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 