs were spread with cream cheese. And as much as cream cheese doesn’t seem to fit with a hot dog, I think I’d rather have that than mayo. So, they say a Lincoln Log is a split dog, with cream cheese and probably on white bread.
     
The Huffington Post
Craig “Meathead” Goldwyn
Hedonism Evangelist
Posted: July 1, 2009 01:17 PM
Hot Dog Road Trip: A Patriotic Party Plan
(...)
The Seattle Cream Cheese Dog
Many of the push carts in Seattle offer their dogs with cream cheese and there is a devoted following although it is surprising how many locals have never heard of the delicacy. The recipes vary from vendor to vendor, but the basic concept is: Griddle a frank, griddle some onions, spread cream cheese on one side of the bun, some Dijon style mustard on the other, nestle the dog on top, and crown with the caramelized onions and sauerkraut.
(...)
The Lincoln Log Sandwich. In New Jersey there is the Lincoln Log Sandwich immortalized by Carmella Soprano on one of the last segments of The Sopranos. The Lincoln Log Sandwich is a boiled frank slit open lengthwise but still hinged on one side, with a schmear of cream cheese down the middle, served on a bun or a slice of white bread, sometimes toasted. I’m not aware of any restaurants that serve Lincoln Logs, but I’ve read of a lot of people who remember their Moms making them.