Texas Weiners

July is National Hot Dog Month.

I am not a sports fan. I am often surrounded by sports fans who, on crucial game days, require sustenance that is easy to make and goes well with beer. Hot dogs are also called wieners. 

I serve Texas Weiners with this sauce and chopped onions. This sauce is HOT so exercise discretion. For a milder sauce, omit the Cayenne Pepper.

This recipe comes from a chef who posted on the old AOL Comfort Food Board named Big Saab Guy. He actually lives in Texas. It will dress about 2 dozen hot dogs. I give it to you as he gave it to the board. You can keep the Sauce and the Hot Dogs warm separately and the sports fanatics can assemble and eat at will. Give lots of napkins.

The sign on the right comes from Plainfield NJ. It hangs on one of the original Texas Weiner joints in business since 1924. The Texas Weiner was actually created by a Greek in Paterson NJ.


Texas Hot Dog Sauce

1 pound finely ground Beef
3 tablespoons Chili Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Cumin
1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Thyme
1 teaspoon White Vinegar
2 cups Water

Very thoroughly brown Beef and drain. You want the pieces to be as small as possible. Really work to break them up as you brown them.

Add the spices and mix well. Add the Water and simmer for one hour, uncovered, stirring often. It should be the consistency of something like tomato soup.

Stir in the Vinegar. Then serve as follows: put a thin smear of Yellow Mustard on both sides of an open hot dog roll, then insert the Hot Dog, then a layer of finely chopped Onion, then drizzle the top with about a tablespoon of the Sauce.

This video and the recipe that it contains is an elaborate sauce more like the North Jersey version I know and love. Feel free to use cinnamon if you have no allspice. Garnish with chopped onion for sure.

Poor Man's Turkey

“People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.” ― Abraham Lincoln

This recipe comes from Karen Rock and Recipes of the Liberty Bell Chapter #266 - Vietnam Veterans of America.

This might taste awfully good on those days when you are sick of leftover Turkey and you have some stuffing left. I never have any stuffing left. And I hate Turkey. Might have to improvise.

I suppose you could make some stuffing just for this dish. Might be yummy. I like the whole idea.

Poor Man's Turkey

1 pound Ground Beef
1/2 cup Bread Crumbs
1 Egg
1 small Onion, chopped (optional)
2 tablespoons Soy Sauce
1 cup cooked Stuffing
1 slice raw Bacon (optional)

Combine first five ingredients and form into one loaf. Cut in half lengthwise and insert Stuffing into the middle of the loaf. Put back into shape and bake one hour at 375 degrees. Place strip of Bacon on top of meatloaf to keep it from drying out. Serves 4.

California Marrow Bones

I do not eat a lot of Beef or any meat these days. I occasionally am overcome with a desire for some and I indulge myself.

I love marrow. It never occurred to me it could be a whole course. I just always hung over the stockpot and ate marrow before anyone else could get to it. It was my own dirty little secret.

The beauty of vintage community cookbooks is that an odd recipe you find will open a new frontier. This Appetizer recipe comes from Los Angeles and the Farmers Market Cookbook by Florine Sikking published in 1975. Each stall in the market contibuted a recipe. This recipe is from Tunstall's Gift Shop,

La Brea Tarpits Marrow Bones

4 Marrow Bones (have the Butcher cut them in half lengthwise)
1/4 pound Margarine, unsalted
4 cloves Garlic, crushed
1/2 cup Bread Crumbs
1 teaspoon Paprika
1/2 teaspoon Salt

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Combine Margarine and Garlic and make into a paste. Spread the paste over the marrow side of the bone. Sprinkle Bread Crumbs, Paprika and Salt on each bone. Place Bones on cookie sheets and bake for 20 to 30 minutes until the Marrow has turned creamy in color. Makes 8 servings.

English Cottage Pie

This is another recipe from Sadie Dell. She writes:

 “Proper English Cottage Pie is a delicious, very traditional mince pie topped with mashed Potato. Serve with garden or mushy peas.”

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground Beef

1 Onion, diced

3 Carrots, diced

2 tablespoons all-purpose Flour

½ teaspoon ground Nutmeg 

1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning

2 tablespoons chopped fresh Parsley

1 ½ cups Beef Broth

1 tablespoon Tomato Paste

Salt and Pepper to taste

4 Potatoes, peeled and diced

¼ cup Butter, softened

1 cup Milk

Salt and Pepper to taste

¼ pound shredded Cheddar Cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place a large skillet over medium heat. Crumble in ground Beef and saute one minute. Add Onion and Carrot and continue to saute until Meat is no longer pink and Onion begins to brown, about 5 minutes.

Mix in Flour, Nutmeg, mixed Herbs and Parsley. In a small bowl, combine Beef Broth and Tomato Paste. Mix together and then add to the Beef mixture. Add Salt and Pepper to taste. Lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until almost all of liquid has been absorbed. Spoon the mixture into a 9 inch pie plate.

