(01-25-2016 05:43 PM)Lou_C Wrote: (01-25-2016 05:36 PM)TexanMark Wrote: (01-25-2016 05:28 PM)Lou_C Wrote: (01-25-2016 03:09 PM)TexanMark Wrote: (01-25-2016 10:25 AM)cuseroc Wrote: BOOOOO!
Zweigles are better!
My Rochester wife sez the same thing...both of you are misguided. 
I've got no problem with Wardynski, but I like Sahlens and Zweigles better. To me, Sahlens and Zweigles are different animals, sometimes I want one, sometimes the other. Sahlens are my clear choice if I'm making Texas Hots with homemade Texas sauce (thank God for the internet, I found a good recipe finally). And Sahlens are better if you have to do them on a frying pan.
Zweigles are the clear choice for me in a white hot, and is definitely the equal, if different, if doing them on the grill which is usually the case. Zweigles is especially good if you've got a hard roll type roll for them, some of their charm is lost on a standard hot dog bun.
You have a link for the recipe? Might try that this fall...
Let me see if I can find it...unlike most recipes on the web, it was VERY hard to find. There are a lot of recipes that are decidedly NOT it. I finally found it deep down in the recesses of some message board discussion which I'm not sure is till on the web...I'll see. If not I'll copy and paste it in.
I'm not going to claim I can put it up against any greek greasy spoon in Buffalo, but being as far (miles/years) removed as I am, it hits close enough to the bulls eye to work. After trying different recipes over the years, it's the first one that was clearly more or less right, and you could tell immediately from the smell of it.
Ok, I found it...it's still holding up on the web...
Ingredients
1 lb lean ground beef (lean ground turkey works equally well)
1 large onion, chopped
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
2 cups water
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
Directions
In a large saucepan brown beef and onions, breaking up large chunks. Drain. Add remaining
ingredients and simmer, uncovered, 2 hours. Tastes better when reheated the next day.
It's about halfway down the page at this link:
http://www.hungrybrowser.com/phaedrus/m1220SA08.htm#3
I would definitely save it...it's always looked to me like that could disappear any time. There are a couple other recipes in a similar vein on that page (and elsewhere on the web) but this is the one that works, at least in terms of the greek diners that served up Texas hots where I grew up in Buffalo.
The cloves, cinnamon, etc are the ingredients I never would have guessed in a million years, and admittedly gave me pause. But when I told my wife, she said "I can see that. Yeah, I can actually see that being right."
And sure enough, with that stuff in there, as soon as it started simmering, you could smell it. Took me right back to Spiros on Elmwood Ave in Kenmore (RIP) or Nestors in NT (RIP). Did a little celebratory dance around the kitchen before I ever tasted it.
Word of advice from my experience...once I've browned the beef and onions, I food process it to chop it very fine. It makes for a smooth thick sauce, which is what I'm looking for, rather than a more watery sauce with bigger identifiable chunks of beef and onion in it. Again, like the recipe itself, whatever restaurant you are trying to recapture may influence if that works for you.
And it's a bit of a hassle to make, so make a really big batch, and then freeze the remaining in ice cube trays. One cube is about enough to top one hot dog (or hamburg, I like it on hamburgs as well). Microwave a cube or two, maybe have to add a splash of water, and you're rocking and rolling as soon as you can grill or fry up a dog. Tastes as good if not better than freshly made.
Got that trick working in a hot dog restaurant called the Char Hut (RIP) back in the day on Delaware Ave that didn't really specialize in Texas hots, but always had some in the freezer to be called upon.
Funny thing is, you'll be Texan Mark, living in Texas, making Texas hots which have nothing to do with Texas at all and nobody in Texas will have ever heard of.
My Buffalo friend swears by Wardynski
