Recipe: Spike's Junkyard Dogs Rhode Island Grinder Sauce

RHODE ISLAND GRINDER SAUCE

"Spike's Junkyard Dogs is a Rhode Island original - a chain of casual restaurants selling award-winning hot dogs of every kind. We're talking 100 percent all-beef jumbo hot dogs served in a hot, soft, French roll, not those little wieners in fluffy white buns sold at New York Systems. The first Spike's, at 723 Thayer Street in Providence, in the College Hill area, has been around since 1994, serving hot dogs to many a starving student. Spike is a real-life English bulldog that has become a Rhode Island icon through his public appearances at the various Spike's, including other spots in Providence and the suburbs. Spike's signature hot dog - the Junkyard Dog - is topped with tomatoes, green onions, brown mustard, a pickle spear, and a hot pepper. If you can eat six - and keep them down - you're made a member of the Kennel Club, with your photo on the wall and your very own Spike's T-shirt. (The record, by the way, is seventeen.) Here is Spike's original recipe for the sauce they put on their Rhode Island Grinder Dog."

1/4 cup diced onion
1/4 cup chopped dill pickles
4 plum tomatoes, chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

In a mixing bowl, combine the diced onion, chopped dill pickles, and chopped plum tomatoes. Add the remaining ingredients. Mix well, using a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Refrigerate in a tightly sealed container.

Makes about 3 cups
Source: The Providence and Rhode Island Cookbook by Linda Beaulieu