Course | Main course |
---|---|
Place of origin | United States |
Region or state | Midwestern United States |
Serving temperature | Hot |
Main ingredients | Hot dog, or a beef or beef and pork European-style Vienna sausage with lamb or sheep casing, topped with a meat sauce made of seasoned ground beef or beef heart, topped with yellow mustard, white onion and sometimes cheese. |
A Coney Island hot dog, Coney dog, or Coney is a hot dog in a bun topped with a savory meat sauce and sometimes other toppings. It is often offered as part of a menu of classic American diner dishes and often at Coney Island restaurants. It is largely a phenomenon related to immigration from Greece and the region of Macedonia to the United States in the early 20th century.
"Virtually all" [1] : 233 Coney Island variations were developed, apparently independently, by immigrants in the early 1900s, many fleeing the Balkan Wars, who entered the US through Ellis Island in New York City. Family stories of the development of the dishes often included anecdotes about visits to Coney Island. [2] The origin of the style is somewhat murky: there were parallel developments in New York, Michigan, Ohio, and elsewhere around the United States.
The first documented European name for the island is the Dutch name Conyne Eylandt [3] or Conynge Eylandt. This would roughly be equivalent to Konijn Eiland using modern Dutch spelling, meaning Rabbit Island. [4] [5] The name was anglicized to Coney Island after the English took over the colony in 1664, [6] coney being the corresponding English word. The hot dog's fame later spread from this part of Brooklyn, New York, where Nathan Handwerker, a Polish Jewish immigrant was an early entrepreneur who sold them at his stand in Coney Island. His business was later named "Nathan's," an iconic brand that remains popular as both a fast-food chain and as a grocery product. The alternate name for a hot dog—a "Coney," most likely derived from the positive regional and national publicity Nathan's began to generate.
Ft. Wayne's Famous Coney Island Wiener Stand was opened in 1914 [1] : 234 by Harry Dorikis, James Samaras and Stilos Papas who were three immigrants from Greece. [7] Vasil Eshcoff, another immigrant, purchased an interest from one of the original owners in 1916. [7] Eschoff's descendants have operated the restaurant until 2014, when the now-owner, James "Jimmy" Todoran II bought 50% of the business. [8] The Coney Island in Fort Wayne is described as a small, fatty pink hot dog with a "peppery sweet" coney sauce on a soft bun. [1] : 234–235 However, the ground beef-based coney sauce at Ft. Wayne's Famous Coney Island Wiener Stand has the flavor and consistency of a mild peppered savory pork sausage. The small hot dog is grilled on a flattop,[ citation needed ] placed in a steamed bun, yellow mustard applied, then a few teaspoonfuls of the savory chili sauce are added which is then topped with chopped white onion. [1] : 235
Jane and Michael Stern, writing in 500 Things to Eat Before it's Too Late, note that "there's only one place to start [to pinpoint the top Coney Islands], and that is Detroit. Nowhere is the passion for them more intense." [1] : 233 James Schmidt, in a debate at the 2018 National Fair Food Summit, noted that "Detroit is synonymous with the Coney Dog: you simply cannot have one without the other." [9] : 233
The most influential chili dog stands in Michigan are the American Coney Island and Lafayette Coney Island restaurants located next door to each other in downtown Detroit. [10] The American Coney Island restaurant was founded in 1914 or 1917 by Greek immigrant Constantine "Gust" Keros. [11] Gust brought his brother over from Greece and helped him open the Lafayette Coney Island restaurant next door. [10] There is a fierce rivalry between the two restaurants. [11] [10]
The Coney Island developed in Michigan is a natural-casing beef or beef and pork European-style Wiener Würstchen (Vienna sausage) of German origin, topped with a beef heart-based sauce, one or two stripes of yellow mustard and diced or chopped onions. The variety is a fixture in Flint, [12] Detroit, Jackson, Kalamazoo, and southeastern Michigan. [13] The style originated in the early 20th century, with competing claims from American and Lafayette Coney Islands (1917) [14] in Detroit, and Todoroff's Original Coney Island (1914) in Jackson. [13] The longest continuously operated Coney Island (in the same location) is in Kalamazoo (1915). [15]
