Daddy’s Hot Dog Chili -AND Hip Hostess Winners!

TWO Southern Plate Readers Will Be Choosing Hip Hostess Aprons today!
Mama Jane was the winner chosen at random for The Hip Hostess Apron Giveaway! Mama Jane, all you have to do is visit The Hip Hostess and choose your favorite apron, then email that to me along with your mailing address christy@southernplate.com.
Another reader will be choosing a Hip Hostess apron as well.
Shirley left the following comment on this post :
If I ever needed to win anything this is it. I lost my left arm to cancer and I need something with pockets to help me out! Man that is the perfect idea.
Shirley MooreAfter reading that, I know all of you wanted her to have an apron as badly as I did.
Shirley, I contacted The Hip Hostess and she was so grateful for the opportunity to send you your choice of a Hip Hostess apron in addition to our winner. Please email me at christy@southernplate.com with your mailing address after you visit The Hip Hostess and choose your favorite apron! Special thanks to The Hip Hostess and to Shirley!
We had company over the weekend and I cooked several big meals but decided to do a simple one as well. I can’t help it, I love hot dogs. But to gussy them up a bit, I added my Dad’s hot dog chili. This is one of those recipes you get told over the phone whenever you need it and no one actually bothers to write it down.
So I called Mama “Can you tell me how to make the hot dog chili again?”. She told me the instructions and I was off to the races – only this time, I’m gonna write it down. For y’all. Because I love ya’ll and because it’s summer time and most of us are going to be making more hot dogs over the next two months than we will the entire rest of the year combined.
Did I mention this freezes well? Well it does. So make a big batch and freeze it in smaller batches and have hot dog chili all summer long. Hey, its a double meat on a bun. How can you go wrong?
I am working on the free e- of freezer recipes. Make sure you’re subscribed by email to get it first! If I had a babysitter I would have had it done by now. I had a babysitter once…for about an hour or so. Got to go to a meeting at a local library. That was fun. I’ll always carry memories of that night with me. Sometimes I think about getting a T-shirt made like my son’s that says “I do my own stunts” only mine would say “I raise my own kids” ~grins~. I think I deserve a t-shirt for that. Maybe a trophy, too!

You’ll need: Ground beef, chili powder, black pepper, salt, and water.
My mom insists on Mexene chili powder. She swears by it. I insist on Morton Salt for reasons I’ve mentioned a few times on Southern Plate. If you don’t know why I am devoted to Morton’s …now is the time for a fun little treasure hunt! Go up to the search box at the top right of this page (right beneath my header) and type in “Morton Salt” and posts where I have mentioned it will come up. Just in case you like digging around a bit!
Truth is I had no idea this was my Dad’s recipe. Have I ever seen him make it? Umm…no. But he must have at some point. Of course, this makes sense seeing as how I don’t remember having it more than once a year or so. So in that case, I guess Daddy could have been the one making it. ~winks~
With that in mind, I wanted to share with you something one of my reader’s sent me. I can’t remember who sent it though and when I went to find it, I couldn’t find it anywhere in my email. My email is a bit congested. So I went on the web to find it again. If you sent this to me, please let me know in the comments so I can thank you!
This is EXACTLY how it is at my Mom’s house. It’s not how it is at my house because…well, I don’t have a grill. I’d like a grill but I don’t currently own one. If that changes at any point in the future you’ll know by the sudden influx of grilling recipes I post!
BBQ Facts of Life:
Men and Cookouts
*Note, if this offends any of my wonderful male Southern Plate readers, I promise to post some female defamation humor in the near future and I’ll even try to feed you a cookie at some point in your life to help make up for it.
We are about to enter the BBQ season. Therefore it is important to refresh your memory on the etiquette of this sublime outdoor cooking activity.
When a man volunteers to do the BBQ the following chain of events are put into motion:
Routine…
- The woman buys the food.
- The woman makes the salad, prepares the vegetables, and makes dessert.
- The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man who is lounging beside the grill – beer in hand.
- The woman remains outside the compulsory three meter exclusion zone where the exuberance of testosterone and other manly bonding activities can take place without the interference of the woman.
- Here comes the important part:
- THE MAN PLACES THE MEAT ON THE GRILL.
- The woman goes inside to organize the plates and cutlery.
- The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is looking great. He thanks her and asks if she will bring another beer while he flips the meat
- THE MAN TAKES THE MEAT OFF THE GRILL AND HANDS IT TO THE WOMAN.
- The woman prepares the plates, salad, bread, utensils, napkins, sauces, and brings them to the table.
- After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes.
- Everyone PRAISES the MAN and THANKS HIM for his cooking efforts.
- The man asks the woman how she enjoyed ‘her night off.’ And, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that there’s just no pleasing some women.
Important again:
And most important of all:

Alrighty, lets get cookin’!
Fill a pot with about enough water to cover up your ground beef.
Take a handful of ground beef and submerge it in the water and …

Moosh it up in there with your hands.
This is super easy if you do it under the water.
Yeah, I know its gross but it’s raw meat and someone has to cook it so buck up, buddy, that “someone” is you.
Besides, it’s gonna be good and I hereby declare that you can have the first hot dog for your efforts!

