In West Virginia there are two staple foods, 1st is the Pepperoni Roll with a close 2nd being the Hot Dog. Some will say T&L style is the best but I am sure that the Custard Stand would argue both serve wonderful chili dogs with all the fixens. Yet I took what was best about both companies hot dogs and made them better for anyone who eats venison. Below is a photo of the traditional way to eat a West Virginia Slaw Dog. Yes, to any one who is wondering, you eat cole slaw on top of the hot dog chili in West Virginia and it is a wonderful combo.
We are not going to change the line up of the Slaw Dog we are just going to Change the ingredients in the chili. I prefer the home-made venison version because it is a little more on the spicy side. This is the final version of what we love to make and eat with a large group in the summer time with fresh roasted wieners.
Hilly Billy Venison Hot Dog or Venison Slaw dog
The idea and basic recipe for my chili actually came from Elkins West Virginia through Toms Dad more than 25 years ago. I worked on the idea with venison and came up with this.
Hilly Billy Venison Hot Dog Chili.
2 pounds ground Venison
1/2 cup yellow onion
1 1/2 cups ketchup
3 tablespoons yellow mustard
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 Tablespoons chili power
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon cloves
Hot sauce to taste I usually add about one or two teaspoons.
3/4 cup water
Ground venison with onions and water
1. Chop one half of onion and 3/4 cup water add to ground venison in large skillet. Cooking the meat is a small amount of water keeps the meat for forming large chucks that would make the chili lumpy it also thins the Ketchup some to making the chili have a more traditional hot dog style texture. If you choice to use hamburger in this recipe either use the best burger you can afford or be prepared to see fat floating on the water later in cooking. Cook this mixture over med heat until meat is smooth and brown.
2. Add ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, vinegar, salt, pepper,chili powder, garlic salt and cloves. Simmer the mixture and blend everything together until a smooth texture is achived.The resulting mixture should look much like this. Cloves added to chili darken the chili and add a spicy sweetness to the salty richness of the venison and I highly recommend trying it.
Venison hot dog chili
3. Taste the chili and add a little hot sauce at a time to get the desired heat you want from the chili. Red pepper flakes could substitute for hot sauce but they seem to add more heat than flavor.
4. Simmer mixture for about 15 minutes.
5. Serve chili with home-made cole slaw that is on the sweet side. We make ours fresh with cabbage, and a simple dressing made from Miracle Whip, white vinegar, and white sugar. About 1/4 head of cabbage to 1/2 cup miracle whip, 1 Tablespoon vinegar, to 1/4 cup white sugar. We like ours on the creamy side and on the sweet side.
6. Warm hot dog buns and simmer wieners. We split the wieners in half to allow for more chili in the bun add fresh finely chopped onions and a squirt of yellow mustard and eat.
This recipe makes enough chili for ten chili dogs with half wieners you maybe able to get a few more if you use a regular size wieners.
hot dog assembly line minus the chili
Coming from Colorado I had never eaten a hot dog with cole slaw before or for that matter I did not really like slaw. It was a pleasant surprise when I tried my first slaw on a pork BBQ sandwich and even better on the chili dog. I think the reason why it is so good together is the salty richness of the chili mixed with the sweet creaminess of the slaw. In my version I get added flavor from the venison against the spices and you have a sweet, salty, spicy,combo.
West Virginia Mountain Mama 
Where I hail from this would be regarded as either outright blasphemy, or a curious novelty, depending on who you asked 😛 I’m a fan of Chicago Dogs myself (blame all the Cubs games I used to attend), but this looks tasty. I’d try it, even though cabbage is not typically my thing.
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Amber you could always just skip the slaw and add in what ever you like from up north…I thought the same thing when my then new husband said “put slaw on it”…then I tried it and well after 20 years I cant think of eating chili dogs unless it has cole slaw or cheese on top… Thanks as always for stopping in.. best of luck with that ice fishing.. brrrr cold just thinking about it!
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For the entire time I was at WVU, I bought a pepperoni roll for every 8:00 class. I arrived early enough to eat that and read the Daily Athenaeum. The only change I would make to the image of the finished product would be to put a few of the fires on top. That picture is making me hungry.
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Dan, I am glad that I am making you hungry that is the basic idea… do you and your family ever have pepperoni rolls now? We make them home made a few times a year?
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There’s a restaurant we go to for take out that makes them, but they aren’t like the ones I remember. My roommate’s mother made the best ones ever. She minced the pepperoni and mixed it in with the dough. We also used to have a place here where you could get slaw-dogs. I think we will have to make our own this summer. My wife makes great coleslaw.
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wonderful! glad to remind you of some of our fun foods.
I like the pepperoni rolls with cheese and Oliverios peppers.. the best… tom likes the ones with Hot pepper cheese..
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Mmmmm
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No one knows how to make hot dogs like the Southerners (Do West Virginians consider themselves Southerners? Texans and Californians consider them such.)
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Why yes Russel we are technically Southerners…. the Mason/ Dixson Line is on the boarder of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. So we are the most northern,,,, southern state.. hehe! The state was a split state during the civil war with many many solders fighting on both sides. Our state was actually formed because Virginia was pro Union and many of the folks that were living here were pro Confederacy and wanted to start a new state and with a little help and money they did.
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We are the most Northern of Southern States and the most Southern of the Northern…considering half the country doesn’t know we exist…We are Mountaineers, a whole different breed… and keep your slaw off my T&L dog! 😉
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Jessa, you enjoy your dog any way you want it. Thanks for stopping in!
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Thank you 😉 And thank you for the recipe!
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