I had never heard of “Coney” sauce until moving to the midwest.
My loss.
This beef-y, kinda spicy (you can zip it up to suit your own preferences), chili sauce is pretty darned terrific on a hot dog (might I suggest a local favorite; Vienna Beef Polish?), and, you should try it, Cincinnati-style, over spaghetti with black beans, diced onion, and shredded Cheddar cheese!
For this version, I used a ground beef and pork “meatloaf mix” from the market, but you could easily use just ground beef, or even ground chicken or turkey. It is all good.
I also used some of my new favorite tamarind and date steak sauce, but you could use plain ole ketchup, or whatever steak sauce you prefer – that is truly one of the great things about making this stuff at home – you get choose what to add and what to leave out.
INGREDIENTS
•1-1/2 lb ground meat
•1-1/2 tsp olive oil
•2 cups diced sweet onion
•1-1/4 cup diced red or orange pepper
•1/2 cup diced celery
•2 tsp malt vinegar
•2 tsp honey
•2 tsp garlic
•1-1/2 tsp chili powder
•1-1/2 tsp paprika
•1 tsp cumin
•2 tsp sugar
•1 tsp parsley
•1/2 tsp oregano
•1/2 tsp celery seed
•1/4 tsp black pepper
•1/4 tsp Aleppo pepper
•1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
•1/4 tsp allspice
•2 tbsp Steak Sauce
•1 tbsp yellow mustard
•1 tbsp Sherry Peppers Sauce
•1 tsp Cajun Power Spicy Garlic Pepper Sauce (or your fave hot sauce, to taste)
•1-1/2 cup beef stock
•1/2 cup espresso (or strong coffee)
•2 tbsp crushed saltine or butter crackers
•Salt, to taste (not needed)
Note: don’t let the long list of ingredients/seasonings put you off – you are the boss of this Coney Sauce and so, feel free to swap out ingredients that you have for any that you don’t.
Warm the olive oil in a deep skillet or pan over medium high heat and, when the oil is hot, add the ground meat.
Cook, stirring and breaking the meat into small pieces, until the meat is cooked through.
Do not drain the pan.
Add the veggies and cook for another ten minutes or so, until the veggies are tender.
Stir in the seasonings, honey, vinegar, steak sauce, mustard, Sherry Peppers, hot sauce, beef stock and espresso.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring every now and again, until most of the liquid has been cooked off.
Reduce heat to low, stir in the crushed saltines or crackers, and cook for another ten minutes.
Taste and, if you think it needs it, add salt or mebbe a bit more hot sauce or steak sauce.
I thought mine was pretty decent just as it was, so opted against adding any additional sodium.
Serve over hot dogs, pasta, use as Sloppy Joes on rolls, or mebbe spoon some over a split Bay’s Sourdough English Muffin, top with thinly sliced Swiss cheese, and pop in the oven to heat through and melt the cheese.
Nice.