Other Good Backyard Hot Dog OptionsLook, if you're trying to feed a football team, no little hot dog cooker will do. Hot Dog Cookers We Don't RecommendThis little hot dog cooker works with all the simplicity of a toaster oven: Pick a toast level, push down the lever, then wait for the spring to pop back up. The hot dog buns fit into a pair of semicircular openings that look like broad cartoon smiles. The hot dogs get thrown down the metal-caged hot dog tubes. And depending on the length of your chosen hot dog, just the tips will emerge from the toaster when it pops up.