Two Great Things - That Do NOT Taste Great Together - Part Deux

Peanut butter is a marvelous ingredient. But there are some things you just shouldn't do with it. For me, putting the sweet goo in hot dogs is definitely one idea you should avoid...Yet, according to a recent Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article, an obsessed 7-year old boy has inspired just this type of absurdity in a casing:

Russell Emel sure does like peanut butter...

...But when it came to indulging the first-grader's cravings for hot dogs garnished with a gob of Skippy, Russell's mother balked...

...Russell persisted. His mother turned to the Internet, posting half-jesting pleas that would spark a community-wide inside joke in this Clearfield County city of 8,000: Could local meat market operator J. LeRoy Palumbo Jr. appease Russell by creating a peanut butter hot dog?

Mr. Palumbo, whose culinary experiments in the landmark market his grandfather, Dominic, founded in 1927 have resulted in such treats as jalapeno-cheese hot dogs and wild boar jerky, took up the challenge. He and production manager Tom Weaver produced a 25-pound experimental batch, even though they feared it would be awful.

As an unmistakable nutty smell wafted from the smokehouse under Palumbo's Meats of Du Bois, Mr. Palumbo fired off a response to the Web site, announcing, "Come get 'em." That batch sold out in hours. So did the next.

Three weeks later, Mr. Palumbo has sold nearly 1,000 pounds of the protein-packed franks and can barely keep them in his cooler after a "Peanut Butter Hot Dogs" sign goes up over his shop.

He's talking with a peanut-butter producer about marketing the culinary creation to a wider audience. Some of his neighbors are kicking around the idea of a community festival dedicated to the dogs.

I don't know about you. But right now, the combo of pork rinds and white chocolate sounds downright appetizing.