3 Great Hot Dog Recipes + my homemade HD Chili

Week 2

This Blog has gone to the Dogs!

A quick look into dog recipes found me wondering exactly how many college football mascots are dogs. Here is my short list.

Uga is the most famous of all mascots and also leader of the bulldogs. You can find him every game day over at Georgia.

Yale has it’s bulldog named, rightly so, Handsome Dan, and is the oldest continuous mascot.

Georgetown breeds English Bulldogs, no surprise there.

Mississippi State loves bulldogs too. Again, no surprise.

Texas A&E has Reveille, an American Collie. That's a surprise.

Smokey, the blue-tick hound finds home at Tennessee.

An Alaskan malamute leads the Washington Huskies.

How many more can you come up with? Send me a comment and let me know.

3 Great Dog Recipes

Old Fashion Slaw Dogs
8 servings

All you need for this is 8 hotdogs, 8 buns, homemade slaw and 4 hungry people (or 8 single servings)

To make the Slaw, you will need:
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 small white onion, grated
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon celery seeds
3 tablespoons apple-cider vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 small head of cabbage, cored, finely shredded
1 large carrot, finely shredded

Whisk together the mayonnaise, onion, sugar, celery salt, vinegar and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the cabbage and carrot and stir to combine, season with more salt and pepper, if needed. Let sit at least 15 minutes before serving or make it up the day before.

Grill the dogs 2 to 3 minutes on each side or to your liking, toast the buns and assemble with lots of slaw!


Fancy Fixin' Dogs
8 servings

8 all-beef hot dogs
8 hoagie buns
1 -9 ounce jar mango chutney (such as Major Grey's), any large pieces chopped fine
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard plus additional for serving

Mix chutney, onion, cilantro, and 1 tablespoon mustard in bowl. Make this a day ahead. Cover and chill.

Prepare grill to medium high heat and grill hot dogs and buns until heated through. Add mustard if desired to the bun, the hot dog and spoon on the relish. Enjoy!


Raging Cajun Nawlins Cheese Dog
makes 8 dogs

8 all beef, extra long hot dogs
8 hot dog buns
1/2 stick butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Cajun Seasoning
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 cups milk
1 1/2 cups shredded Colby cheese
3/4 cup (mild or hot) pickled jalapeno slices, drained

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the flour and whisk until smooth. Add the seasonings and cook stirring for 2 minutes. Slowly add the milk and whisk. Turn up the heat and when mixture starts to boil, reduce heat to medium-low. Allow mixture to simmer stirring constantly until it thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon, about 20 minutes.
Add the cheese, the chopped jalapeno slices and whisk until cheese completely melts. Remove from the heat and serve or store until needed
Sauce can be refrigerated for up to 2 days, then reheated on low heat, with a little liquid added if necessary.
On game day, grill your dogs, toast your buns and top your dogs with this spicy cajun cheese sause.
Optional assorted garnishes: diced yellow onions, sauerkraut, grain mustard, ketchup, hot sauce, barbecue sauce, diced tomatoes, sweet or dill pickle relish, lettuce, and/or chili.


Tame those dawg-gone whiners (or how to smother a wiener).

Okay, so everyone likes hotdogs - right? Polling around I found a whole lot of you did not care for them at all and if made to eat roasted franks, would need to take a gourmet approach to satisfy your epicurean taste. So I thought about it, probably too much, of coming up with recipes using specialty links from organic raised and grazed animals, grilled with spicy fruity glazes, chutney type relishes made with fresh gourmand ingredients and whole grain rustic rolls or even tomato basil wraps. As I began to note the many ideas and the list spilt over to the next page, that’s when I stopped and thought - now wait one #@*^&%* minute. We’re talking about football here, tailgate parties and grilling out. And as I wadded up the notepaper, it occurred to me - do what any true football grilling man would do. Serve ‘em what you want them to have and if they don’t like it, well, cover it up!

My famous hot dog chili recipe:

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 pound lean ground beef

1 large onion -diced

2 garlic cloves -minced

1 cup ketchup

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon Tabasco

1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder

2 tablespoons brown mustard

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Tomato juice as needed

In a medium saucepan brown beef in oil stirring and chopping until it is fine in texture and fully cooked without liquid. Drain and remove any oil. Add the onion and garlic to the meat on medium low heat and cook about 5 minutes. Stir in the rest of the ingredients, except tomato juice and bring to a low simmer. Add just enough tomato juice to create a very loose but not soupy mixture. Cook on low about 15 minutes.

Now if you really want to dress 'em up, sprinkle on a mound of finely grated cheese, the kind men like to eat - Velvetta.

See ya next week for more Tailgate Thursday fun.