Place diced potatoes in a medium saucepan. Cover with water and boil until potatoes are tender. Drain. Mash Potatoes until smooth, and then add Butter and Milk. Whip until fluffy. Add Salt and Pepper to taste. Spread potatoes over Beef filling. Sprinkle with Cheddar Cheese. Bake for 25 minutes until top is browned and Cheese is bubbly.

Best Party Meatballs

No matter how elegant a buffet I turn out, these delicious bites are always the first to be consumed. Mildred Albert did everything well. And her recipe for Sweet and Sour Meatballs is an example of her culinary and social talents.

MILDRED ELIZABETH LEVINE ALBERT

1905 – 1991

BibliographyDiscuss

by Sara Alpern

“M.A.” and “The Mighty Atom,” as Mildred Albert was called, charmed the fashion world as an international fashion consultant, lecturer, columnist, and radio and television personality.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Makes 75 to 85 Meatballs

1 clove Garlic, minced

2 pounds ground Beef
2 Eggs
3 tablespoons Chili Sauce
2 tablespoons dried Parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Pepper, divided
1 quart (32 ounces) cocktail Vegetable Juice (V8)
1 box (1 pound) light Brown Sugar
1 cup white Vinegar
3 cloves Garlic, halved
30 prunes, pitted

Mash minced Garlic with ground Beef, Eggs, Chili Sauce, Parsley flakes, Salt and 1/4 teaspoon Pepper. Shape the mixture into 75 to 85 meatballs.

Combine Vegetable Juice, Brown Sugar, Vinegar, split Garlic cloves, and remaining Pepper. Bring the sauce mixture to a boil.

Drop Meatballs into the Juice mixture. Reduce heat to low. Cook at a low simmer for 40 minutes. Add prunes to the sauce and cook 30 minutes more. 

Drain off most, but not all, of the sauce before putting meatballs and prunes into a chafing dish. Serve hot with toothpicks.

Note: 
Make these a day ahead, refrigerate and skim fat from surface before serving. I find if I use a very lean grind of meat, there is hardly any fat.  I also add 1/4 cup of very fine dry bread crumbs to this mixture. It makes a difference if you use fresh parsley. However, both are optional and to your taste. You can increase the recipe to 115 to 125 meatballs by adding 1 more pound of ground Beef to make a total of 3 pounds. But be sure to leave the sauce ingredients as they are. Do not increase the liquid. Use exactly one quart. 

Ms. Lissa Patton's Chili Divine

CLICK ME !

I give it to you, Cher Reader, as she gave it to me. You are going to be so glad I did.

Ms. Lissa Patton's Chili Divine

"Twelve good sized ripe heirloom tomatoes (they have an acidic taste, not like the cardboard you find in the supermarket).

Peel (I drop them in hot water for a few seconds then put them on ice, which cracks the skin and it is easily stripped). Slice in half lengthwise. De-seed. (A baby spoon works for this).

Put in food processor along with de-seeded jalapenos to taste. (Slice lengthwise and use a baby spoon again)

Puree.

Put in Dutch oven.

Add two cinnamon sticks, salt and black pepper to taste. (Sometines I add a bit of white pepper).

Finely chop a sweet white onion and add.

Add beans (Kidney and black beans are what I use a pound or so of each.)

Add about two cups of chicken or turkey broth.

Brown about two pounds of pork sausage. (We have an old fashioned hand crank grinder, so we do it ourselves with white pork shoulder meat.)

Add a half cup of honey after you put the browned meat in the pot.

Three cloves garlic, finely chopped.

Heat at 220 in the oven for at least three hours, pulling the rack out every thirty minutes or so to stir.

I like it to go five or six hours the first time. Gets better every time you reheat. It’s thick, so sometimes we serve it over white rice, like gumbo.

Freezes well."

Lady Bird Johnson and Burning Love

One way to love a Texas garden is to burn it. Encourages the growth of wild AbutiIon. I learned that from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

The Wild Flower Center at Texas State University seems a fitting memorial to a First Lady who was a committed environmentalist. I found my way to the Wildflower Center because I was doing some research at the National Archives. 

This is a photograph of the Texas Indian Mallow or Abutilon fruticosum

Lady Bird Johnson left us her recipe for Texas Style Chili. Now that is some burning love because her recipe was “almost as popular as the government pamphlet on the care and feeding of children.” I love the National Archives. Send them some burning love.

Aunt Lola's Meatloaf

Years ago, Dear Abby published a Meat Loaf recipe that she billed as "the best."  Aunt Lola has got her recipe beat 9 ways to Sunday dinner. The secret is the topping. Try this recipe. It is simple and delicious. And you do not have to buy that expensive too salty onion soup mix to get flavor. 

