It used to be that Stagg’s made a canned chili that we really liked for our chili dogs. It had no beans, and was seasoned just right. However, they stopped making it. I tried some Dennison’s no-bean chili and was not impressed - it was blah and greasy.
So I guess I had better make my own. I can make a big batch and freeze it in appropriately-sized servings. I already have a recipe for good “stand-alone” chili, but I’ve never attempted that red, finely-ground, rather thick chili which is best on top of a hot dog or a hamburger. Before I Google up recipes which may or may not fit the bill, does anyone have a recipe of this description?
You know the kind I mean - the type of chili like on a Tommy’s chili burger or hot dog.
In the past, I’ve used this recipe, which purports to be a copycat of the chili that Original Tommy’s in LA uses to smother their burgers, dogs, fries, tamales, and pretty much everything else. As someone who’s eaten at Tommy’s, I can attest that it’s pretty darn close to the real thing, and that it works really well as a topping chili - the large amount of flour means that it holds together well without dripping all over the place, and it’s not too spicy, which is good for a chili that’s meant to compliment the flavor of the dish rather than dominate it.
(I do recommend using it all at once, though - it sort of turns into a gelatinous brick once you refrigerate it.)
I normally make Cincinnati chili for my chili dogs. I like the combination of spices (cumin and yellow mustard go well together), and I don’t miss having beans. It’s also thick, rather than soupy:
The Cincinnati chili I’ve had (like at Skyline) has been more soupy than thick. Almost like a spaghetti meat sauce. That’s one of the things I was surprised by–it’s much more liquid than chilis than I’m used to. That said, it is the perfect chili for hot dogs. Even made those shitty Skyline hotdogs taste irresistible.
I’ve made Cincinnati chili at home several times and I’ve invariably found it way too thin. I find I have much better results when I strain the broth out of the finished product and just use the remaining meat to top my spaghetti.
True that. Cincinnati sauce is way too thin for a dog. It turns it into a gloppy mess. The sauce needs to have some thickness to it, to become one with the weenie.
When I make Cincinnati, it’s nice and thick. I use just enough broth to cover the beef and then I let it reduce. You can also use tomato paste and/or masa flour to thicken it if you want.
Maybe “soupy” is not the right word, but “saucy” would be better. If you look at 1:30 in this video you see the consistency. That’s thinner and the meat is much more fine than most chili I’ve had. But that’s why I like it on hot dogs and with spaghetti. It’s something like a meaty spaghetti sauce in terms of thickness. You can observe a similar thickness in Gold Star Chili about 20 seconds in.
I’ve had really soupy Cincinnati chili, but not by my own hand. Mine you have to dig out of the pan with a spoon (I always cook it in an iron skillet).
I want real chili on my hot dogs but around here an atrocity called Hot Wieners is popular. The sauce is basically the Coney Island recipe shown above without the tomato sauce. The key is to cook the mixture for hours at a high simmer until an emulsion forms to thicken it up. To make an actual Hot Wiener you have find some Little Rhody Wieners that rational people would never consider eating.
For me, the perfect chili for chili-cheese dogs is Wienerschnitzel’s. I found this recipe but I haven’t tried it. Alas, there are no Wienerschnitzels up here.