This Must-Eat Chili Dog Is Washington D.C.'s Signature Dish | Legendary Eats

a half pork half beef sausage grilled until perfectly charred and brown dressed with tangy yellow mustard and crunchy white onions but it's the final touch smothering the whole thing in homemade chili cooked down for hours to hone the sweet and smoky flavor that makes the half smoke from ben's chili ball a legend in washington dc washington dc is a city rich in history but it's this famous nine block stretch on new street once known as black broadway that has contributed to some of the city's most defining moments and while this block has struggled through generations of ups and downs ben's chili bowl which first opened its doors on august 22 1958 was there through it all it's just the same way that it did like 10 years ago and my grandparents stayed the same way which is 20 years ago it never changes inside the small kitchen that has kept washingtonians fed for generations as a world of secrets so many in fact that the family goes as far as to prep brown paper bags full of ben's original spice mix so that even the chefs remain clueless to the final touches this magic bag we make every day and only the family has this secret some people get their driver's license some people get a bar mitzvah we get the magic spice mix recipe this is kamal ali one of founder ben and virginia's three sons all of whom left successful careers in their own rights to help keep the family legacy alive what is your mom going to do to you if you ever gave away this recipe big trouble she's i'm not too old to put forgetfulness and mama virginia agrees oh no we raised them well the chili sauce begins with simple fresh ingredients ground beef topped with roughly chopped white onion green peppers and tomatoes loaded into a large stockpot chain restaurant and other people are making it they're going to have exact measurements and everything this is how we do it here that's what we're doing here we're just going to toss in these peppers and onions and what we're going to do is we're going to give it a good covering once all the ingredients are combined and covered with liquid the sauce is left to boil and bubble for about an hour and a half until the meat is cooked and the vegetables are nice and soft ensuring a silky smooth texture when it's cooked down to about half the amount a pot is left to simmer for an additional 45 minutes so the flavor can really develop so now it's simmered all those spices are getting together in there and having a party kamal kicked us out of the kitchen to add some ali family secret finishing touches but when we came back the chili was reduced down to a rich and creamy sauce that he churns with a metal spoon to add in some air and positive vibes we add in some community skirt we added lots of love a little bit of black lives matter this year every year of course every year and we come out with this nice smooth consistency [Music] after the chili sauce is left to cool on a bed of ice it's taken to the production line where the iconic half smoke really comes to life the houseboat is unique to washington and it is washington's signature dish now it begins with a half pork half beef sausage cooked on a hot griddle until charred on all sides the sausage is placed on a lightly steamed bun before being doused with yellow mustard sprinkled with chopped white onion and finished with that famous chili sauce the meat is perfectly seasoned except i got the bun crispy on the outside juicy on the inside chili laced up the masa gives that little tang good to go i'm a native washingtonian so you can't live in washington d.c and not come to ben it's made with love this family who built this is a love story you know and it's the african-american black love story the love story that built this empire began with ben and virginia ali over 60 years ago when he stopped by the bank she worked at and decided to chat her up he had the nerve to ask me to call he wrote a little note with his phone number and his name of course i didn't call him this was 1957. you don't call a man you don't know and the rest is history we had 51 years together before he died yeah quickly into their relationship ben and virginia decided that they wanted to own their own business having worked in restaurants to pay his way through university the two decided to lean into a tasty chili recipe ben had cooked up we needed an ideal location we found that ideal location in this community on the street called black broadband and just like that ben's chili bowl was born in the early days the newlyweds worked day in and day out serving the affluent black community of black broadway standing as a meeting ground for some of the biggest names in history everyone from duke ellington to stokely carmichael to mlk himself have swung by for a bite of the half smoke dr martin luther king had a satellite office at 14th and u so whenever he was in town he popped into the chili bomb we'd have an opportunity to chat with him for a few minutes and listen to his dream and the march on washington that took place in 1963 we were a part of and we were here to perhaps prepare food for some of those folks that came in very early so it breaks my heart today to see that we're still now struggling and fighting for those same basic human rights that we fought for so many years ago already active community leaders in the civil rights movement when protests broke out after the assassination of mlk benz was one of the only businesses allowed to stay open beating protesters as well as first responders late into the night now stokely carmichael told me that he had to talk with the commander and said we need a place together we need a place for the city officials for even activists and and for the first responders to be able to come in and feel safe and have something to eat it was a meeting place for the civil rights movement for entertainers celebrities no matter what was going on in the country around the world ben's had his hand on the pulse of the community it's a usual place for unusual people that come and everybody could be usual you know what i mean and meetings have been held in some of these booths meetings that impacted people's lives all over the country destruction from the protests caused residents to flee the area and this community continued to face detrimental setbacks over the decades from drug trafficking into the black community in the 70s to destructive metro construction throughout the 80s and large-scale gentrification through the 90s all of which over time effectively erased black broadway off the map through it all ben's chili bowl has remained even becoming obama's first surprise pit stop leading up to the 2009 inauguration but despite the hype virginia lives to make sure the place feels like home to everyone who walks in she and then during his lifetime they brought along their family so that their family would continue along after them and that is an important thing because ben is gone and one day i'll be gone and virginia will be gone but the legacy of the chili bowl will continue to live because the children have made that a part of what they do it's a family affair and i'm so so grateful for that i like being able to come in and meet and greet our patrons and treat them as guests coming into my home it's been an interesting 62 years i've not had a boring moment it's very tasty have you tried one if i'm being perfectly honest i've somehow gotten through my life without ever having a chili dog so i've absolutely no idea what to expect from this but i will say just smelling it it smells like summer it smells like a family barbecue it smells like sweet and a little bit spicy it's goddammit this is so good so the chili doesn't have a lot of texture to it which is where the onions the onions add that crunch that you really want that fresh sweet crunch the mustard on top adds like a little bit of a sweetness but the chili overall it's thick it's rich it's spicy but in that way then it's like a flavorful spice it's not a hot spice so it feels like you could just keep eating it because it's never gonna like hurt your mouth i've never had a chili dog before and it's so much better than i was expecting like i feel like i've been missing out on this my entire life when i came here my hair was long as yours but look what happened them chili dogs are delicious

Channel: Food Insider

Views: 837,487

Rating: 4.7757096 out of 5

Keywords: INSIDER, FOOD INSIDER, Chili, Chili Dog, Washington DC, Food, Sausage, Civil Rights Movement, Black Broadway

Id: BHzPqGBaa5w

Length: 8min 48sec (528 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 17 2020