Chili Dogs

I made these for Hugh on a whim several years ago. They immediately sky-rocketed to the top of his most-requested meals list. I have also made them for the Savannah Family so many times that I wouldn't be surprised if we all die of nitrate-poisoning (Or cancer. Or whatever you get from eating too many hot dogs. Shoot. Sorry, fam.).

Anyway, these are delicious. And easy. And delicious. I like to serve them with oven fries, preferably the Alexia Waffle Fries. Which, coincidentally are the perfect vehicle for more chili. Sometimes you just have to go all in, man.

Chili Dogs
Recipe adapted from Tyler Florence
serves 4

Chili Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1lb lean ground beef
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/2 cups ketchup
3 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup water

Additional Ingredients
4 all-beef hot dogs
4 hot dog buns (I like to buy the un-split bakery buns and split the tops. This makes eating them much easier.)
3/4 cup freshly grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese
Additional toppings (optional): minced onion, yellow mustard, dill relish, pickled jalapenos, hot sauce, Tums (I kid, I kid. Tums are clearly not up to this job. It's a double-Nexium kind of meal.)

Preparation
Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion. Saute until beginning to soften, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, saute 1 minute. Add chili powder, cumin, and red pepper flakes; saute 1 minute. Add ground beef, breaking up with a wooden spoon. Cook until beef is browned, 8 - 10 minutes.

Add ketchup, yellow mustard, water, and salt. Stir to combine. Bring to simmer, simmer for 15 minutes or until thickened. If chili gets too thick, add more water. If it is too thin, continue to simmer until desired consistency is reached. Desired consistency = thicker than regular chili, but not so thick you can't spoon in onto your hot dog. Taste and adjust seasoning accordingly.

While chili is simmering, grill hot dogs until browned. Alternately, cook in a cast iron skillet on the stove top if you are too lazy to get the grill going for four hot dogs (even though you know it will be worth it because they taste so much better). We like our hot dogs very well-browned.

When chili and hot dogs are almost finished, toast buns in oven. Top bun with hot dog, chili, cheese, and additional toppings.

Eat it up:

My apologies for this terrible photo. I could tell you the lighting was bad (which it was), but really I was so excited to eat that I only took three photos and the other two were blurry. Way to overestimate your camera skills, blogger. So, this is what you get. Just make these and you'll see that it doesn't matter what they look like, because they taste so. good.