Tag: chicago-style

Maxwell Street Polish Sausage

Maxwell Street Polish Sausage

Chicago’s Maxwell Street Polish Sausage
Caramelized Onions, Yellow Mustard

For Game Day Food, be it Super Bowl Sunday or any other sporting event of the year, it’s hard to beat Chicago’s beloved Polish Sausage sandwich – a delicious favorite for over 80 years…

“After debuting their new brand of all-beef sausage at Chicago’s 1893 Columbian Exposition, Austria-Hungarian immigrants Samuel Ladany and Emil Reichel opened a shop at 1215 S. Halsted: the Vienna Sausage Manufacturing Co., in the Maxwell Street neighborhood.

They provided the local vendors in the Maxwell Street Market with their product and distinctive signs. Jimmy Stefanovic, an industrious man from Yugoslavia who had escaped from Russia with his parents and family during the Bolshevic Revolution, is said to be the first to put the “Polish sausage” on a bun and sell it as a sandwich.

He arrived in Chicago in 1939, bought his aunt’s street stand to sell hot dogs and sausage sandwiches, and took over a building occupied by a deli on the northwest corner of Maxwell and Halsted.” (from the Maxwell St Foundation )

Maxwell Street Polish Sausage Recipe

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Vegan Chicago-Style Hot Dog

Vegan Chicago-Style Hot Dog

Vegan Chicago-Style Hot Dog

I’m taking a risk. I hope my Chicago friends and family won’t be mad that I am sharing a Vegan hot dog, but please hear me out. All these authentic Chicago-style hot dog “fixings” will really give you the Chicago dog experience.

Even ardent meat eaters might eschew hot dogs due to ingredients and additives in addition to beef or other meats – such as corn syrup, salt, potassium lactate, hydrolyzed beef stock, natural flavor, sodium phosphate, sodium diacetate, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite, sheep’s casing…

So try a “a real vegetarian frankfurter” as Field Roast Grain Meat Co. calls it. Simply made from grains and vegetables, it is very tasty, balanced, and well-seasoned.

Now here is the best part, a Field Roast frank has 3 to 4 times the amount of protein as a regular hot dog, sporting 20g in one link with no cholesterol. It has 6g of fiber compared to zero in a hot dog and much less saturated fat as well. Interested?

How To Prepare a Vegan Chicago-Style Hot Dog

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Classic Chicago-Style Polish Sausage Sliders

Classic Chicago-Style Polish Sausage Sliders

Classic Chicago-Style Polish Sausage Sliders

A recent trip back to Chicago was the inspiration for these Game Day sliders. Chicago is a food lover’s town! In addition to the classic hot dog/polish sausage found all over the city (try Portillo’s, Superdawg, or Hot Doug’s to name a few) we recommend some of our old favorite Chicago foods – Lou Malnati’s Pizza, Carson’s Ribs, Joe’s Stone Crabs, a delightful Thai restaurant on Granville called Summer.

Chicago hot dog aficionados will go absolutely crazy for these little sliders! Da Bears don’t need to be in the Superbowl to serve these winning Chicago-style bites!

What Makes a Classic Chicago-Style Hot Dog?

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Chicago Style Hot Dog

Chicago Style: dragged through the garden
I have been in Chicago visiting my family. Grew up there on the North Side in West Rogers Park. Cubs fan. Hot Dog fan, too. Loved Fluky’s back then. Does anyone remember Terry’s Hot Dog Stand on Touhy Avenue? It was our hangout.
Every time I go back to Chicago to visit my brother Don, my sister-in-law Kristy and nephews Stone (7) and Jett (almost 5, he is counting the days) which is quite often actually, we observe a few important culinary traditions:
  1. They take me somewhere to enjoy a Chicago Style hot dog or Polish sausage. This time it was Chicago’s Dog House in Lincoln Park.
  2. I cook a meal with my nephews. Together we made Panko Crusted Turbot with tartar sauce and ketchup.
  3. I cook dinner for the adults at least one night. This time twice, one night had to be the Award Winning Mushroom Agnolotti recipe!
  4. We dine out at one of Chicago’s top restaurants. We ate at a wonderful hot new place called Sunda New Asian Cuisine this time, but the highlight of the trip was a home cooked meal by the amazing and über-talented Top Chef Stephanie Izard at Don & Kristy’s home. I can’t wait to share that meal with you all!
  5. We always eat lunch at Joe’s Stone Crab on Grand & Rush before Kristy drives me to O’Hare to fly home.

