This is my rainy Sunday project.

Saffron wrote:

This is my rainy Sunday project.

Wow, that loaf looks splendid. The sesame seeds will give it a nice crisp crust. Unfortunately, my efforts often have a very hard and tough crust, i.e. concrete overcoat and doughy middle. Unless I make it in the breadmaker which then often is too sweet for our taste.

We have been having inseasonably hot sunny weather for this time of year and so we had a barbecue with the kids on Saturday instead of the Sushi which we'd bought and planned for. Since Sushi doesn't keep for long, we ate it on Sunday evening, which meant I didn't cook a roast dinner, most unusual for a Sunday. So tonight I'm doing a pigeon casserole.

I should have posted on here about last Sunday's dinner because we had grouse. I braised a brace of grouse and they were really quite something. We can't usually get grouse in the game season (which has just started here), they are always too expensive for our game supplier to stock with any confidence. Anyway, last weekend he had them at £5 each and they are so delicious. A sweetish dark meat, rather like wild duck (mallard) but juicier, I thought. I made really sumptuous soup with the carcasses too.

I'm not greatly fond of wood-pigeon but OH likes it, so he gets the meat and I quite like the gravey with some carefully cooked veg. I'll consult Mrs. Beeton on its preparation although she wasn't much help with the grouse as she suggested roasting it on a spit in front of a brisk fire, which I suppose meant a barbecue, LOL. Wrong weekend Mrs. B.

This recipe is not nearly as classy as most I have seen posted here. In fact, it would probably be considered a sort of “Joe Sixpack” recipe in the US, but it is unique and, for a long time, was considered “secret” as well. Plus, it involves a cooking technique I had never heard of before we managed to wrangle the recipe out of a disgruntled former cook at the greasy spoon where my family has been eating for several decades now. The greasy spoon is called Coney Island, and it is one of a few similar spots scattered around the US that serve a specific type of chili dog. The chili is not like what most folks would expect on a chili dog, in that it is Greek in origin, contains no beans, and is not tomato-based. Instead, it consists of a finely crumbled, highly spiced ground beef that must be cooked in three phases over a period of five hours in order to develop its unique taste and texture. This is one of the reasons that, try as we might, we were never able to even come close to duplicating it ourselves until we discovered the original recipe.

One other thing I should mention about this is that, because many people are used to the standard chili dog served in thousands of restaurants around the world, some folks might not care for it at first. However, after eating a couple of these dogs, something akin to an addiction seems to occur, and many people ultimately become hooked on them. In fact, if you are lucky enough to find a restaurant or diner that serves these chili dogs, you will note that, around lunch time, they are jammed, often with waiting lines extending onto the sidewalks.

In addition to the uniqueness of the chili itself, there is a specific way the dogs are served, and that is with only raw chopped onions and yellow mustard—never catsup. In fact, at our Coney Island, they charge extra for catsup, in order to discourage people from requesting it.

Finally, let me throw in a note of caution by saying that this is not a recipe that can be successfully created by altering anything, whether it be ingredients or cooking procedure. Failure to follow the cooking directions exactly may result in something edible, but it certainly won't resemble the real thing. Do not attempt to speed up the cooking time, throw in substitutes (onion powder or dried onions instead of fresh, Tabasco instead of peppers, etc.), fry the ground beef, or fail to execute the cook-and-let-sit procedure. The only alteration I have made to the original recipe is to use low-fat ground beef, which seems to have no effect on the taste or texture at all.

All that said, here is the recipe for . . .

AUTHENTIC CONEY ISLAND CHILI DOGS

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds of ground beef (low fat if desired)
1 huge Spanish onion chopped
3 tablespoons of chili powder
1 small can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon salt/salt substitute & 2 teaspoons pepper (to taste)

Bouquet Garni
2 crumbled dried red peppers or equivalent
32 whole allspice
3 bay leaves

First, crumble 1-1/2 half pounds of (low-fat if you prefer) ground beef into a cold Dutch oven and cover with cold water. Consistency is of utmost importance in creating the chili, which has a very fine texture with no discernible lumps of meat. To achieve this smooth texture, use your fingers to squeeze and crumble the meat under the water until all the tiny meat particles are separated. Next, stir in the chopped onion, and bring the mixture to a boil.