When you are done it will look like this.

Add chili powder. We add 3 tsp for every pound of meat so for this recipe I am adding 9 tsp.
I’m feeling terribly repressed lately. There are so many things I want to talk about. So many tangents I want to go off on and ideas and projects I want to update you on but I try (believe it or not) to stay somewhat on point on Southern Plate and I realize that y’all are coming here for food so I’ve been trying to avoid straying too terribly far off topic.
~sighs~ But I love to write and I love to share what is going on in my little minuscule corner of the world so preventing myself from doing that has caused it to build and I feel like I am about to explode. I’m dying to do some posts about the summer crafts, science experiments, and general cool stuff that the kids and I are doing around Bountiful so consider this fair warning. It’ll be coming up soon!

Add salt to taste.
You’ll need a good bit though. I am adding a heaping tablespoon. You might even want to add more.

Add a tablespoon of pepper as well (more if you like).

Stir that up and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for about an hour. It’ll look like this.

Now get a ladle and skim the majority of the grease off the top of the pot and into a separate bowl.
Don’t panic honey, it’s just grease. I know it may look gross but if you knew half of what was in the food you ordered in a restaurant you wouldn’t think twice about drinking this stuff straight.

This is what we have left.
Yummmmmmm
Now get out what you need with a slotted spoon but to make the hot dogs really good, you need to put a bit of that juice on them, too!

Alright, now this looks good but it needs a little something…It looks naked to me.

Aww yeah, that’s the stuff!
Dad’s Hot Dog Chili
- 3 lbs ground beef
- 9 tsp chili powder (Mama insists on Mexene)
- 1 T salt (more to taste)
- 1 T pepper (More to taste)
- Enough water to cover your ground beef
Place enough water in a pot to cover your beef. Take handfuls of the beef and submerge in the water, mooshing it up with your hands. Add seasonings and stir. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and boil gently for about an hour. Ladle off grease. Remove chili with a slotted spoon to put on hot dogs. Freeze leftovers for your next cookout!
Print This Recipe
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Win An Apron From The Hip Hostess!

This is me in my new yellow kitchen! I painted it myself last week. I just love the color yellow, so cheerful and happy!
There is something else new in this picture, my apron from The Hip Hostess!
One lucky Southern Plate reader will get to choose their favorite apron from the Hip Hostess just like I did!
To enter, just leave a comment on this post.
I’ll choose a winner next Monday!
I love my new apron!
*Note, please do not email to enter! ![]()
Never grow a wishbone where your backbone ought to be.
-Clementine Padford