In Detroit, historically many Greek and Macedonian immigrants operated Coney islands, or restaurants serving Detroit Coney dogs. By 1975 many Albanians began operating them as well. [16] The Greeks established Onassis Coney Island, which has closed. Greek immigrants established the Coney chains Kerby's Koney Island, Leo's Coney Island, and National Coney Island during the 1960s and early 1970s. All three chains sell some Greek food items with Coney dogs. Detroit style sauce is a bean-less chili sauce, differing from the chili dogs they offer only in the lack of beans. National has most of its restaurants on the east side of the city, and Kerby's and Leo's have the bulk of their restaurants on the west side of the Detroit area. [17]
Flint style is characterized by a dry hot dog topping made with a base of ground beef heart, which is ground to a consistency of fine-ground beef. [18] Some assert that in order to be an "authentic" Flint coney, the hot dog must be a Koegel coney and the sauce by Angelo's, which opened in 1949. [12] [19] However, the sauce was originally developed by a Macedonian in 1924, Simion P. (Sam) Brayan, for his Flint's Original Coney Island restaurant.[ citation needed ] Brayan was the one who contracted with Koegel Meat Company to make the coney they still make today, also contracting with Abbott's Meat to provide the fine-grind beef heart sauce base. Abbott's still makes Brayan's 1924 sauce base available to restaurants and the public through the Koegel Meat Company and Abbott's Meats. Restaurants then add chopped onions sautéed in beef tallow, along with their own spice mix and other ingredients, to Abbott's sauce base to make their sauce. [18]
Popular folklore perpetuates a legend that a Flint coney sauce recipe containing ground beef and ground hot dogs is the "original" Flint Coney sauce recipe. Variations on this story include either that a relative of the storyteller knew or worked with the former owner of Flint's Original and received the recipe from them, [20] or that the wife of the owner of Flint's Original allowed the publication of the recipe in the Flint Journal after his death. [21] Ron Krueger, longtime food writer of the Flint Journal, included it in a collection of recipes from the newspaper but without a cited source, unlike the rest of the recipes in the collection. [22] When asked about this Mr. Krueger replied, "That recipe appeared in The Journal several times over the years. [I don't] think I ever saw it in the context of a story or ever saw any attribution. It always included the word 'original' in the title, but anybody who knows anything knows otherwise." [23] As to the second story, of Brayan's wife later allowing the publication of the recipe, Velicia Brayan died in 1976, while Simion Brayan lived until the age of 100 and died in 1990. The actual source of this recipe appears to be an earlier Flint Journal Food Editor, Joy Gallagher, who included the recipe in her column of May 23, 1978. In that column she stated she had included the recipe in an even earlier column. Her apparent source was "a woman who said she was the wife of a chef at the original Coney Island, and that she copied the recipe from his personal recipe book." Gallagher stated "I believe her". However, Gallagher also wrote, "I'm not making any claims". In the same column she also included a second recipe that used beef heart, which she wrote "came to me recently from a reader who swears it is the sauce served at Angelo's." The folklore has mixed the supposed sources of the two recipes in this column from Gallagher, with people claiming the ground hot dog recipe is reportedly from Angelo's. [24] In his column published in the Flint Journal on April 18, 1995, Food Editor Ron Krueger reported taking Gallagher's ground hot dog recipe directly to Angelo's co-owner Tom V. Branoff, who refuted the recipe line-by-line. Gallagher's pre-1978 column is still being researched. [25]
Jackson style uses a topping of either ground beef or ground beef heart, onions and spices. This meat sauce is applied on a hot dog in a steamed bun and then topped with diced or chopped onions and a stripe of mustard. The Jackson style was late to the usage of beef heart in the sauce, using ground beef prior to converting to ground beef heart in the early 1940s. [26]
Coney Island Kalamazoo was founded in 1915, and is the longest continuously operated Coney Island in the state. Their coney island is made up of a topping made from their own recipe served on a Koegel's Skinless Frankfurter. Koegel's was not founded until 1916, and it's unknown which hot dog Coney Island Kalamazoo used prior to the Skinless Frankfurter's development. [15] [27]
The following meatpackers provide Coney dogs and European-style Vienna sausage (Frankfurter Würstel) to restaurants and consumers in Michigan:
Many Coney Island restaurants make their own sauces from scratch. However, the different styles of sauces are also available from the following meatpackers:
