Basic Flint Style Coney Sauce
There’s no one single recipe for Flint Coney sauce, as each restaurant prepares the ground beef heart from Abbott’s their own way. This is our own version of the sauce, in a single recipe, for the stalwarts who want to try to do it all themselves.
Ingredients
- 1/2 each Beef heart generally 2 - 3 lbs
- 1 pkg Textured vegetable protein 10 oz
- 1 cup Shortening rendered suet or tallow can also be used
- 1 White onion, medium
- 4 Tbsp Spanish or smoked Spanish paprika
- 4 Tbsp Cumin, ground
- 2 Tbsp Chili powder, mild
- 8 - 16 oz Beef kidney or ground beef (optional)
Instructions
- Freeze the beef heart (or thaw, if it's already frozen) to about 32°F, but to no cooler than that. Note: If adding the optional beef kidney or ground beef, freeze them them the same way.
- Refrigerate the onion.
- Trim the harder fat from the frozen beef heart.
- Cut the frozen heart into 1” slices.
- Grind the beef heart it before it thaws too much. Note: If adding the optional beef kidney or ground beef, grind them in with the beef heart.
- Put the ground beef heart into a freezer bag and distribute in the bag to an even thickness.
- Refreeze the ground beef heart.
- Follow the directions on the package for the textured vegetable protein to reconstitute enough to measure out one cup. Set the measured cup aside, and refrigerate any that’s left for later use.
- After making sure the heart is down to about 32°F again, remove the frozen ground beef heart from the freezer.
- Grind the refrozen heart a second time.
- Add one cup of the prepared textured vegetable protein to the meat and mix well.
- Remove the onion from the fridge, mince it fine, and set it aside.
- In a sauce pan, melt the cup of shortening over medium-high heat.
- Sauté the minced onion in the melted shortening for about one minute, until the onion is translucent.
- Reduce the heat to low, add the meat mixture to the sauce pan and blend well.
- Simmer the sauce over low heat for 30 – 45 minutes, until the meat is tender but is also still slightly juicy.
- Add the paprika, chili powder, and ground cumin into the meat mixture and stir well for even distribution.
- Adjust the spices for personal taste as desired and simmer a bit longer before serving.
Notes
- If you want to have some sauce ready for a quick preparation at a later date, stop the procedure right after adding the reconsitituted textured vegetable protein to the twice-frozen-and-ground beef heart, while it’s still raw. Pack this mixture in reclosable quart freezer bags and freeze them. When you need some sauce, thaw a bag or two out, then melt your shortening, add the chopped onion, and make a batch.
- Meat grinds best when it’s been refrigerated below 35°F, with the fat grinding better when it’s even partly frozen. This is one step in making meat dishes that most home cooks either miss or are unaware of. In fact, commercial meat grinders are regularly located within walk-in coolers to accomplish this, with the meat not leaving the cooler until the grind is complete. And since most home refrigerators are set between 34° and 38°F (or should be set there anyway), freezing the meat to the lower temperature in the freezer instead of the fridge gives a better grind, faster.