Meanwhile, prepare a bouquet garni containing the allspice, bay leaves and dried red peppers. (To make a bouquet garni, cut two or three layers of cheesecloth into about an eight-inch square, place the spices in the center, draw the sides and corners of the square up so that nothing can leak out, and tie securely with a piece of string or heavy white thread.) Submerge the bouquet garni in water, add the salt, pepper, chili powder, and tomato sauce, and stir. Once the mixture reaches a boil, reduce the heat to attain a soft, rolling simmer, and cook uncovered for exactly two hours, adding water if necessary to keep the level just above the meat. After two hours, remove from the heat and let it sit uncovered without cooking for exactly two hours. Then again add water to cover the meat (which will have absorbed most of the earlier moisture), return to the heat and boil/simmer for exactly one hour.

Cooking The Dog
In order to be authentic, the dog must be grilled, not boiled, steamed or microwaved. This grilling does not have to add fat, as you can use fat-free cooking spray to keep the dogs from sticking.

The Condiments
For the sake of authenticity, serve only with chopped onions and generic yellow mustard.

The Buns
The buns can be of almost any variety, from bakery fresh to the generic supermarket kind. Though it is not crucial, to be absolutely authentic, they should be steamed soft.

Building The Perfect Chili Dog
Grab a bun, slap in a dog, slather on mustard, then throw on a wooden spoonful of onions. Dip a wooden spoon into the chili, scoop some up against the side of the pan to drain the moisture and slosh it on. Scrape with the spoon until the coverage is fairly even.

The Low-Fat Version
Depending on what type of ground beef you use, the amount of chili necessary to amply cover one dog can range in fat content from one to twenty fat grams (some supermarkets now carry ground beef that has only one gram of fat per ounce, and once cooked, a reasonable serving can contain as little as one to two ounces of beef.

As for the hot dogs, I have used everything from turkey dogs to more expensive fat-free varieties with similarly tasty results. Turkey dogs contain about six grams of fat each, and inexpensive hot-dog buns usually contain one- to-two grams of fat. Assuming you use fat-free dogs and two-gram buns, each completed dog could contain as little as four or five grams of fat – five or six if you double the amount of chili sauce.

Thankyou for that lebeaux. I haven't seen whole allspice although ground powdered is easily available. When you say 'grill' do you mean cook in a griddle pan with the heat underneath? When we say grill we mean the heat comes from above, but I think that is called broiling in the US.

Anyway, I like the sound of the meat mixture, although not the doughey buns. I will give it a try.

I did the pigeon casserole and it was very good, though I made it up as I went along since I couldn't find a recipe I fancied. I sauteed a large onion, couple of carrots and two sweet potatoes, then sealed off the floured pigeon in the hot oil. Added water to cover and chucked in three garlic cloves, a sprig of thyme and a sprig of rosemary tied together. A chicken stock cube and a slosh of port.

I cooked it for an hour on a low heat and then tested for seasoning. Then I just left it in the oven till we were ready. Served with creamed potatoes and steamed cauliflower. We had plain yoghurt and honey for desert.

It is a very autumnal dish.

Penelope wrote:
We have been having inseasonably hot sunny weather for this time of year and so we had a barbecue with the kids on Saturday instead of the Sushi which we'd bought and planned for. Since Sushi doesn't keep for long, we ate it on Sunday evening, which meant I didn't cook a roast dinner, most unusual for a Sunday. So tonight I'm doing a pigeon casserole.

I should have posted on here about last Sunday's dinner because we had grouse. I braised a brace of grouse and they were really quite something. We can't usually get grouse in the game season (which has just started here), they are always too expensive for our game supplier to stock with any confidence. Anyway, last weekend he had them at £5 each and they are so delicious. A sweetish dark meat, rather like wild duck (mallard) but juicier, I thought. I made really sumptuous soup with the carcasses too.

