How the heck long have I been doing this anyway? Doesn’t matter, the mad-kitchen scientist is back for another season of recipes to make your Buffalo Bills game days even more memorable.
For those of you new to this, it’s pretty simple. We love the Bills. We love food. Every week you’ll get a themed recipe based on the Bills and their opponent.
Hobo Trash Pies
There’s a lot of kudos this week. FC524 suggested hobo pies and honestly, what a great idea. Looking at Detroit culinary traditions, they like their Coney style dogs which include a meat based chili/hot sauce similar to what you might find in Rochester, most famously on a certain type of “plate.” Rumbler dbluvs suggested this year I could do some “reloaded” recipes to upgrade past recipes. And jg funk specifically asked for the “sauce” from the “plate.”
Got all that? That’s how we ended up with hobo pies with a “trash” hot sauce variant and other fillings. I used home fries with onion, but feel free to go wild.
Hobo trash pies
Serves: Many
Active time: 30 min
Total time: 60 min
Ingredients
1 lb (85/15) ground beef
3/4 cup ginger ale (Vernor’s brand if you can find it)
3/4 cup hot sauce
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup sweet onions, chopped
4 Tbsp unsalted butter (half stick)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste
Other fillings (see below)
Bread (choose something soft and squishy)
Softened or spreadable butter
You will need: Sauté pan, fry pan, spatula, a fork for crimping, expert knowledge of chalk/charcoal markings
- Brown ground beef in sauté pan on MED (five of 10 on my stove top); drain excess liquid.
- Stir in ginger ale, hot sauce, garlic, onions, butter, cumin, and cinnamon.
- Increase heat to MED HIGH (7 or 8 on my stove) and stir frequently; reduce until thickened (see below) and set meat sauce aside.
- Preheat fry pan to MED; while pan is heating, prepare two slices of bread by compressing the middle of each slice with your thumb, leaving about 1/2 around the edges alone (see below).
- Place 1-2 Tbsp of the meat sauce in the indent on one slice of bread, and other fillings you’ve selected on the second slice of bread (see below).
- Quickly flip slice of bread with meat sauce over onto the other slice to form a “pie”.
- Butter the side of the bread turned to you and carefully place this side of the assembled hobo pie in the preheated pan.
- Crimp edges of bread together with a fork, and butter the side of the pie that’s now facing you as the other side continues frying (about 2 min).
- Flip the pie and fry for about another 2 min; remove from pan and enjoy (don’t be too eager and burn yourself though).
- Repeat steps 6-12 for more pies.
Wingin’ It tips
These are very easy, with most of the prep work going to whatever else you’re prepping. Home fries with onions took more effort than the rest of this, and it’s not like cutting potatoes then tossing them in some oil with season is all that difficult. Here’s a quick gallery to show off some of the nuances.
When I’ve done these sauces before, I often add a step with the meat to pulse it a time or two in a blender to make it a bit finer/more consistent. That’s still a good option, but this time around I browned the meat in a little water and used a fork to finely shred it.
For the steps that comprise the next two pictures, don’t be alarmed if you see a good amount of grease/fat despite draining the meat after browning. That’s perfectly normal for this type of sauce, and honestly if you don’t have that between the beef and the butter I’d be shocked. Side note, this is how I know when I’ve reduced the sauce enough. The meat is able to hold shape and only the grease is thin enough to flow.
The remaining pictures show the indent, how I did the crimp on the edges, and that I’m spreading butter on that second side when it’s in the pan.
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