New York System Wieners

Rhode Island is known as “The Ocean State”.  We’ve got loads of coastline and beaches and a long history of things like fishing, boat burning, and religious tolerance.  We also have exotic local delicacies, like coffee milk, and cabinets, but most exotic of all are the New York System wieners.  NY System wieners are not your average, every day hot dog.  They consist of a frank made from pork and veal, giving them a different flavor than a typical dog.  Locally, they go by many names: most popularly the misspelled “weiner”, but they’re also known as gaggers (pronounced the Rhode Island way, “gaggahs”), belly-busters, and occasionally hot weenies.

One thing to remember is that they’re definitely not a chili dog.  Many sites that offer recipes for this sauce give NY System wieners a lot of bad reviews, because a lot of people see meat on a hot dog and automatically assume it’s supposed a chili dog.  However, there’s a HUGE difference.  Chili dogs tend to use a tomato-based sauce.  NY System wieners use, well to be completely honest, a grease-based sauce.  When ordered, you’ll probably get them wrapped in waxed paper and in a paper bag, with the grease soaking through several layers.  My mother would say that you need to eat two, so they fight with each other and not with your stomach.  In this case, we chose to do things a bit healthier, because we value our arteries.

Going All The Way

Speaking of ordering them, there is a very specific way to order wieners.  Wieners come “all the way”, which is a wiener with mustard, meat sauce, onions, and celery salt, in that order.  Don’t try to change the order of the toppings, it’s not going to happen, it just isn’t done.  There are no other toppings; hell, we felt bad even using spicy brown mustard in place of the traditional yellow mustard.  You can ask for your wieners without the onions, but don’t you dare ask for ketchup unless you want to start a brawl.  And while the health department frowns on it, in many wiener joints in Rhode Island, the wieners are built in an assembly line fashion on the arm of the wiener cook.

Because hot wieners are such a local food, it’s hard to even describe how they’re supposed to taste.  They’re not hot, but they are spicy.  They’ve got a kick from the chili powder, and the rest of the spices give their own special flavor to the mix, but none of them overwhelm the sauce.  Served in a steamed bun, the bread will soak up any of the grease from the meat.

And  the best part is, with this recipe, I no longer need to leave the house in order for us to gorge ourselves on tube meat.

4.8 from 5 votes

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New York System Hot Wieners

New York System dogs are known by many names in Rhode Island, most commonly called "wieners" or "gaggers", and are neither a hot dog, nor a chilli dog, nor are they from New York.  What they are is plain delicious, made with pork and veal wieners, a steamed bun, and a spiced meat sauce.

Course Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine American

Keyword hot dog, sauce, weiners, wieners

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Servings 10

Ingredients

For Your Wieners

• 10 pork/veal wieners see notes
• 10 New England style hot dog buns white, with the slit at the top, NOT the side
• ½ white onion minced
• yellow or spicy mustard
• celery salt

NY York System Wiener Sauce

• 1 lb ground beef or turkey
• 4 tbsps butter
• ½ cup water more if needed
• ½ white onion minced
• 2 tbsps minced garlic
• 1½ tsps cumin
• 2 tsps paprika
• 2 tsps chili powder
• 2 tsps allspice
• 2½ tsps dried mustard
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tbsp celery salt

Instructions

NY York System Wiener Sauce

1. Melt butter in a deep skillet, then cook the minced onion until translucent, stirring frequently.  Add the garlic and continue to cook until fragrant.  Remove everything from pan, melted butter and all, and set aside.

2. Crumble the meat into the same pan, the smaller the pieces the better.  Brown the meat, stirring frequently, continuing to mash and break the meat up as it cooks.  You can use a potato masher, or even a whisk, to make the meat as finely crumbled as possible.

3. Optional step:  if you want a less greasy meat sauce, remove the meat from the pan drain off as much of the fat as you can.  Put the browned meat in a strainer and rinse under cold water to remove even more of the grease.  Traditionally, however, the sauce is pretty greasy.

4. Return the buttery onion and garlic to the pan and mix with the meat.  Add the water and stir, breaking up the meat further.  Add the cumin, paprika, chili powder, allspice, and dried mustard to the pan, mixing completely.  If needed, add more water and allow the meat to simmer until the liquid reduces.

5. In a medium pot, boil some water.  Once it reaches boiling point, add your wieners and cook through, usually about 5-10 minutes.

6. Taste the meat and add salt if needed.  Save this step for last, as the salt content of the celery salt can vary by manufacturers.

7. Place your hot dog buns on a plate and cover with a damp paper towel.  Microwave the buns for 20-30 seconds to steam them until they're heated through, but not too soggy.

Wieners, All the Way

1. Place the wiener in a bun.  

2. Smear mustard on wiener.

3. Spoon meat sauce down the length of the wiener.

4. Spoon diced onion over the meat sauce.

5. Sprinkle celery salt on your wiener.

Recipe Notes

NY System wieners (or weiners, as the locals sometimes spell it) are NOT your typical beef franks.  They are made from a mix of pork and veal, and are smaller and thinner than a typical hot dog, and chances are good that you're not going to find them in your local grocery stores.  You can use any franks, as long as they aren't smoked or cheese-filled, but if you want to be truly authentic, you can buy some from Little Rhody Brand Frankfurts, as long as you're willing to buy at least 5 lbs at minimum.

The Tart

The Tart likes to eat, cook, and bake things.  She eats to work out, and she works out to be able to eat.