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Hallie's Lunch Box Schnitzel Sauce

Subject: Hallie's spicy schnitzel dipping sauce
From: Jorja
Date: 8/24/2020, 4:14 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com

On 8/24/2020 1:03 PM, jorja wrote:

Recipe search for the ketchup type spicy peppery table sauce 
for fried schnitzel at Hallie's lunch box of Lincoln Illinois. 
2008 maybe. ( Not before they closed, because it wasn't the 
same anymore by end of business) Originally back in the day, 
50/60s, the sauce was made at the Mill for schnitzel, a coffee 
shop in Lincoln Illinois. This isn't a cooking sauce, it's like 
a ketchup in those squeezey red bottles nobody ever washes...
If it helps the taste is super similar to Pete's fish thin red 
cocktail sauce of Mesa/Tempe Arizona. Only no horseradish. That 
I last had in '87. I've tried to recreate all/both and falls very 
short....
Thank you in advance!

Jorja

Hi Jorja,

The Mill, which was and is a Route 66 landmark, closed in 1996. Blossom Huffman, who with her husband owned and operated The Mill, is credited for the schnitzel recipe as well as for the sauce recipe.

Hallie’s on The Square, AKA Hallie's Lunch Box was owned by Brian and Cheri Huffman. Brian Huffman is the grandson of Blossom Huffman. Hallie's closed in 2015 or thereabouts.

The sauce recipe was a family secret that was handed down. I had no success finding it. They have likely never given it away. I don't think you are going to have any success finding it unless they change their minds or unless a former employee of Hallie's or The Mill has it and makes it public.

I also had no success finding a "copycat" or a "tastes-like" recipe for the sauce. Perhaps it is difficult to reverse-engineer or perhaps no one has tried.

I did find the sauce described in reviews of  Hallie's:

Yelp
A nice touch was the unique sauce they serve with the schnitzel. We loved it. It tasted like Texas Pete blended with catsup.  I like catsup with the breaded tenderloin but this added a little heat and vinegar to the sweetness.

lthforum
I especially appreciated Hallie's house-made schnitzel sauce—a thin red juice not unlike a spicy "Russian" dressing.

and

sauce which tasted like ketchup kicked up with fresh ground pepper.

I have no ideas of a way to pursue this any further, but I will post this for reader input. Perhaps someone can recommend a "tastes-like".

Phaed

Jorja,

From a message board: Pete's Fish & Chips sauce is just 1/2 ketchup & 1/2 water with either sriracha or tabasco added to taste.

Phaed

 On 8/31/2020 1:59 PM, jorja wrote:

Really that simple? I sort of remember it being really delicious. 
Course I was very young then :-) thanks .

Hi Jorja,

I found more information about Pete's:

Another recipe:  Pete's Hot Sauce

Also:
Equal parts Ketchup and El Pato Sauce. Then add some water to thin it out. You can use less El Pato if you want it a little less spice. Just kind of play with it. If you can't get El Pato at your local grocery store, you can order it on Walmart.com (I think). If not, then you may be able to make a special request with you grocer.

El Pato Hot Tomato Sauce seems to be the key. I read that Pete's trash contains lots of empty El Pato cans.

Phaed

Thanks for the tip!  I'm certainly going to try making this once. 
For schnitzel sauce I think no horseradish but everything else 
looks spot on.