The Hot Wiener
"Hot wieners" are a style of hot dog popular in Providence, Rhode Island. I'm not sure who made them first, but they're commonly associated with the Olneyville New York System chain. Like many fast food inventions of the early-to-mid-20th-century, the Greeks came up with them. That kind of goes without saying, though. They were responsible for a lot of the weird local specialties that popped up around that time.
Hot wieners are almost like chili dogs, but they have a tomato-free meat sauce on top instead. Most sources refer to it as "hot wiener sauce"(seriously). If you order a hot wiener "all the way" (seriously), you're getting a hot dog topped with mustard, hot wiener sauce, minced onion, and celery salt. There's technically also a special kind of thin veal sausage that you're supposed to make these with, but you can't buy those here in California. I didn't know what paragraph to put it in (so I'll put it here, I guess), but they do this stupid thing where the poor wagie making the dogs has to line up a bunch of them along the length of their forearm as they add the toppings. Minimum wage is currently 15 USD in Providence, so fuck that lol
I've read some comments and articles that say that these hot wieners are commonly referred to as "gaggers" in Rhode Island. The Google AI overview claims that the correct pronunciation is "gaggahs," and says that they are called this because, "The combination of ingredients, particularly the onions and sauce, can lead to a sensation that some associate with gagging." I have a hunch that this is absolute horseshit, but I can't find an actual source that confirms my suspicions. Am I really supposed to believe that, though? This is an old working-class lunch counter food. You have to ask someone for a "hot wiener, all the way" when you want one, and I'm supposed to believe that it's called a "gagger" for a perfectly mundane reason? Nah... It's dicks. It's dicks, all the way.
Five things I know about Providence off the top of my head right now:
- it's the biggest city in the smallest state
- it was a mob city 50 years ago
- the puritans used to dump their queers and heretics in rhode island way back in the way back
- jewelry?
- there's that one Ramshackle verse about that carpenter lady, Serena, with the motorcycle
The Hot Wiener Sauce
WHAT YOU NEED
- 250g ground beef
- 100g minced yellow onion
- 2 cloves finely minced garlic
- 150ml water or beef stock
- 1/2 tbsp gravy browning or similar (I used Worcestershire sauce and a dash of soy)
- 1/2 tbsp or so american yellow mustard
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp dry mustard (if you don't have it, just add more wet mustard)
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
- celery salt and black pepper to taste
- neutral oil
- hot sauce of your choice to taste (I used Valentina, but I think a Louisiana-style one would be good here)
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HOW-TO
- Heat a pot or pan over medium heat and add oil.
- Add the beef and let fry until it's starting to brown. Break it up in tiny pieces.
- Add the onions, garlic, and bay leaf. Season to taste with celery salt and pepper, then let cook until the onion starts to brown.
- Pour in the water or stock, then mix in the dry spices, mustard, and browning of your choice.
- Let everything cook down. You want the sauce to be nice and thick, not too runny. The meat should be broken down into the smallest pieces possible. Give it a taste and adjust the seasoning before you serve it.
The Hot Wiener (All the Way)
WHAT YOU NEED
- 1 hot dog
- 1 hot dog bun (I buttered it before I warmed it up...)
- some american yellow mustard
- some hot wiener sauce
- some finely minced yellow onion
- some celery salt
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HOW-TO
- Cook up your dog how you like it. I just brown it in a pan.
- Steam your bun (I just put it in a strainer over the pot of meat sauce and closed the lid, but you can also put it in the microwave with a wet towel). Get your wiener sauce warmed up, too.
- Lay your cooked dog in the bun, then squirt a line of mustard down the length of it.
- Top the dog with the wiener sauce, a fair amount of minced onion, and a sprinkle of celery salt. You're done.
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TIPS AND TRICKS
- I don't keep celery salt around, so I just put whole and crushed celery seeds. Do people back east really keep celery salt around? I've never seen it in anyone's pantry out west.