Easy hot dog chili

I had a coney dog head-to-head cooking competition at work this week.  There is such a thing as a Flint style coney.  It’s spicy browned ground meat.  My buddy at work is from the Flint area like the other folks I work with.  That’s a clue as to who won.  I’m from the Detroit area.  The Detroit coney is topped with a chili and is what you would expect a coney to be topped with. I never heard of a Flint coney until I moved here.  

Here’s both pots of chili.  Mine’s on the left.



I didn’t think to take a plated photo, but here’s a partial coney (I texted this photo to my buddy as a teaser) from my dry run last weekend.



A couple of folks were were on vacation, but the secret vote was in.  I lost 3-1 with 1 abstention.  Me and my buddy didn’t vote.



Note to self:  Never cook against the judges expectations.

tried this once, tad spicy but good

Fred19Flintstone said:

... There is such a thing as a Flint style coney.  It’s spicy browned ground meat.  ...  I’m from the Detroit area.  The Detroit coney is topped with a chili and is what you would expect a coney to be topped with. I never heard of a Flint coney until I moved here.  

I LOVE Flint Coney Islands, and have never had a Detroit one.  I'm aware there's an old rivalry about this.  I gather you've had both.  How is the Detroit kind different?

And BTW, my understanding is that most Flint Coney Island chili in the restaurants is mostly ground beef heart, not just ground beef, and it gives it a different flavor.  Plus, the Koegel Vienna is the world's best hot dog, and I don't know if they have those in Detroit, so I'm not sure how you can compete.

Fred19Flintstone said:

I’m sorry.  I can’t do the canned stuff.

IDK - since I don't live in Atlanta any more, I am left with picking up a can or two of this when I am in town.   It is pretty good.
https://thevarsity.com/shop/home-products/varsity-chili-in-a-can.html

Fred19Flintstone said:

... Abbott's Meats sells the meat mixture to the public and all the Coney Island restaurants in town (there's quite a few!).  Koegel Viennas are my favorite franks.

I've ordered it online from Koegel's, tweaked it just slightly so it tasted more the way I remember it (I've read that most of the restaurants in Flint used Abbott's, but slightly tweak it).  And I like other hot dogs also, sometimes have them, but I really do think Koegel Viennas are the best I've ever had.

... The Detroiters have a tomato based sauce and are moist and perhaps a little tighter than a sloppy joe consistency.  The two things in common between both styles served here are the Koegel Viennas with mustard and raw onion on top.   

Very interesting -- thanks!  I've never had a Detroit style Coney Island, wondered what they were like.  My step-grandfather Herb LOVED Coney Islands, and every time he and my grandmother came to town he'd take us kids to the Flint Original Coney Island on Court Street (not Tom Z's, the actual place back in the 1950s and early 1960s -- I forget when it closed), and rhapsodize about how wonderful they would be when we got our order, about how they did everything just right, cooking the dogs, warming the buns, the "sweet Bermuda onions..."  But he insisted on one more thing that was required for the perfect Coney Island:  On top of the dog, the chili, the onions and mustard: salt and pepper!  It's a small thing, but I still do it every time.

Thanks for the info!

Can’t say that I’ve ever had canned chili or ever will.  

Most chain stores stock the cans of chili hot dog sauce.  Usually less than $.99 can.  Tastes a lot like Sonics chili cheese dogs, if you like those!