This simple recipe for cocktail wieners in a bourbon flavored barbecue sauce is a long time family favorite. The ingredients reduce as the cocktail dogs plump in the simmering sauce. Along the way the flavors meld and mellow into a delicious appetizer or party snack.
Ancient History
When I was married, some thirty years ago, I received a local cookbook as a wedding gift. Come Cook With Us was a product of the local homemakers association. Many of my family’s friends and neighbors contributed recipes that were printed inside. At least one recipe was attributed to the neighbor who gave me the cookbook. She proudly signed her name beside the recipe and wrote a sweet inscription inside the front cover.
This local cookbook, despite its tight plastic binding that allows pages to slip out, its lack of pictures and its overly absorbent pages, has been the source of a number of my family’s favorite recipes over the years.
Come Cook With Us includes a recipe for the Kentucky Chili I recently posted about. It also has a good collection of vintage recipes for simple appetizers like sausage balls, stuffed mushrooms and cheese balls. Perhaps our very favorite is this recipe for bourbon-sauced cocktail dogs.
A Vintage Favorite
In some ways these bourbon-sauced smoked sausages are an unlikely favorite. The recipe begins as a fairly common version of cocktail wieners simmered in barbecue sauce. Then it takes things up a notch with the addition of a good sized splash of bourbon. The bourbon flavored barbecue sauce cooks and bubbles as the cocktail dogs plump in the sauce. Along the way the flavors meld and mellow as most of the alcohol evaporates.
Maybe it is the allure of the bourbon, which they would not normally be allowed to taste, or maybe the natural affiliation of kids and hotdogs, Ã la those Oscar Meyer commercials of old, but my children have always, and still do, love this recipe. It is the one food they insist MUST be served at holiday gatherings. Making this recipe is possibly the most anticipated event when we get home from church on Christmas Eve. My oldest son chops a little onion while my daughter gathers the brown sugar and catsup and my youngest son puts the pot on the stove to simmer.
Cocktail Wieners For All Seasons
There is a particular and rather ancient Westbend Cooker Plus I also received as a wedding present. It is a sort of adaptable slow cooker that also serves as a chafing dish for the Cocktail Wieners after they plump in a saucepan on the stovetop. It kept the Bourbon Cocktail Wieners hot throughout the evening for many years. Sometime in the recent past our Westbend Cooker went into retirement. Now we use a small Crockpot instead.
While we first made Bourbon Cocktail Wieners only at Christmas, as the cookbook suggested, over the years we have found that they are equally perfect for celebrating the 4th of July or feeding a crowd at a Superbowl party. The recipe is simple and the flavors blend nicely. The cookbook also suggests that any leftover sauce can be frozen and reused later. You gotta love those thrifty homemakers of an earlier generation. They didn’t waste a thing.
Bourbon Cocktail Wieners
Course: AppetizersCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy8
servings5
minutes30
minutes35
minutesA good sized splash of bourbon in the sauce for these Bourbon Cocktail Wieners makes this recipe from an old local cookbook a reliable favorite.
Ingredients
2 14-oz packages of cocktail dogs (I use Little Smokies)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup catsup
1/2 cup bourbon whiskey
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
Directions
- In a medium saucepan, combine the brown sugar, catsup, whiskey and onion. Bring to a boil.
- Turn down the heat to a simmer and add the cocktail dogs.
- Simmer for thirty minutes or until the dogs look plump and the sauce thickens.
- Transfer to a slow cooker or chafing dish to keep hotdogs warm.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Recipe Source: Adapted from a recipe in Come Cook With Us
Works well with southern comfort
The taste of bourbon was still strong after hours of cooking. I will stick with my original family recipe.
Yes, bourbon is definitely a prominent flavor in this recipe for Bourbon Cocktail Wieners. Thanks for giving it a try!
Winner! My husband would be SO happy if I fixed him cocktail wieners…something I NEVER make. I'm going to have to try this–if I can bring myself to pour a half cup of precious bourbon into the cooker, that is!
Use some non Kentucky low end bourbon.
I absolutely love it…it would go perfect served in my retro house.
What a blast from the past! We used to make a similar recipe using a fondue pot and cocktail wieners. Hmmm… I don't remember adding whiskey.
I love my slow cooker! I have a bunch of healthy slow cooker recipes that I post on my blog if you're interested.
mmm…barbecue weinees are classic. if i ever go to a home-cooked party of any sort and they aren't on the buffet, i'll be surprised. they're certainly popular among my friends and family, and for good reason!
I love old recipes like this that everybody loves. They are so tasty and become family traditions.
Ha! I have that same slow cooker! I loved it because you could use it on the stovetop first, then put onto the slow cooker base, it went in the dishwasher, etc. But I missed the new-fangled features like the automatic 'keep warm' setting so a year ago I got a new slow cooker. Within two months, the handle broke off the lid, just a couple of weeks ago, I tried to super-glue it back on but that turned out to be a REAL mess so the brand-new (used maybe 3 times) $50 Crockpot is in the garbage and I am so glad the Goodwill delivery didn't happen because that old slow cooker? It's still in the basement.
PS Love your Christmas Eve description, it's enough to tempt me to try a recipe that wouldn't normally appeal. Maybe these are good with grits and I can kill two with one stone? 😉
You have just gone all retro today on us!!!