someone told me you can do this years ago and i thought i would give it a shot
why do the LEDs light?
well apparently the resistance between the leads is enough to supply low enough voltage and current to light them yet not burn them out
the hot dog sizzled and cooked until it folded in and i canceled the experiment
VIDEO:
results:
one cooked hotdog!
there was blackening at the fork points that go all the way down and the LED points but it was fully cooked and hot
the hotdog was 182.3k ohms and drew no measurable change in current from the variac
WARNING, DONT DO THIS AT HOME YOU CAN DIE