Coney Island hot dog
Coney dogs
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| Course | Main course |
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| Place of origin | Detroit, MI, United States |
| Serving temperature | Hot |
| Main ingredients | Hot dog, or a beef or beef and pork European-style Vienna sausage with lamb or sheep casing, topped with a meat sauce made of seasoned ground beef or beef heart, topped with yellow mustard, white onion and sometimes cheese. |
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A Coney Island Hot Dog (or Coney Dog or Coney) is a hot dog sandwich in a bun topped with a savory meat sauce and sometimes other toppings. It is often offered as part of a menu of dishes of Greek origin and classic American 'diner' dishes and often at Coney Island restaurants. It is largely a phenomenon related to immigration from Greece and the Macedonian region to the United States in the early 20th century.
"Virtually all" Coney Island variations were developed, apparently independently, by Greek or Macedonian immigrants in the early 1900s, many fleeing the Balkan wars, who entered the US through Ellis Island in New York City. Family stories of the development of the dishes often included anecdotes about visits to Coney Island.
In 1913 the Coney Island Chamber of Commerce in New York had banned the use of the term "hot dog" on restaurant signs on Coney Island, an action prompted by concerns about visitors taking the term literally and assuming there was dog meat in the sausage. Because of this action by the Chamber of Commerce, immigrants passing through the area didn't know the sausage in a bun by the American moniker "hot dog." Instead, the handheld food would have been known to immigrants as a "coney island."
There is constant debate about when and where the Coney Island hot dog was first served. The earliest known year is 1914, with both Ft. Wayne's Famous Coney Island Wiener Stand in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and Todoroff's Original Coney Island in Jackson, Michigan, opening that year. As specific opening dates for those two locations are not known, and it also being unclear if there are other earlier openings at other locations, the first instance of the Coney Island hot dog is yet unknown and no reliable claim can be made.
Ft. Wayne's Famous Coney Island Wiener Stand was opened in 1914 by three now-unknown Macedonian immigrants. Vasil Eschoff, another Macedonian immigrant, purchased an interest from one of the original owners in 1916. Eschoff's descendants have operated the restaurant since. The Coney Island in Fort Wayne is described as a small, fatty pink hot dog with a "peppery-sweet" coney sauce on a soft bun. However, the ground beef-based coney sauce at Ft. Wayne's Famous Coney Island Wiener Stand has the flavor and consistency of a mild peppered savory pork sausage, reflecting its Macedonian heritage. The small hot dog is grilled on a flattop, placed in a steamed bun, yellow mustard applied, then a few teaspoonfuls of the savory chili sauce are added which is then topped with chopped yellow onion.
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