Slingers

I fancy myself a fan of good, hearty Midwest comfort food. I grew up in Ohio and ate fresh-caught fried walleye at my gramma’s cottage, beef and noodles from my mom’s kitchen and broccoli cheese casserole when we went out for dinner. So when I was watching the Chicago ep of Feed the Beast (psst, Travel Channel, I want more), and bearded hunk, Mikey Roe stepped into a diner and was served up the Slinger, I was saddened that I wasn’t in this loop. I had to remedy that. For awhile now, I’ve had it on my list of recipes to try and I finally pulled it out.

Damn.

It’s like lead in your belly, but it’s so fucking good. Hashbrowns topped with a hamburger, topped with chili, topped with cheese, topped with a fried egg… are you kidding me? That’s all I gotstsa say! Give it a try, guys.

Midwestern awesome on top of midwestern crazy.

Slinger
ingredients
4 cups frozen hash browns
oil (for frying)
2 cups prepared chili (recipe below)
4 eggs
1 lb. ground sirloin
1 cup cheddar cheese
salt and pepper

Prepare hash browns according to package.

Form four patties from ground beef. (I like to make them thinner in the center and thicker on the edges so when they cook up, they end up flat discs instead of burger-balls.) Salt and pepper both sides. Preheat a skillet or grill pan, drizzle with olive oil and cook patties for 4-6 minutes per side (for medium rare). Remove to a plate, cover with foil and cook your eggs, sunny-side up in the skillet with the hamburger grease.

While your eggs are cooking, begin to assemble your slingers. Place a fourth of the prepared hash browns. (Salt and pepper if desired.) Place your burger patty on top of the hashbrowns and then cover with a ½ cup chili. (You can add more if you like a lot of chili.) Sprinkle with a bit of cheese and then top off with your fried egg.

Eat immediately cause you won’t be able to wait.

Slow Cooker Slinger Chili
recipe adapted from Chow
ingredients
1/4 cup butter
2 medium onions, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 ½ tsp kosher salt
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
1 14-oz can tomato sauce
¼ c chopped jalapenos, with seeds

In a large skillet, melt butter and add onions and garlic. Cook over high heat until onions get limp and start to brown. Crumble in ground beef and cook over medium heat until cooked through.

In a slow cooker, add beef and onions to the rest of your ingredients. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.