Coney Dogs

Carla usually does a girls weekend a couple of times a year: once for Bunco and once with her sisters. This time it was sister time in Ashland for the Shakespeare festival. They also met up with Carla's best friend from high school, Judy.

With her out of the house I thought I'd try something she probably wouldn't be big fan of: Coney Dogs. I've been searching off and on for a recipe and found a Cook's Country write up for North Jersey Texas Wiener Sauce. With a cross between New Jersey and Texas, and the word "weiner" instead of "hot dog" meant I had to try it. I have seen some recipes where you boil the hamburger; there was a America's Test Kitchen show this season that made Cincinnati chile with stewing the burger. We sauté the meat and onions so I figured I'd be safe. You can find my copy of the recipe here.

Cook's Country, so lots of ingredients.

Coney sauce ingredients

Coney sauce ingredients prepped for use

Sauté the meat and onions in a little vegetable oil for about 5 minutes, until all the pink is gone.

Burger and onion sauté for coney sauce.

 Then stir in tomato paste, chili powder, allspice, and brown sugar and combine until tomato paste darkens. Then add the chili sauce and water, bring to a boil and simmer until it thickens - 7 - 10 minutes

Simmering coney sauce

Take about 1/2 the mixture out and put in a food processor and mix until coarsely ground. Return to the skillet and add the mustard, worcestershire sauce, and  hot sauce. I blended the 3 brighteners in the food processor - oops. No harm done.

Coney sauce thickened

You have to have hot dogs, or weiners, for coney dogs, so fry a couple up. I found some Nathan's Famous dogs; that seems pretty authentic.

Frying some weiners for coney dogs

 I put the buns in the microwave for 10 seconds, slapped in a dog, added some sauce and topped with shredded cheddar cheese and a few onion bits held out of the sauté. I had to have a vegetable so got some of my favorite Ruffles potato chips. Potato chips are vegetables, right?

This was just okay. I gave it a provisional 3 stars. I used a chili sauce I remember from my childhood but I think it was way, way to sweet. If I make again, I'll definitely look for a better sauce. If you make this be forewarned. I don't think Cook's Country thought much of this either; the recipe is on their web site but without a lot of the supporting information one normally sees.