Who wants a hot doggie?
We moved to our new place in June 2019, which meant we were that much closer to the annual pre-Fourth of July Somerville Fireworks show that is set off 4 blocks from the house, giving us another great reason to have a party. It originally was supposed to be a low-key housewarming party, less than a month after we moved in, which meant I had to get my butt in gear to make the house party-ready! We decided on a hot dog and popcorn spread to make it easy (and cheap!) on us. I didn’t want to do a full sit down grill out situation, as I had no idea how many people would drop by. The plan was an indoor buffet-type affair, filled with the dogs, 2 kinds of hot dog sauce (one from my high school days in West Virginia, one from Detroit called Coney Island sauce, which apparently is a thing). This event has inadvertantly become an annual event, with improvements made every year. The first few years, we did the dogs on the grill, but that meant someone was running out to the grill to refill the buffet and the person on the grill didn’t know how many more dogs to fire. No bueno.
I can’t remember where I heard this, but you can actually make a ton of hot dogs in a slow-cooker at one time. I remember telling my sister this as she does a lot of family parties with her in-laws. I had never tried it because I just had a normal size crockpot and I didn’t think I could make as many as we would need and if you added more dogs in later, you might not get a cooked dog. After getting my Instant Pot that is also a way larger slow-cooker, I was like, game on… We packed that thing with about 4 packs. You literally just put the dogs in, nothing else. The moisture in the hot dogs creates a pretty perfect steam situation and no one said they missed the grill.
#Merica. Yes, Greg calls hot dogs “Meat Twinkies”.
Instant Pot hot dog jacuzzi.
Heating up the Coney Sauce. Nope.
More Crockpots with the Hot Dog sauces.
Festive Table.
Catching the fireworks from my porch!
Recipe for the best dog!
No, thank you.
Here’s the recipe for the West Virginia hot dog sauce. It was a staple at any Magnolia Football game. The mothers of the Freshmen and Junior Varsity Football teams took turns making it for the season in order to raise money for the teams. I think 5 different moms took their turn each week, which is why the recipe is so insane. It took a lot of sauce to feed everyone in the stands. This recipe is courtesy of my mother who definitely made this few times in her life, but everyone used the same one at Magnolia High School. The other schools in the area all had their particular version, and everyone argued that theirs was the best. I think Magnolia served the best.
| Ingredient | Full recipe | Half recipe | Quarter recipe |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ground beef | 10 lbs | 5 lbs | 2.5 lbs |
| Ketchup (Heinz!) | 128 oz | 64 oz | 32 oz |
| Tomato juice | 46 oz | 23 oz | 12 oz |
| Onions, chopped | 3 lbs | 1.5 lbs | 1 lb |
| Brown sugar | 1 lb | 1/2 lb | 1/4 lb |
| Yellow Mustard (French’s) | 2 tbs | 1 tbs | 1/2 tbs |
| Salt + Pepper |
Instructions: Brown ground beef and drain. Put the rest of the ingredients in an electric roaster or large pan. (I used my Instant Pot slow-cooker for the sauce too. The half recipe works perfectly and there’s usually enough to freeze for future cook-outs, so why not?). Cook slowly for 2.5-3 hours. You could use a couple of slow-cookers if you wanted to. Cook, cool and freeze!
Now, I can’t provide the Coney Island concoction recipe as I am not the one that makes it. Some years, Rick (from Detroit) will make it from scratch, other times he orders it online and it arrives in a very suspicious tube “of “meat”. Either way, it’s not something I would voluntarily eat and I don’t want to subject you it. I will stick to my version of magic hot dog sauce.
We have definitely learned some new tricks to keep the party going smoothly and make cleanup way easier. In years past, despite my best efforts to be really clear on the invite, some people fail to bring something to drink. We are happy to provide the hot dog /popcorn set up, but not looking to be hosting an open bar. This sometimes leads to guests helping themselves to other people’s beverages, which is not cool. If you brought a 4-pack of something you really like, drink one, go to grab another and they are gone? That sucks, especially if it was on the pricier side. I used ChatGPT to help me come up with some funny sayings to try to minimize the drink theft. Plus, I realized that having a designated bucket for drinks that were probably leftovers from past parties or just stuff we tried and didn’t love is a great way to thin out the beer fridge! Win/win.
Cooler free for all! (Great way to get rid of stuff you don’t like.)
Reserved drinks.
If you don’t live in Medford, you may not know which can is what, so I made some signs so we didn’t have everything co-mingled at the end of the night. As a host, I find that not having to answer the same questions over and over means I can enjoy the party too.
