The food consisting of a hot dog coated in cornmeal batter and deep-fried on a stick is a corn dog.
To make one, a sausage or frankfurter is placed on a stick, dipped in a thick cornmeal-based batter, and fried until the coating becomes crisp and golden. The stick makes the snack easy to hold, which helped it become a staple of fairs, carnivals, sporting events, and other casual American food settings.
The corn dog developed in the United States, but its precise creator is disputed. Similar battered-sausage products appeared in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and several vendors and manufacturers have claimed credit for popularizing the modern form. The cornmeal batter distinguishes it from an ordinary hot dog or a sausage fried in wheat-flour batter.
Names vary internationally. In Canada, the product is often called a Pogo, while Australian versions may be known as a Dagwood dog, Pluto Pup, or dippy dog. A mozzarella stick is cheese coated in breading, and funnel cake is a sweet fried batter, so neither has the defining sausage-and-cornmeal combination.