I love this post! To my American sensibilities it seems so British and pastoral. We do not ever cook a brace of anything, let alone grouse. We Americans eat very little in the way of game, with the exception of venison. The dish sounds very tasty. I love duck. Oh, and our weather has been unusually wet - rain almost everyday in September and a moist October 1!

Penelope wrote:I haven't seen whole allspice although ground powdered is easily available. When you say 'grill' do you mean cook in a griddle pan with the heat underneath? When we say grill we mean the heat comes from above, but I think that is called broiling in the US.

Whole allspice is available at almost any supermarket here in the states, though I couldn't say if that's true in the UK. When I used the term "grill," what I was referring to was a flat metal surface used in most US diners and small restaurants for cooking things like hamburgers, hotcakes, hash browns, bacon, and other short-order type foods. At home, I use a simple frying pan. I didn't think of it, but I should have clarified this, because most of us over here probably think of something like an outdoor charcoal grill when they hear the word "grill." At Coney Island, they use commercial-grade hot dogs and they "grill" them until they have at least two sides that are nearly burnt, creating a crispy, dark brown stripe down the sides. This is also part of the "traditional" chili dog, however, it really isn't necessary, because the main taste comes from the chili itself.

Faux Pho

This is one of my favorites. It's best when made in bulk so that the cucumbers (which I believe to be the stars of the show) and cabbage have a chance to thoroughly infiltrate the entire dish.

Rice Vermicelli
Napa Cabbage
Cucumbers
Carrots
Bean Sprouts
Onions
Squash of some variety
Grilled Tofu (preferably sauteed in tomato sauce and crushed red peppers)
Peanut Sauce (or Soy Sauce or whatever...)
-Sautee the tofu for at least 45 minutes. Grill it till it turns black.
-Stir-fry the squash and onions. Shortly before they're finished add in the chopped cucumber. I like frying it for a short while since it helps bring out the flavor.
-Mix in chopped raw napa cabbage, bean sprouts, and carrots

Peanut sauce is the classic condiment. It can be rather pricey though and often I'll go with soy sauce.

Thanks Kevin, that does sound interesting......I'll give it a try. I've never seen peanut sauce, but I'd like to try it as I like Chicken Satay when we go out for a Chinese Meal and that's in peanut sauce. Our bigger supermarkets will most likely stock it.

I don't know what a Nappa Cabbage is, so I suppose I could use any cabbage with tender leaves since it isn't cooked in the recipe. Chinese leaves might do or Chok........I just googled Pak Choi....to see how it was spelt and find that Chinese leaves is Nappa Cabbage!!! We learn something new every day!

Tonight we are having Fish. Cod Mornay to be precise with fresh peas and steamed spinach. It is so autumnal here now that I don't really feel like fish, more like a hearty stew......but fish it is.....

Kevin: never been a big fan of tofu, but I keep trying. This one sounds interesting, so I will probably give it a shot. Thanks!

Such determination, Robert! The key with tofu is marinading it. I said 'sautee' earlier but really I meant simply to chop up firm-to-extra firm tofu and let it absorb the condiment of your choice for 45 minutes or so... even if you don't particularly care for bland regular tofu you should like the finished product assumning you like whatever it is you're soaking it in. And be sure to grill them!

Thanks Penelope. I enjoy talking food. I find that most of my recipes consist of things that just happen to be on hand at the time. So as far as I'm concerned the cabbage of your choice, or none at all, will do just fine. I keep meaning to add in jalapeno peppers...

Speaking of food coincidences, a few years back a friend asked me if I had ever heard of cranberry beans. I said I hadn;t and he told me they look very similar to pinto beans and that he had bought them by mistake thinking they were pinto beans. A short while later I soaked a package of dried pinto beans and looking at the label I saw that they were called roman beans. A quick online search revealed that roman beans are also known as cranberry beans. The site informed me that they look similar to pinto beans. I'm pretty sure at least half the sales of cranberry/roman beans are from unwary shoppers who think they're getting pinto beans. Well anyway, I thought they tasted well enough.