Spaghetti Red Recipe Challenge for Joplin

Iron Chef Joplin-Style...calling all foodies! Can you make a fanciful version of Joplin's "Spaghetti Red" recipe from Fred & Red's? Do you crave creating a vegan version of "Squirrel Pie?" Do ingredients like "sucker fish" excite you? Then maybe this fundraising/creative effort is for you!

We want to hear your healthy, gluten-free, super decadent, frou frou, versions...any and all takes on Joplin-area food favorites (that gave Tony Bourdain a glimpse of southwest Missouri he might not have been ready for)! Red4Joplin is putting together a cookbook with foodie versions of Ozarks mealtime favorites including food blogger and food lover recipes to sell to benefit the victims of Joplin's devastating tornado.

[You can post your recipes to this blog or email me at dckiki [at] gmail DOT com with your recipes. Please specify how you would like us to attribute your donated recipes in the book. Ozarks cooking includes an emphasis on canning, fresh vegetables, and wild game.]

Featured will be a special chapter on the delicious and carb-enhanced "Spaghetti Red" - a specialty of the Joplin area diner and landmark, Fred & Red's - the food blogging community can't let me down!

Want to practice? Here's the first challenge! [The recipe below is not the original Fred & Red's recipe, but an approximation made by a loyal customer and Joplinite.]

Joplin Spaghetti Red Recipe

Spaghetti Red is a Joplin favorite. It is spaghetti covered in a greasy chili, served with hamburger pickle slice, onion slices, crackers and sometimes mustard if you like. The following recipe is just like the chili served at Fred & Red's that loyal customers swear features the best Spaghetti Red they have ever had.

It is a challenge to make Spaghetti Red a fancy dish...perhaps using pickle foam might help?

INGREDIENTS

• 3 pounds of the highest fat content ground beef you can find
• 1.5 packages of Williams Chili Seasoning (or approximately 1/2 cup)
• 1.5 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1.5 teaspoon of ground cumin
• 1 tube (1/4 of a box) of crushed saltine crackers

You won't find this dish at Dean & Deluca!

Brown the hamburger meat and add the chili seasoning, garlic salt and cumin and simmer for 15 minutes. **DO NOT DRAIN OFF THE FAT**

Add the tube of crushed saltine crackers and one quart( I used 3 cups water) of water to the simmering meat and spices. Mix well together and simmer for 1 hour. Add extra salt if needed.

Simmering time is very important, so do not rush it!

Serve on top of cooked spaghetti noodles.

Okay...so what's your version? Help us help Joplin and thanks for your contributions.

[You can donate or order t-shirts here: http://red4joplin.eventbrite.com/]