Knock off Varsity Chili Dog Sauce

 

Recipe Name: Knock off Varsity Chili Dog Sauce

Story: The Varsity in Atlanta is a historic restaurant. They have some of the best chili dogs, in my opinion. This is a knock off recipe that I have found and slightly modified. It is actually incredibly close to how I remember it.

Years you've been making it: Since 2022

Author / Creator: Original was from a post on the Green Egg Forum

Submitted by: Dustin

Ingredients: 

• 1 pound ground chuck
• 1 3/4 cups water
• 2-3 tablespoons chili powder (depending on how fresh your chili powder is)
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more if you want spicy)
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1 teaspoon granulated onion
• 2 teaspoons salt
• Couple dashes tabasco sauce
• 2 tbls white vinegar

Directions: 

1. Put water and all ingredients except meat into saucepan and stir well. Add meat, breaking it up with your fingers as you go. 
2. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and leave uncovered until nearly all water is gone and the consistency is the way you like it. You want it a little loose to pour over hot dogs, but not soup and not thick either.
3. Taste and season with more salt and vinegar.

Notes: 

This usually needs about 1 tsp more of salt and about 1 to 2 more tbls of white vinegar. But I find that it is best to wait towards the end and season to taste. This isn't supposed to be spicy, but you can add more cayenne if you want.

Do not brown the meat before adding. Yes, the process of adding the meat directly to the water and breaking it up with your hands sounds weird, but it works. This process gets the meat to be more of a uniformly small texture. I would suggest wearing disposable gloves.