Greek immigrant Gus Saites opened his Original Coney Island in Duluth in 1921. The hot dog used is the Vienna Beef from Chicago, which is topped with the restaurant's own coney sauce, with options of mustard, onion, and, for a small fee, cheese. The Superior Street location also offers sport peppers as a topping. The decor includes a copy of their 1959 menu showing that coney islands were 25 cents each. [30]
The Original Coney Island Restaurant and Bar, operated by the Arvanitis Family since 1923 in a former Civil War armory, [31] is the oldest remaining business in St. Paul, [32] though now open only on special occasions. [33] [34]
In Cincinnati, a "coney" is a hot dog topped with Cincinnati chili, usually with mustard and chopped onions. A "cheese coney" adds a final topping of shredded cheddar cheese. The dish was developed by immigrants Tom and John Kiradjieff, founders of Empress Chili, in 1922. The coney topping is also used as a topping for spaghetti, a dish called a "two-way" or chili spaghetti. As of 2013 [update] there were over 250 "chili parlors" in Cincinnati serving coneys. The two largest chains today are Skyline Chili and Gold Star Chili. [35] [36] : 10 [37]
Tony Packo's serves a similar dish of a beef and pork sausage topped with chili sauce and originally served on rye. The creation became known as the "Hungarian hot dog"; no such dish is known in Hungarian cuisine. [38]
Coneys are on restaurant menus throughout Tulsa [1] : 235 and were originally created there by Greek immigrants. [39] Jane and Michael Stern write that "Oklahoma is especially rich in classic coneys" and call out the Coney I-Lander, writing they "perfectly deliver the cheap-eats ecstasy that is the Coney's soul." [1] : 235 Oklahoma coneys are small hot dogs on steamed buns with a spicy-sweet dark brown chili sauce, onions, and optional cheese and hot sauce. [1] : 235
James Coney Island operates a number of locations in the area of Houston, Texas. The company was founded in 1923 by two Greek immigrant brothers, James and Tom Papadakis, the former being the company's namesake.[ citation needed ]
In Thunder Bay, Ontario, there is rich history of Coney Island Hot Dogs. Long time establishments include Westfort Coney Island and McKellar Confectionery.[ citation needed ]
The cuisine of the American Midwest draws its culinary roots most significantly from the cuisines of Central, Northern and Eastern Europe, and Indigenous cuisine of the Americas, and is influenced by regionally and locally grown foodstuffs and cultural diversity.
A hot dog is a dish consisting of a grilled, steamed, or boiled sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener or a frankfurter. The names of these sausages commonly refer to their assembled dish. Hot dog preparation and condiments vary worldwide. Common condiments include mustard, ketchup, relish, onions in tomato sauce, and cheese sauce. Other toppings include sauerkraut, diced onions, jalapeños, chili, grated cheese, coleslaw, bacon and olives. Hot dog variants include the corn dog and pigs in a blanket. The hot dog's cultural traditions include the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest and the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.
Chili con carne or carne con chile is a spicy stew of Mexican origin containing chili peppers, meat, tomatoes, and often pinto beans or kidney beans. Other seasonings may include garlic, onions, and cumin.
A chili dog is a hot dog served in a bun and topped with a meat sauce, typically chili con carne. Additional toppings may include cheese, onions, and mustard. The style has multiple regional variations in the United States, many calling for specific and unique sauce ingredients, types of hot dogs, or types of buns and referred to regionally under region-specific names.
Cincinnati chili is a Mediterranean-spiced meat sauce used as a topping for spaghetti or hot dogs ("coneys"); both dishes were developed by immigrant restaurateurs in the 1920s. Its name evokes comparison to chili con carne, but the two are dissimilar in consistency, flavor, and serving method; Cincinnati chili more closely resembles Greek pasta sauces and spiced-meat hot dog topping sauces seen in other parts of the United States.
Skyline Chili is a chain of Cincinnati-style chili restaurants based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1949 by Greek immigrant Nicholas Lambrinides, Skyline Chili is named for the view of Cincinnati's skyline that Lambrinides could see from the first restaurant, opened in the section of town now known as Price Hill. It is also the "official chili" of many local professional sports teams and venues, including the Cincinnati Bengals, Cincinnati Reds, Cincinnati Cyclones, Columbus Blue Jackets and the Kings Island theme park, and also sponsors the Crosstown Shootout, an annual men's college basketball rivalry game between the city's two NCAA Division I teams, Cincinnati and Xavier.
