One of the questions to be answered when making the sauce for Flint Coneys is whether to use hot or mild chili powder in the spice blend. When a chili powder container’s label says only “chili powder,” you can assume it’s mild. Generally, only the hot chili powders are labeled as such.

But which is historically accurate? One clue we have is the published recipe for the sauce at Gillie’s Coney Island in Mt. Morris, Michigan. Dave Gillie’s recipe is discussed on this page. In this recipe, Gillie specified “chili powder (preferably hot).”

Chili powder is an American invention. Willie Gebhardt was born in Germany and immigrated to Texas. In wanting to use chili peppers year-round, he acquired what were likely ancho chili peppers, roasted and ground them and began offering his chili powder commercially in 1894.

Gebhardt’s chili powder would have been quite hot, not mild as many are today. Later commercial variations such as Gebhardt’s Eagle Brand version would have been what Simion Brayan probably used in his first Flint Coney shop in 1923 or 1924. Gebhardt’s company changed hands many times over the decades, and a version of his chili powder is still available today.