Volume 32
Spring-Summer
2006 |
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As we pulled to a stop in Clare and Carl’s
parking lot, a pleasant young man hustled out
the door and asked if he could take our order.
He wasn’t wearing roller skates, but everything
else about the diner was straight out of
American Graffiti. The threatening skies made
the idea of eating from a tray attached to our
car window rather unappealing, so we thanked
him and headed inside past a row of picnic
tables, another dining option at this historic
hot dog stand. We’d actually eaten lunch
already at Clare and Carl’s Other Place, where
the tables were full, and where—in defiance
of the blandishments of an extensive
sandwich menu—most of the clientele were
tucking into Michigans, or Texas Red Hots, as
they are also called. We wanted to talk to Terry
Spiegel, present owner of both branches of
Clare and Carl’s, to get the full story on
Plattsburgh’s most famous food. Terry was
busy at the original stand, stirring sauce,
steaming buns, and cooking hot dogs, so we
came right over after paying our bill at the
Other Place.
Although there are several origin stories
about the Michigan, it’s pretty definite that a
Mrs. Otis, who came to Plattsburgh from
Michigan, had the idea first. Gordie Little of
the Press-Republican did extensive research on
these hot dogs and found an ad in the May
27, 1927, edition of the Plattsburgh Daily
Republican, inviting readers to the “opening
of the Michigan Hot-Dog Stand located
between the two dance halls on Lake Shore
Road—Management of Otis and Quigley.”
Terry filled me in on the Clare and Carl
connection. They were Plattsburgh natives,
who had been selling kraut dogs in
Westchester County, then moved back home
in June of 1942 and set up a stand on the
farm owned by his parents. They met Mrs.
Otis, who introduced them to the Michigan.
Clare thought these dogs would be more
popular in the North Country than kraut dogs,
so she came up with her own version of the
sauce. The stand has been open continuously
and in family hands ever since.
Terry explained that fifteen or twenty years
ago there were just four Michigan stands in
the city—Clare and Carl’s, Nitzi’s, Ronnie’s,
and Gus’s—but now they’ve spread
everywhere around the northeastern part of
the North Country. I can vouch for that. A
little fifties-style diner two hours away in
Potsdam not only sells Michigans, but also
offers a bowl of Michigan—the meat sauce
without the hot dog and bun.
So what exactly is this Michigan? It starts
with a hot dog. Clare and Carl’s and
McSweeney’s both use Tobin’s First Prize, but
other cooks swear by Glazier’s from Potsdam.
Then there’s the secret sauce, and I do mean
secret. Michigan makers reply with a sneer and
a scornful laugh if you have the temerity to
request a recipe. We ate in two restaurants for
comparison and found the sauces very
different: one bland, the other deliciously spicy.
Who knows what other variations we might
have found, had we larger stomachs! Most
people request onions on their Michigan, but
some like them sprinkled on top, while others
order “a Michigan—buried,” meaning one
with the onions buried in the bun under the
sauce. We ordered our first one that way,
thinking we were very clever to have figured
out that we were less likely to lose our onions
that way. Ha! We had not yet read the dreadful
warning on McSweeney’s menu: “Onions
buried may cause sauce to fall off hot dog due
to bun crisis of 2002.”
Michigan
1 pound ground round or chuck
1 8-ounce can tomato paste
1 cup water
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
Garlic salt to taste
1 pound hot dogs (Glazier’s are a local
favorite)
New England–style hot dog buns, with
the slit in the top
Mustard
Chopped onions
Brown the ground beef, and drain off the
fat. The resulting pieces of meat must be
crumbled very fine. Add the tomato paste
and water, mixing them into the meat. Add
the mustard; combine the other spices, and
blend them in thoroughly. Steam or grill
the hot dogs. Steam the bun. Place the hot
dog in the bun and cover it with mustard
and a generous helping of sauce. The
onions can be buried under the sauce or
sprinkled on top.
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That statement forced us to consider the
final element in the Michigan: the bun.
Originally Michigans were served on steamed
rolls from the local bakery, Bouyea-Fassett.
These rolls were longer and heavier than the
hot dog rolls sold today. You could buy them
uncut, age them a day to keep them from
falling apart in the steamer, then slash them
open on the top and proceed with building
your Michigan. In 2002, however, Bouyea-
Fassett was bought out, and the new
company, ignoring the desperate pleas of
Plattsburghers, discontinued the buns. Now
stand owners must make do with much shorter and shallower New England–style
rolls from other companies—sadly more
prone to overflow when filled with dog, sauce,
and buried onions. The buns are steamed not
only to warm them, we learned, but also to
make it easier to stuff all those essentials into
them.
I never did get to the bottom of the
Michigan versus Texas Red Hot question. I
guess it doesn’t really matter, though. Anyone
from Plattsburgh or thereabouts knows that
a rose by any other name smells just as sweetly
of onions.
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Lynn Case Ekfelt is retired from her position as a special collections librarian and university archivist at St. Lawrence University. She is the author of Good Food Served Right: Traditional Recipes and Food Customs from New York’s North Country (Canton, New York: Traditional Arts in Upstate New York, 2000), available on-line from our New York Traditions gallery store.
Michigan makers reply with a sneer and
a scornful laugh if you have the temerity to
request a recipe.
This column appeared in Voices Vol. 32, Spring-Summer 2006. Voices is the membership magazine of the New York Folklore Society. To become a subscriber, join the New York Folklore Society today.
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