Love the recipes and all the tips…
Is there better food in this world than Dixieland?
Hotty Toddy from an Ole Miss fan!
Love all the recipes – Southern Plate is great!
Thanks for all you do.
I loooooooove the apron u have on Christy! Too cute!….I want one….lol…. The Chili Dogs look good, my hubby is in charge of all the chili gumbo and grilling in my house! He’s waaay better at it than I am! Well good luck on finding the apron winner looks like everybody wants one! Hope u have a blessed day!
If I every needed to win anything this is it. I lost my left arm to cancer and I need something with pockets to help me out! Man that is the perfect idea.
Shirley Moore
Hey Christy I’m excited about the hot dog chili recipe. We’re going to make a small batch today. I just hate the stuff in a can mostly because I do not know whats in it.
I would like to win the apron, but I would rather Shirley, the lady who posted on June 19 who has lost her arm to cancer, win it. So if my name is chosen, please do not even contact me, just send it to Shirley.
Thanks again for your cookbooks. I lost my first one and ordered another. I did not want to live without it. I found it before the second one arrived and I gave it to my mom.
Keep up the posts and emails.
You are so sweet.I send you many hugs and hope you have a
blessed day.
Shirley
OOH OOH PICK ME. I’d love the apron. I came here looking for a good biscuit recipe, but got sidetracked with the chili dog. I’m co-coordinator of the Vacation Bible School food. I think we are having hot dogs for the kick-off. Now, it looks like we’ll have chili sauce too.
Bill, you are a riot!
thanks
I love your BBQ facts of life–so true! Funny my husband didn’t seem to get it…
Love love love meat/chili sauce on hot dogs….we have tried many recipes and cannot wait to try this one out! My husband and kids will love helping make this; oh and you hit the nail on the head with the BBQ information…at least at my house.
Love your site! I love the fact that you took your passion and turned it into something big! Thanks, from a fellow optimist!
Sounds Yummy, I am hungry for a chili dog right now after reading this! Love your website!
I LOVE Southern Plate. I feel like you are my new best friend!! A co-worker bought a cookbook for her mother on Mother’s Day and she told me about you. Ever since, I cannot wait to read your stories and see what the new recipe will be. I appreciate the Hot dog chili recipe. My husband only wants chili, mustard and ketchup. The canned chili that you buy just isn’t good at all to me. There is a favorite hot dog restaurant (Story’s Hot Dogs in Opelika)where we like to eat and I have tried to mimic their recipe once with no success. This recipe looks exactly like it. I cannot wait to try it at home. Thanks again for all your hardwork. Congratulations on your new house!
I love your website. I will forward it to my Grandaughter’s. This is better than a cookbook. It is like watching Grandmother cook.
I Love “Southern Plate” too!!!!!!!! This is great…your great and smart also. I can’t wait to try this recipe my husband will be so thrilled because he doesn’t like beans in his chili that goes on hot dogs…I like the beans..haha..but he’ll eat it anyway I fix it…I don’t use a recipe for my chili, I just make it…my girls have asked me for my recipe and I just told them them the ingredients that I use and told them they had to figure out the rest..haha they did and they now make good chili too! Can’t wait to try this, quess we’ll be having chili dogs tonight. Thanks
Thanks for the recipe, although I’ve been using a slightly different approach for years (setup is the same; don’t bother “spooning” off grease; after “mashing” up meat and adding chili powder, bring to a boil – occasionally stirring – and let boil down until almost no water – or “juice” – remains. Just be sure to keep it stirred (especially toward the end), or it will boil out, stick, burn, and taste terrible. Have you ever tried chili burgers ? (Hamburger meat, onion, ketchup, mustard, and several oversize spoonfuls of the chili) – almost like a sloppy joe, only better…good luck and thanks for all your hard work on this site…
Also, not sure if anyone has already posted this or not. Store leftover chili in refrigerator, take some out, put in put, barely cover with water, bring to boil, let boil down to desired “wetness”, and it’s just as good as fresh…
I have not tried this yet, but it sounds yummy! My husband loves hot dogs, but I hardly ever prepare them. This will be a good time to make them and try the chili.
I Love “Southern Plate” funny i just moved south from living in north my whole life and my Boyfriend grew up in south So when he talks about food I dunno what they are… Like sweet potato pie I went on your site to find it.. Love the site.
Have you every tried Ward’s Chili Burger? This sounds alot like that tastes. I think I will give it a try and see. Thanks, Christy!!!
I have enjoyed reading your receipes, it makes me feel like we are long lost friends. I am looking forward to the new cookbook.
Love the yellow! Love the apron! Love hot dogs & chili!!! You are just too cute in that pic:)
sounds really good….my husband was from a small midwest town that had one of those “greasy spoon” places that served a great spanish hot dog…..we finally go the recipe years after it closed, and the sauce actually had ground up hot dogs in it in place of the ground beef.
Hi – My husband loves chili dogs and I have never made a topping like he wants. He always had chili dogs at this little restaurant when he was growing up. It was this little place in Kentucky, ran by Greek owners who made these memorable chili dogs. He still remembers and that was over 50 years ago. Needless to say, I’ve gotta’ try this!!!!!
As much as I would love this apron…You gave it to the right person. Thank you Christy for being the person you are..We love you!!
Marian
Yum that chili sounds and looks awesome!!! And I LOVE aprons!! I wear one everyday! Whatever I am doing, I somehow get more done if I put an apron on!
Looks great and I totally agree about the Mexene Chili Powder. A lot of others are bitter!
You are just the hostess with the mostest. Cute apron on a cutie gal.
I would so love to win the apron! In the 70′s my precious Grandmother would make matching aprons for myself, my daughter and her doll.
Your Dad’s chili for hot dogs looks so good. Now I am hungry for chili dogs with cheese and onions please.
Hey, I’m in. I won’t wear the apron if I win, but I will make major points with my bride when I give it to her.
I have been craving a good ole hot dog; this has pushed me over the edge and I now have a complete dinner plan…Chili-Slaw Dogs, you are mine. Thanks Christy and thanks to Chris for the Grandma’s Apron story, loved it and my fond memories of my nanny’s–it’s all true!
Keep up the great work, girl–love Southern Plate.
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE this chilli.
Keep up the good work.
What no Cumin!!!!!!!!!!!!!