Chilli Cheese Dogs

Anyone who has read my blog for a while will know I am a filthy perv for ‘furters.  They are delicious cold from the fridge but this weekend I had a bit of to time do something classy...

Chilli cheese dogs are simple and dirty but oh so good!  Salty franks with crispy bacon wrapped round them topped with cheese and mounds of hot fiery chilli.

I'm sure you can work out how to wrap a frankfurter with some bacon and grate a bit of cheese but I will leave you with my recipe for simple sloppy chilli.  I've made this in an American diner style reverse engineered after watching hour upon hour of Man vs Food.

I think it’s really important to build layers of heat in a chilli so if you haven’t got some of the spices try using chopped fresh chilli instead.  Texture here is key; you want diner slop basically.

But something that will sit on the hot dog and not fall off too readily, think molten lava and you've got the picture.  Start by throwing the mince into a pan with a splash of oil.

We don’t want to brown the meat too much as we want to break it down by keeping it moving to create that smooth texture.  Add the dry ingredients and allow them to cook out for a minute or two while you keep the meat moving.

Throw in the stock and tinned tomato and keep cooking on a low heat till it reaches that molten lava texture just remember to top up with water if it goes too far the other way.  If you've got a slow cooker available you could leave this on for ages to really ramp up the flavour and break down the meat if not just leave it on the hob.

When ready throw in a large knob of butter to help create that glossy rich finish and you are good to go.  This should make enough chilli to cover at least four dogs... I ate quite a bit straight from the pan so it’ll probably do more.

Ingredients:
250g Beef
1 Pint of Beef Stock
1 tin of tomatoes
1 tablespoon Chilli Powder, Chilli Flakes, Mexican Oregano, Black Pepper, Cayenne, and Smoked Paprika
1 teaspoon of diced Chipotle Chilli
1 teaspoon of Cumin
Butter
Season as necessary