I am particularly fond of Hot Doug’s but this time, happy to try some place new, we went to Chicago’s Dog House.

We all liked the “Frips.” A cross between fries and potato chips.

They originally tried to do this by hand, but it took way too long for all the customers in line, so now they’re using an auger.

Daddy Style: My brother likes to try the specialty of the house. Here is the Duck Sausage with Swiss cheese, mushrooms, caramelized onions and Dijon mustard.

You might know me as Lori Lynn, but my “real” name is Aunt GeeGee. One day when my little brother, Don, was almost two years old and I was three, my dad took me on an outing.
My little bro was inconsolable. He cried and cried out for GeeGee. My mother did not know what GeeGee meant.  She tried everything from food, to changing his diaper, to toys – but he still cried until I came home with my father. And then my little brother sighed his relief when his “GeeGee” returned.
As we got a little older, the name GeeGee (pronounced like the clarified butter X 2) morphed to Geeg. And then in high school, it wasn’t cool anymore and Geeg became Lori. Over forty years later after my little brother had kids, the name GeeGee has now become cool again. Stone and Jett only know me as Aunt GeeGee. YAY! Yay for silly names, old memories, and traditions.
The Kids Fix Dinner with Aunt GeeGee

Back at their house: Jett and Stone crusting the fish for dinner. Flour, egg, breadcrumbs. The flour got a little messy. Oh well. Stone said the fish was “good,” and gave the thumbs up sign.

Stone Style: My seven-year-old nephew has loved onions ever since he was a baby. He prefers his hot dog with ketchup and onions. Jett prefers just ketchup, and is not too keen on the poppy seeds.

The family enjoys lunch at Chicago’s Dog House in Lincoln Park. Aunt GeeGee happily sat between the boys.

Huh???

Polish Sausage Chicago Style

Polish Sausage with the Works at Hot Doug’s

UPDATE:

See these three more recent posts on Chicago Hot Dogs and Polish on Taste With The Eyes…
Maxwell Street Polish Sausage here

Polish Sausage Sliders here
Vegan Chicago Hot Dog here

 


“There are no two finer words in the English language than,
‘encased meats,’ my friend.”
-Secret Robbie

Everyone’s got their favorite dog. People who rarely eat hot dogs will cheerfully order up when in Chicago. When I’m in town, my all-time favorite remains the one I’ve been eating for decades: The Chicago Style Polish Sausage with the Works. It is a hickory-smoked mildly spicy beef sausage with all the condiments. Even as a kid, I chose the polish over the hot dog on our regular trips to Fluky’s, another famous hot dog stand that’s been around since 1929. These days, no one does encased meats better than Doug Sohn, owner of Hot Doug’s.
Pictured above is: The Elvis
Polish Sausage: Smoked and Savory – just like the King.
$2.50
The polish, served in a steamed poppy seed bun and dressed with all the traditional Chicago-style condiments:
  • Yellow Mustard
  • Caramelized Onions
  • Bright Green Sweet Relish (also called Piccalilli)
  • Tomatoes
  • Pickle
  • Celery Salt
  • Sport Peppers (optional)

Doug is my hero. In addition to the excellent standard fare, he also offers duck fat fries (only on weekends) and gourmet sausages including Game of the Week, this particular week: Merlot and Blueberry Venison Sausage with Pomegranate-Blueberry Mustard Cream and Finnish Lappi Cheese, oh my!
And other specials such as the one pictured above which I enjoyed on my last visit:
The Celebrity Sausage
Robert Goulet
Uber Garlic Pork Sausage
Chipotle Dijonnaise
Menage Cheese
Roasted Garlic Cloves
$7.00

My nephew, Stone, prefers his hot dog with ketchup only.
How do you like yours?

The Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium
3324 N. California Ave.
Chicago, IL 60618
Phone (773) 279-9550
Hours 10:30 AM – 4 PM
Stone and I recommend that when you visit Chicago, don’t miss out on a trip to Hot Doug’s for lunch, and be prepared to wait for your excellent encased meat, as the line is usually out the door!