A Coney Island is a type of restaurant that is popular in the northern United States, particularly in Michigan, named after the Coney Island hot dog.
A Chicago-style hot dog, Chicago Dog, or Chicago Red Hot is an all-beef frankfurter on a poppy seed bun, originating from the city of Chicago, Illinois. The hot dog is topped with yellow mustard, chopped white onions, bright green sweet pickle relish, a dill pickle spear, tomato slices or wedges, pickled sport peppers, and a dash of celery salt. The complete assembly of a Chicago hot dog is said to be "dragged through the garden" due to the many toppings. The method for cooking the hot dog itself varies depending on the vendor's preference. Most often they are steamed, water-simmered, or less often grilled over charcoal.
The Koegel Meat Company is a meat processing, packaging, and distribution company based in Flint, Michigan. Koegel's produces 35 products. Koegel's hot dogs are considered by the authors of "Coney Detroit" as the best hot dog for a Flint-Style Coney Dog along with Abbott's Meat's coney sauce. Koegel is also a supplier of A&W, about 200 Coney restaurants, Walmart, Dairy Queen and Kroger. Distribution of its own products to each store gives Koegel an advantage of being able to give a shorter shelf life, at half its competitors, to ensure a fresh product.
A Michigan hot dog, Michigan red hot, or simply "Michigan" is a steamed all-beef hot dog on a steamed bun topped with a meaty sauce, generally referred to as "michigan sauce", and is a specialty in and around Plattsburgh, New York.
Different areas of the world have local variations on the hot dog, in the type of meat used, the condiments added, and its means of preparation.
A cheese dog is a hot dog served with cheese or processed cheese on it or stuffed within it, as a filling.
The hot wiener or New York System wiener is a staple of the food culture of Rhode Island, where it is primarily sold at "New York System" restaurants.
The cuisine of Michigan is part of the broader regional cuisine of the Midwestern United States. It is reflective of the diverse food history of settlement and immigration in the state, and draws its culinary roots most significantly from the cuisines of Central, Northern and Eastern Europe, and Native North America.
Big John Steak & Onion, aka BJs & Onion or Steak and Onion and formerly Slick-Chick, Inc., is a regional sub sandwich chain. The name came from a nickname that the founder, John E. Klobucar, had received from his friends. The chain is considered a restaurant icon of the Flint Area.
Abbott's Meat is a meat packing company located in Flint, Michigan. Koegel's hot dogs are considered by the authors of "Coney Detroit" as only acceptable hot dog for a Flint-Style Coney Dog along with Abbott's coney sauce. Abbott's chili sauce's primary ingredient is ground beef heart.
Greek-American cuisine is the cuisine of Greek Americans and their descendants, who have modified Greek cuisine under the influence of American culture and immigration patterns of Greeks to the United States. As immigrants from various Greek areas settled in different regions of the United States and became "Greek Americans," they carried with them different traditions of foods and recipes that were particularly identified with their regional origins in Greece and yet infused with the characteristics of their new home locale in America. Many of these foods and recipes developed into new favorites for town peoples and then later for Americans nationwide. Greek-American cuisine is especially prominent in areas of concentrated Greek communities, such as Astoria, Queens and Tarpon Springs, Florida.
National Coney Island is a Coney Island-style restaurant based in Michigan that specializes in Greek-American cuisine. It is a corporation that has more than 20 National Coney Island locations in the Metro Detroit area.
Saltsa kima, Greece's most popular topping for spaghetti, is a ground beef and tomato sauce spiced with cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. Makaronia me kima is the basis for Cincinnati chili and the sauces used to top Coney Island hot dogs, dishes developed by Greek immigrant restaurateurs in the United States in the 1920s.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Located on St. Peter Street in a pair of 19th century storefronts, Coney Island was first opened in 1923 by Nick Arvanitis.
Although only open a few times a year...the oldest standing commercial structure in St.Paul is a must-see.
As Tony Packo's celebrated its 85th anniversary in 2017, Tony Packo Jr. welcomed us in for a bite to eat and a look back through the landmark Toledo eatery's storied history.