Method
- 1
Melt the shortening in a large cast-iron pan over medium heat and let it get quite hot.
- 2
Add the onion and cook about a minute, until it begins to turn translucent.
- 3
Add the paprika, cumin and chili powder and stir for about 2 minutes to toast them.
- 4
Add the meat and break it up thoroughly so it stays fine.
- 5
Turn the heat as low as it will go and cook for about an hour. Salt to taste.
- Gillie told the Flint Coney Resource Site in 2015 that he changed one thing for publication. The restaurant buys a raw base of extra-fine beef, beef heart and soy from Abbott’s Meat in 25-pound bags, and for home cooks he substituted lean hamburger ground extra fine.
- Two to Go, the Genesee County Historical Society’s 2007 history of Flint’s coney islands, quotes Edward Abbott, whose company still makes the beef-heart base, describing the traditional sauce: beef suet boiled down, onions browned in it, then spices and meat added. Gillie’s order of steps matches.
- Widely circulated 'original Flint coney' recipes that call for ground hot dogs trace to Flint Journal columns of the 1970s. Angelo’s Coney Island disputed one of them line by line in 1995.
- The Flint Coney Resource Site’s own adaptation of this recipe mentions dropping ketchup, which suggests the printed version may include some. The Lost Recipes Found transcription used here does not list it.