Red Hots

So, what's a red hot? Let me tell you. It's a type of hot dog that's similar to others and unique at the same time.


They come from this little hole in the wall joint in downtown Kingston, New York. They're great and they get glowing reviews. They don't really look like much.


But they're great.

I'm going to give you the recipe to make these things. I found it buried in some dark little corner of the internet many years ago. I made it many years after I had eaten my last Dallas Hot Weiner, but I'm not lying when I tell you it is just like the ones sold in the store.

With the long weekend coming up I thought it might stir someone to try these.

Here goes.

Notes: Don't skimp on the dogs. Get the best all beef dogs you can find. This recipe makes enough for about 12 hot dogs.

The night before make one packed cup of finely chopped yellow onion and leave it in a covered bowl on the counter.

Steamed buns are a must. You can put a screen or rack over the hot dog boiling pot and place slightly opened buns on the rack and covering all with a bowl or a tin foil tent or maybe a pot lid.

Spicy brown mustard. Nothing fancy, the store brand from the mega mart is what you want.

2 1/2 cups of water
6 oz beef hot dogs - 2 oz each = 3 hot dogs, ground with a fine grind
2 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch - mixed in a very small amount of water
2 tsp. paprika
2 tsp. chile powder
1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. white vinegar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. black pepper
a pinch of oregano - crushed fine
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

Simmer all except cornstarch for 30 minutes. Add the cornstarch mixture and boil for another 5  minutes, stirring constantly for at least the first 2. This sauce is thin. It is supposed to be.

Put a lightly boiled hot dog on a steamed bun. A light swipe of mustard followed by a tablespoon of onions. Then be very generous with the sauce to make a dog that looks like the picture.

Serious business, these are worth trying. Have a nice Holiday weekend!

AK, do this one. The sauce will freeze for 2 or 3 months before it begins to loose something. The rest freezes well too. In fact I have these frozen in 3 dog groups right now. Buns, dogs and onions. The mustard is always around anyway. Easy peazy. Put the buns and the onions on the counter to thaw a couple hours before, then dogs in a pot with some water, rack on top with buns on the rack. Pot lid over top. Nuke the sauce and get the mustard out of the fridge. Put it together on a plate and... and...

Be transported to a stool at the counter of that steamy little hole in the wall on a cold winter evening a week before Christmas and eat those dogs, maybe with a plate of blistering hot french fries and an ice cold can of root beer. Letting your nose fill with the fried and spicy smell of the place. Seeing the heavy condensation on the inside of the windows. Letting your ears try to hear the game on the old portable radio hanging off a nail in the wall over clanking and clatter of all the kitchen equipment and dishes that all happens just on the other side of the counter and hear all the hellos and goodbyes and all the laughter of the people waiting in line inside. Feel the puffs of cold night air pierce the steamy warmth as the door opens and closes again and again. Hear the bells on the door jingle every time. All while watching the Greek guy behind the old and worn counter, quickly line up a half dozen steamed buns along his arm and all as quick as St. Nick dropping down a chimney, slap the dogs in the buns on his arm, use the old worn oak dowel to dip and slash a swipe of mustard on each, big spoonful of two day old chopped onions slung at each dog at just the right angle and speed to spread the onion all across the dog as even as can be, bigger spoon to slop the sauce across each dog and finally as fast as lighting each dog wrapped in deli paper with flair and a big smile. Artistry by a master!

Take the trip AK.

Definitely on my to do list Rod. I'll be making them soon.

well, now it wouldn't have been right of me to offer a recipe for dallas hot wieners, now would it?  And the long lost internet source called them texas red hots. I'm fairly confident that the original source worked at the above mentioned store at one time although words to that effect were not offered. This person also was a native upstate New Yorker as I recall and probably don't know texas from Jack. I'm sure the person didn't mean to step on any tender toes, and neither did I, as I've never heard of a "red hot" sausage before you posted the ingredients. It looks good though. Are they meant to be served on a bun like a hot dog?

Red Hot's are a easily available brand of hot dog available to me. They are made by Maple Leaf Foods here in Ontario. Whether they're similar or equal to "proper" red hot's I do not know.