Classic Chili Dogs Courtesy of Rocky Mountain Organic Meats

I connected with Rod of Rocky Mountain Organic Meats on Twitter some time ago. I’m not sure who followed who first, but I remember in one conversation he shared with me how delicious the grass-fed meats were way out there in Wyoming due to the type of grass the cows were feasting on. My response was that we had some pretty good meat right here in central Kentucky due to our beloved Bluegrass. Secretly though, he had peaked my interest in those meats way out west.

Well, a few months later, I was given the offer to try Rocky Mountain Organic Meats firsthand when Rod asked if I’d like to sample a few items. I thought about it a while and after reading more about the company, I decided I couldn’t pass it up.

As you know, we buy most (were at about 95% now) of our meats locally and ensure that they are sustainably and humanely raised. Rocky Mountain Meats fits all that criteria except the local part. However, I decided this could work in the favor of my readers.

Every time I write about the great meat I get around here, I usually have at least one person tell me in the comments that they wish they had access to similar products in their area. In most cases you do. You just have to venture outside the city a bit, but there are likely some cases where you don’t. So sharing these products with you is to let you know that you do have access to some incredibly tasty, sustainably and humanely produced animal products through the good ol’ internet.

If you want to know exactly what this company is all about there is an abundance of information on their website including a little about what they do, who they are and what they sell. It starts like this:

“Rocky Mountain Organic Meats offers the finest Certified Organic grass-fed beef and grass-fed lamb in the country. All of our meats are 100% grass-fed and grass-finished and come from the best cattle and sheep country the Rocky Mountains have to offer. Our livestock is raised the old-fashioned way; no steroids or growth hormones, no antibiotics and no grain. Our only additives are clean water, lush grasses and fresh air resulting in lean and delicious organic grass-fed beef and lamb.”

I was a bit overwhelmed when the box arrived at my door. I couldn’t believe the selection! Along with ground beef, lamb and sirloin steak, there was summer sausage, beef breakfast sausage, pastrami, hot dogs and my new favorite snack, Honey Beef Jerky. Wow, that stuff is good! Considering all the beef jerky lovers in my family, a bulk order will likely be on the Christmas list.

The ingredients used in processing, smoking and aging the products are as natural as the meat itself. I found black pepper, paprika, celery juice and others boldly listed on the front of the packages.

So with all this great meat, you know I had to come up with something exciting to share with you.

I found myself thinking back to some favorite foods that we haven’t had in years. The combination of healthy eating in general, decreasing our support of the current fast food system and increasing our investment in grass-fed meats means that we’ve stopped eating a lot of the foods we might have splurged on in the past.

Enter the classic chili dog. Not just any chili dog, but the most sustainable, from scratch, partially local, mostly organic and all grass-fed chili dog you have yet to see.

First I started on the buns using the same recipe I posted a while back for the Bread Bowl. I just portioned the pieces after the bread doubled and made each into hot dog-bun shapes. The bun recipe makes about six so you’ll have a couple left over.

I got to work with the organic grass-fed ground beef and made a chili-type sauce that was part Coney, part Lori’s tastes. My husband said it was a bit more tomato-y than the Coney sauces he’s used to, but that is where the Lori’s tastes come in. I like that tomato flavor in my chili.

That last sentence in the quoted description above is spot on. The beef was so lean that I had no grease to drain from the pan. It was full of the flavor I’ve come to expect from grass-finished beef. Excellent,and it was a perfect match for the chili sauce.

I cooked up their organic beef hot dogs just to heat them through. You could grill, pan fry or boil them depending on your preferences. These hot dogs had a slight sausage texture to them which we didn’t mind at all. They were just right as the main attraction in this dish.

I saved a bit of chopped onion to top off the dogs, and I shredded up one of our new favorite Kentucky cheeses, St. Jerome from Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese. It has a creamy texture and resembles the flavor of an Asiago to me.

Pile it all together and you have the best dog around. The perfect blend of foods from the past combined with food choices of the present.

Classic Chili Dogs

4 homemade hot dog buns
½ lb organic, grass finished ground beef
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp celery salt
½ tsp ground mustard
1 tsp mascavo sugar (or brown sugar)
2 cups tomato sauce
1 tbsp tomato paste
Salt and Pepper to taste
4 organic, grass-finished hot dogs
¼ cup shredded cheese (optional)

In a medium size sauce pan begin to brown the grown beef. Reserve 3 tbsp of the chopped onion for garnish and place the rest in the pan with the beef. Continue to cook until the beef is cooked through.

Next add the chili powder, paprika, celery salt, ground mustard and sugar. Stir in the tomato sauce and tomato paste. Let simmer for 1 to 2 minutes and then add salt and pepper to taste.

Slit each bun down the side, lay a warm hot dog in the bun and top with the chili. Sprinkle on a little chopped onion and shredded cheese for garnish. Serves 4.