Hot Dog Topping

Wendy’s Chili

Don’t want to hear the backstory? Jump straight to the recipe. Late one night I went down a YouTube rabbit hole and found the amazing world of 1980-90s fast food training videos. One of the standout videos is Wendy’s “Grill Skills” that teaches new employees how to grill Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers. One thing that might stand out in this video is that fact burgers that break or have been left on the grill for too long are ground up and frozen to use in chili later. Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas… Read More »Wendy’s Chili

Shake Shack Cheese Sauce

Recently, Shake Shack started a new cooking-along series where they are sharing some of their recipes. They have included my favorite, the cheese sauce. See the video that they shared below, or the written instruction below the video. Ingredients 2 cups of American cheese 2 cups of cheddar cheese 1 tbsp of canola oil 1 tbsp of white wine vinegar 6 thin slices of jalapeños ¾ cup of sliced onions ½ tsp of salt 2 tsp of peppercorns 2 cups of heavy cream 2 tsp of white wine Preparation Sweat the… Read More »Shake Shack Cheese Sauce

Tavern Relish

Don’t want to hear the backstory? Jump straight to the recipe. In 1930 Nick Bullington, a former travelling advance man for the Ringling Brothers Circus, opened the Texas Tavern in Roanoke, Virginia. Nick had been travelling the country setting up the circus’ affairs a year ahead of their arrival while collecting recipes from all around. Eventually, at the height of the Great Depression, Nick opened the Texas Tavern in the booming railroad city of Roanoke, Virginia. He went to expand to Lynchburg, Virginia and opened what is now known as the… Read More »Tavern Relish

North Country Michigan Sauce

Don’t want to hear the backstory? Jump straight to the recipe. My wife’s family on her father’s side is from a small town in the very Northern tip of New York state. This is far beyond upstate New York (which a lot of New Yorkers that I know joke is anything North of The Bronx). All that I knew about this town was a regional specialty of Hot Dogs called “Michigans” when I visited for the first time in April of 2019. I went on a mission to taste every Michigan… Read More »North Country Michigan Sauce

Chick-fil-A Cole Slaw

Don’t want to hear the backstory? Jump straight to the recipe. January 18, 2016 was a sad day for fans of Chick-fil-A cole slaw. The company announced that it was removing cole slaw from its menu to make room for more items. This was a devastating blow to Chick-fil-A fans who needed to get their creamy cabbage fix somewhere else. Chick-fil-A along with their announcement released a recipe that you can make at home though. At the secret-sauce.net test kitchen, we’ve been using this recipe for the last couple of years… Read More »Chick-fil-A Cole Slaw