Hot Dog With Special Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 large vidalia onion, sliced thin and chopped
• 1/2 cup of catsup
• 2 tablespoons mustard
• 2 teaspoons of brown sugar

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
2. Sauté the onion in the oil for 5 minutes, or until the onions are soft, but not brown.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients
4. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. or until most of the liquid is reduced and the sauce is thickened.
5. Makes about 1 cup.

If you hail from Alpha, New Jersey then you should be aware of the best hot dogs with special sauce in the world. Everyone knows that they have been made at Charlie's Pool Room for over three generations. My dad would buy the dogs with special sauce, get them home and dissect them in an effort to duplicate them. He tried everything, but never got the recipe down pat. The above recipe is my recipe, and it is as close as I can get, but certainly not Charlie's recipe.

When I worked at the Warren County Welfare Board in Belvidere, NJ we would have holiday brunch celebrations. Everyone would bring a covered dish. Once I cooked up a large box of hot dogs, made a huge batch of special sauce and put them in a cassarole dish. I reheated them in the lunch room microwave and the smell wafted down the hall. Suddenly, my fellow workers started walking down the hall to find out where the wonderful smell was coming from.

I may be a "Hamburger" from Hamburg, PA, but hot dogs with special sauce are my favorite sandwich, well, except for a Bud's Snack Bar Cheese Steak, but that is for another blog.