My Dad Only Cooked One Thing

Love Is Dumping a Bunch of Cans Together

Okay, my dad actually cooked three things (four if you count a summer sausage and mustard sandwich). On special occasions he grilled huge piles of Paul’s famous chicken wings or Paul’s famous baby-back ribs, and on regular occasions he made his weeknight staple, Daddy’s Dish.

My mom did most of the cooking in our house—tacos seasoned from the McCormick packet, hamburgers with shredded iceberg lettuce, Boboli pizza, risi e bisi, or her own idiosyncratic signature dish, Milk Mush¹—but if she was busy or tired or out of town it was a Daddy’s Dish night, no question, and no one was ever disappointed. I think we had Daddy’s Dish once or twice a week for my entire life. There was always a pot of leftover Daddy’s Dish in the refrigerator and a few extra tubs of Daddy’s Dish in the freezer.

To the untrained eye, Daddy’s Dish is “just” chili. And I suppose you could call it that. Chili is the base of a good Daddy’s Dish. But real bona fide Daddy’s Dish is so much more! To my dad, the most important ingredient in Daddy’s Dish was the little discs of cut-up hot dog. To me, it’s the can of corn by 1000 miles. Over the years, my mom sometimes tried to make Daddy’s Dish a little healthier or more sophisticated—she’d add zucchini, carrots, kale, maybe swap the hot dog for ground turkey. It would be easy to make Daddy’s Dish vegan if you wanted to! You can dress Daddy’s Dish up like chili if you want—shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped onions—but it doesn’t need it. Daddy’s Dish is perfect just as it is, unadorned: hot dog to sink your teeth into, more brothy than chili thanks to the water in the tomatoes, bursting with sweet corn kernels and speckled with pools of red oil.

I texted my mom about the origin of Daddy’s Dish:

This is the Daddy’s Dish I remember, and the Daddy’s Dish I woke up thinking about today:

DADDY’S DISH
a dish by Paul West (1935-2011)

1 can of store-bought chili, whatever type you like
1 can of corn, drained
1 can of stewed tomatoes, not drained
1-2 hot dogs, sliced into coins

Dump and heat.

Optional suggestions:

• swap hot links for hot dogs

• add a dash or two of vinegar or Tabasco (Daddy’s Dish can handle the acid)

• a great use for leftover McCormick-kissed taco meat

• an extra can of corn if you’re a real corn-head like me

• invite your dad over for Daddy’s Dish if he’s a good dad and still alive

Happy Father’s Day, dad! I miss you!

1. all perfect mom foods that I crave to this day