Does anyone know where I can find a recipe for real Coney Island hot dog chili like at Nathan’s. I’ve tried several from the internet, but they were not what I remember. A couple even claimed to be improvements. No, they weren’t.
As I remember, the chili was made with pretty fine ground meat, onion I think, not really spicy, no red, and kinda juicy but not really soupy. I think it was kinda brownish. I can get good natural casings, no problem, but not the chili.
I was in NYC in the mid 60s when I had them, and I’m hoping someone from there knows what I’m talking about.
Thanks,
mangeorge
Castleberry’s makes what I consider to be my go-to hot dog chili sauce. It sounds like what you want. Available in most grocery stores. Very cheap. Under $1/can in my location.
Seconding Castleberry’s. If you can’t find that, Tony Packo’s makes an acceptable substitute. Personally I prefer Wolf’s, but it’s more Texas than New York.
Luckily you got some reasonable responses already, as I have had Nathan’s Chili Dogs no more than a month or so ago, and it pretty much tasted like Hormel’s Chili w/ Beans on Nathan’s Franks. OK, not great - just OK. (Yeah, this was the Westbury NY ‘Fast-Food’ outlet w/ Nathan’s & Burritoville & Kenny Rogers Roasters and the arcade/fun-center in the back). The funny thing is I actually had Nathan’s hot dogs at Coney Island a few years back, and they did taste the same as the Westbury location - I thought for sure the Coney Island location’s hot dogs would somehow taste different (read: Better).
No idea how they tasted in the mid-60s, me being an infant and all 
I don’t what they serve at the Coney Island Nathan’s, now or in the past. But if it’s like the other Nathan’s in the chain, and common type of chili in the NYC area over the past few decades I can help you out.
You’ve worked out the basics of the recipe already. Finely diced onion, fatty ground beef, chili powder, red pepper, salt, and water. Use chuck, its going to cook a long time. Brown finely diced onions in some fat (I swear to FSM I first saw this with a can full of Crisco thrown in the pot). Add water, then toss in the ground beef and break it up with your hands in the water so it doesn’t clump up. Add the salt and pepper. Then simmer it, very near a boil, for a long time to reduce some of the water, and it forms a sort of emulsion to give it a saucy quality. This could take 4 hours or more. You should decide on your secret ingredient, everybody has one. Cinnamon, Old Bay, celery salt, beer, whatever. It just doesn’t seem right without adding something special to a concoction masquerading as chili.
After revealing this, and my knowledge of it, I feel like I need to take a shower.
Come to think, I really liked the hot dog carts (like you see in moviesm etc.) too. Especially in cold weather. They were always hot through and through, including the bun. Maybe all my excitement was because I wasn’t too long out of Bakersfield.
Another discovery; Lox and bagel. Oh yeah, and delis. “Ya want that wet, kid?”.
http://www.coneyislandofscranton.com/Home.html
They may ship their sauce. I think I’ve seen it in the coolers for takeout.