Aunt Lola Lease's Meatloaf

Ingredients:

2/3 cup Bread Crumbs

1 cup liquid (milk, stock, or water)

1 and 1/2 pounds Ground Beef

1/4 cup chopped Onion

2 Eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon Salt

Topping Ingredients:

6 tablespoons Brown Sugar

2 teaspoons Dry Mustard

1/2 cup Catsup

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Beat the Eggs and then add the Liquid, Salt, Onions and Bread Crumbs. Mix a bit. Add the Meat. Mix again. Form into a loaf. Mix topping ingredients and spread over the meat. Bake for 45 minutes.

Note: I never make this with Milk. I use Stock or Water. I reduce the Brown Sugar to half. For best results mince onions finely.

Children like this a lot. And it slices well for Meat Loaf Sandwiches. Sure, you can add all sorts of embellishments like minced Green Pepper or a little Worcestershire Sauce in the Topping but why gild a Lily? 

Lazy Woman's Red Cooked Beef

I eat a lot of vegetables and beans for conscience, health and because I love them. But I would not describe myself as a Vegetarian entirely. Sometimes in the Winter, I long for some succulent fatty braised Beef.

Red Cooked Pork Belly

I hate all the browning required in traditional braised Beef recipes. It is time consuming and it messes up the stove bigtime. I also possess a slow cooker which is an American invention I appreciate. So one day when I was busy tidying the hovel, listening to music and not feeling at all like doing any serious cooking, I did this good thing that my family likes a lot. I Red Cooked a Chuck Steak. Oh yummy.

Red Cooking is a Chinese culinary technique for braising/stewing. Wikipedia has an excellent description of classic Red Cooking. If you go there to learn more, please give $5.00 to their fund drive if you can spare it. Wikipedia is an excellent resource. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_cooking

Classic Red Cooking usually involves soy sauce and varied Chinese flavorings that I do not always have in the pantry. I always have soy sauce (chief ingredient in red cooking), garlic, molasses, and some form of vinegar or white wine. So I threw this nice looking Chuck Steak (larded with pieces of garlic) in the slow cooker on the lowest temperature and added 6
tablespoons soy sauce, 3 tablespoons Vinegar or Wine and 1 tablespoon Molasses and went away for hours. I came back to delicious succulent brown braised Beef. 

Note: Chuck is the most flavorful of Beef cuts and it can be quite fatty. Fat equals flavor. I often cook this a day ahead, chill it in the refrigerator and remove the fat before serving. Feel free to double the "sauce" if your Chuck Steak is large. Just keep the same proportion of ingredients. And if you have a slice of fresh Ginger, throw it in the sauce. You can also add Sesame Oil (just a smidge as the flavor is very strong) toward the end of the cooking time if you have some. This Beef will perfectly good if you do not. 

Beans? Oh the horror of it all.

O tempora! O mores! - Cicero

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The notion of putting beans in chili has been a sensitive topic as long as competitive cook-offs have been around. So this year the International Chili Society is saying: let's do both. For the first time, the International Chili Society will have traditional red chili and bean-optional chili categories at its 46th world championship event, which returns to West Virginia starting Friday.

I have always had beans in my chili. I am originally from New Jersey. And I like beans. This is like the no-grated-cheese-with-seafood-sauce controversy. That is, no controversy at all. I don't know about other Italians, but I always add grated cheese to any kind of pasta and/or pasta sauce. Everybody has a chili recipe. I am sure the purists will groan about mine.

Plum Street Chili

1 and 1/2 pounds of coarsely ground Beef Chuck

2 tablespoons Olive Oil

1 small Onion, chopped

4-5 cloves of Garlic, chopped 

1 15 ounce can of diced Tomato (I prefer tomato sauce but my Jesse likes the tomato chunks) 

1 15 ounce can of Red Beans ( 2 cans if you like Beans)

1 whole Chipotle Pepper in adobo sauce, deseeded and chopped

Ground Cumin, one tablespoon or to taste

Your favorite ground Chili Powder, one tablespoon or to taste (optional)

1/4 teaspoon Cocoa powder or instant Expresso powder (optional)
Salt and Black Pepper to taste

One Bay Leaf (optional)

Warm the Olive Oil and saute the chopped Onion until transparent. Add the Garlic and then the Chipotle Pepper and saute for another minute. Go slow and just warm in the Oil. Essentially you are creating a flavor base.  Add the Cumin, Chili Powder, Cocoa or Coffee powder and Bay Leaf. 

You cannot get Chili grind Beef in Pennsylvania. I settle for a lean coarsely ground Round or Chuck. I saute the ground Beef in my wok so it browns quickly. I leave the meat in little chunks so the chili has texture. You do not want to mash the Beef.

Add the Beef to the flavor base, saute a minute or two longer. Then add the Tomatoes and the Beans. Simmer the chili until it is reduced and thick as you like it.  Chipotle Peppers add a lovely hot and smoky flavor to Chili. Serves 5-6.