Detroit Style Coney Dogs - Mike Puts His Money Where His Mouth Is

 Mike's Coney Island Hot Dog Recipe

In my last post, I discussed the Detroit Style Coney Island Hot Dog and how it differs from many other "coney dogs" with which you may be familiar.  This post will focus on how you can make your own delicious and authentic Detroit style coney dogs at home.  

My Coney Sauce Recipe

Let's begin with the coney sauce ingredient list, quantities and units of measure.  If you do a lot of cooking like I do, you probably have most of these ingredients on-hand.  If not, use this to make a shopping list.  Normally, I would have all of these ingredients in my refrigerator, freezer, pantry or spice rack except for the tomato juice.  And what I may lack is available via a brief jaunt to my nearby grocery store.  This means I could whip up a coney sauce batch pretty quickly in the event of a coney dog emergency.   

Items I may not keep on-hand include the coney dogs themselves and buns.  The buns are simple because they are your garden-variety enriched white flour hot dog buns.  But the wieners are going to be a matter of personal choice depending upon how authentic you want to get.  

The Coney Dogs

My personal favorite for the wieners are the same dogs they use at Lafayette in Downtown Detroit.  They are called Koegel Natural Casing, Fully-Cooked Viennas that you can usually find at area Meijer stores. Meijer is based in Michigan so naturally, they favor Michigan-based products like Koegel hot dogs (produced in Flint, Mi, a town that also claims 100+ year old coney dog provenance).  You may find several different types of Koegel dogs among the hundreds of hot dogs, sausages, brats, etc., that you will find in the "Hot Dog" section of the store.  Again, it's a matter of personal preference but if you want the real deal and natural casing snap, buy these long, thin, Vienna wieners pictured below.  

Because I want to make things easy, I have also done some math for you.  These Koegels come in a package of 8, which is why I scaled the recipe for 8-12 coney dogs.  The sauce recipe I am giving you will produce about 44 ounces of coney sauce.  If you portion the sauce exactly, this will yield anywhere from 3.7 ounces per 12 coney batch or 5.5 ounces for an 8 coney batch.  I usually opt for the 8 coney batch since a package of Koegels contains 8 of these scrumptious Vienna dogs, a standard hot dog bun package contains 8 buns and because I like plenty of sauce on my coneys.  

Let's Make Some Coney Sauce.  

Coney Sauce Detailed Steps

1. Peel and chop 2 whole white onions.  I know the sauce recipe only uses 6 tablespoons, but you will want to reserve the rest for the coneys themselves.   

2.  Melt the butter in a large pot (reserve 2 Oz of the melted butter to make a roux that we'll discuss in step 4).  

3. Finely dice 6 tablespoons of the chopped onions and sauté them in the remaining 6 Oz of melted butter. 

4.  In a separate skillet or pan, transfer the reserved 2 Oz of butter.  Over medium heat, slowly fold in the 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour to form a roux. Add more flour if needed.  Like all roux, you want the consistency to be almost like paste.  Continue stirring until the flour absorbs the butter and the roux starts to turn a beige-brown color.  

5.  Combine the roux and sautéed onions in a large pot and maintain over low heat. 

6.  In a separate pan or pot, thoroughly brown the ground beef over medium-high heat.  Drain-off the excess liquid. Once the beef is thoroughly browned and drained (and is cooked to above 160 degrees Fahrenheit for food safety purposes), combine with the onions and roux.  Mix thoroughly. 

7.  Finely dice the pepperoni and salami.  Stir the bits into the beef, onion and roux mixture.  Add the heavy whipping cream, tomato juice and Tabasco sauce.  

8.  Stir in remaining dry spices and bread crumbs until completely combined with the other ingredients. 

9.  Continuously stir over low heat until the coney sauce coats the back of the spoon.  Use an immersion blender or mixer if needed to break the ingredients down to a thick but "soupy" consistency. 

Continue to keep the coney sauce warm on the stove while you get your Koegel Viennas and buns ready to eat.  The sauce will continue to darken as it cooks down.  You can add more dark chili powder if you want the sauce to be even darker and more spicy.  

Steam Your Buns

Detroit style coney buns are best steamed.  There are several ways to do this. I find the easiest is to boil a pot of water and throw the hot dogs right into the pot.  While they dogs are heating up, take a strainer, grate, or any other perforated apparatus and place it over the pot to catch the steam.  Then, open the buns and lay them "face down" so they can absorb the steam.  This only takes a minute or two. Be careful removing them from the steam - use a spatula or wooden spoon to remove them so you do not burn your hands.  Remember that steam is hotter than boiling water!  Also take care not to over-steam the buns.  Otherwise, they will literally fall apart on you.  

Assembly

Place the buns on a plate and open them to receive the hot dogs.  After the hot dogs are fully-reheated (they are already fully-cooked), carefully remove them using tongs or a fork and place them into the buns.  

Continue assembling the coney dogs by spooning 4-5 ounces of sauce onto the center of each hot dog and bun.  

Spread a liberal amount of chopped onions on top of the sauce and finish with a few squirts of yellow mustard.  

That's all there is to it.  Now that you've read this step-by-step to the end, hopefully you understand how easy it is to make really delicious Detroit Style Coney Dogs.  Please make me a promise.  Don't cheat by buying store bought chili from a can and trying to pass it off as "Detroit Style" with your guests.  If you do, please don't mention my name or otherwise defame Detroit's good name :-).  There's a chance at least one of your guest will know better and call bullshit on you.  Besides, there is no need to cheat.  Follow my simple steps and you'll be well on your way to a barrage of phrases like "Oh my gawd," "Snap, that's amazing" or in the immortal words of Mr. Anthony Bordain, "I think I better have another."

Be sure to make plenty for your guests. These Detroit Style Coney Island Hot Dogs will go fast.

Enjoy!