I came downstairs yesterday to the smell of cooking hot dogs in my kitchen. Unless the Bean finally figured out how to make them herself, there was no obvious reason for the hot-doggy odor.
Turns out, the dishwasher was in its drying cycle, and a rubber spatula (from Le Crueset! Dammit!) had fallen down onto the heating coil. I used tongs to grab it off the heating coil, and marveled at the charred wood and at the charred and smoky rubber (vinyl?) spatula.
But then I wondered: what in the hell do they put in hot dogs to make them smell exactly like charred rubber?