Friday, April 30, 2010

Ferocious Franks


Another treat from Jinx and Judy - cocktail franks! This photo is from a Flickr, and I could not find anything closer. What I really wanted to find was a photo of a jar of cocktail franks, as I've never encountered one - anyone have a photo of that?

I return from the conference today, but in the meantime, from the chapter Happiness is a Dry Martini:

Ferocious Franks
3 jars cocktail franks
1 1/2 bottles tomato catsup
1/4 cup sugar
Liberal dashes red and black pepper
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 of a seeded lemon, diced fine
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander
1/8 tsp. paprika
1/8 tsp. saffron
1/4 tsp. ginger
Mix all ingredients except the franks and simmer for 15 minutes. Plop either the small cocktail franks or regular ones sliced in 1/inch pieces into this sauce and let them wallow awhile until warm.  Provide guests with long Japanese skewers or toothpicks for spearing.

This is better than the vintage conundrum I come across often of serving little franks in grape jelly. I've tasted ok versions of that when mixed with BBQ sauce, but really - how did people think of these things? And why?

Can't wait to tell you about all the great new YA and romance books I'm finding out about at this conference!

4 comments:

Sassy Lassies Vintage Life said...

I had a retro party last year and searched for jars of cocktail franks. Could only find packages...maybe somewhere in America they still exist in a jar. I made the grape jelly version and they were quite tasty. This recipe looks good too.

Sassy Lassies Vintage Life said...

I had a vintage party last year and served a 50's version of this (yes the grape jelly and cocktail sauce) it was good...this one looks WONDERFUL. Love the flavor combo. I think jared franks are a thing of the past.

Barbara said...

A "jar of cocktail franks" back then equals a can of vienna sausages today.

Do you REALLY want a picture of that?

Little Black Car said...

I wonder how much ketchup was in a jar? And I would think it would need more than a "dash", even a liberal one, of each kind of pepper to qualify as "ferocious."

Personally, I like to mix the barbecue sauce with red plum jelly instead of grape. More tangy, less sweet. Just a thought.