Chili

[dazie]

All you need to know about chili
Cory Farley
Reno Gazette Journal
January 27, 2006

We're moving toward the throbbing climax of football season (also known as "the best day of the year to go skiing"). That means you'll be bombarded with stories about how to make killer chili to serve during the game.

Do yourself a favor: Ignore them. Do not listen to, do not read, stories about chili. Except this one, which you'll soon be cutting out to save.

But first, a little history.

Chili, according to one source (others may be equally valid), evolved as a trail food. A self-proclaimed expert named E. De Grolyer called it the "pemmican of the Southwest": In the 1840s, cowboys pounded together dried beef with fat, chiles and salt to carry on the trail. The mixture was boiled with water before serving.

Another view comes from San Antonio, where J.C. Clopper wrote in 1828 that poor people chopped meat "into a kind of hash with nearly as many pieces of pepper as there are pieces of meat -- this is all stewed together."

William Gebhardt created the first commercial chili powder in 1902. His brand is still popular, but I make my own. You can use any dried chiles -- I've done it with jalapenos and Anaheims from my garden -- but here's a combination from Alton Brown on the Food Network:

Stem, seed and cut up (scissors work best) three each dried ancho, cascabel and arbol chiles (sold at Hispanic groceries). Toast them with two tablespoons of cumin seed in a hot cast-iron skillet, stirring, until fragrant, about five minutes.

Cool, then put them into a blender with two tablespoons of garlic powder, one of dried oregano and a teaspoon of paprika. Process into a fine powder. Let it settle before you open the blender or you'll Mace yourself. This makes about three-quarters of a cup, and I imagine it will keep in the freezer for months, though the theory's untested.

You can use this with your standard recipe (a couple of tablespoons per pound of meat suits me). If you don't have a standard recipe, try this:

Brown cut-up beef in a little oil (I like a quarter-inch dice; my wife prefers large, disgusting chunks). Add one medium diced onion per pound of meat, with or without some diced fresh chiles, and cook until it's limp. Pour in enough beer or beef stock to cover, add the chili powder and a teaspoon of tomato paste per pound, lid up and simmer until tender, an hour or two.

If it looks too thin toward the end, remove the lid so some liquid can evaporate. Sometimes I stir in a couple of torn-up corn tortillas with the beer, to thicken the sauce (you won't see or taste them when it's done), but sometimes I don't.

[ReBurn]

When I want chili I just go to Wendy's.

[Jessie]

I've never had chili that wasn't burger or chicken based.  Is it good with chunks of beef?  I have a roast in the freezer.

[ReBurn]

What kind of weirdo makes chili with chicken? I'll tell you. The weirdest ones.

[Jessie]

What kind of weirdo makes chili with chicken? I'll tell you. The weirdest ones.

Have you never had white chili?

[dazie]

I've made this recipe and it's pretty good.  I like it with chunks of beef, it's more sturdy.  I usually add beans too though.  Beanless chili is odd unless it's on a hotdog.

[ReBurn]

What kind of weirdo makes chili with chicken? I'll tell you. The weirdest ones.

Have you never had white chili?

Prime example of "YOUR DOIN IT RONG!!1!"

[Jessie]

What kind of weirdo makes chili with chicken? I'll tell you. The weirdest ones.

Have you never had white chili?

Prime example of "YOUR DOIN IT RONG!!1!"

That's crazy talk.

And yes, chili must have beans.  Not red kidney beans though.  I hate those.  Black beans and pinto beans are where its at.

[dazie]

What kind of weirdo makes chili with chicken? I'll tell you. The weirdest ones.

Have you never had white chili?

Prime example of "YOUR DOIN IT RONG!!1!"

That's crazy talk.

And yes, chili must have beans.  Not red kidney beans though.  I hate those.  Black beans and pinto beans are where its at.

I think I have dry adzuki beans.  I'll probably use those when I make chili tomorrow.

[BigDun]

When I want chili I just go to Wendy's.

That's where the day old hamburger patties go. Depending on how good the cook is at the grill on the day before determines how meaty the chili is the next day. If the cook is good, he can accurately predict the requirement of the customers in line 10 minutes ahead of demand and have no unused patties left over (a very meatless chili the next day). If the cook isn't so good, he'll throw patties of meat on the grill just in case of a rush and can have multiple pounds of unused meat every half hour that go into the next days chili batch (a very meaty chili). So if you go to Wendy's, hope that the previous day grill worker sucked.

[Gamplayerx]

Mmm.  Day old meat. 

[grace]

When I want chili I just go to Wendy's.

That's where the day old hamburger patties go. Depending on how good the cook is at the grill on the day before determines how meaty the chili is the next day. If the cook is good, he can accurately predict the requirement of the customers in line 10 minutes ahead of demand and have no unused patties left over (a very meatless chili the next day). If the cook isn't so good, he'll throw patties of meat on the grill just in case of a rush and can have multiple pounds of unused meat every half hour that go into the next days chili batch (a very meaty chili). So if you go to Wendy's, hope that the previous day grill worker sucked.

that is why i will never eat at wendy's........

[ursus]

When I want chili I just go to Wendy's.

That's where the day old hamburger patties go. Depending on how good the cook is at the grill on the day before determines how meaty the chili is the next day. If the cook is good, he can accurately predict the requirement of the customers in line 10 minutes ahead of demand and have no unused patties left over (a very meatless chili the next day). If the cook isn't so good, he'll throw patties of meat on the grill just in case of a rush and can have multiple pounds of unused meat every half hour that go into the next days chili batch (a very meaty chili). So if you go to Wendy's, hope that the previous day grill worker sucked.

that is why i will never eat at wendy's........

I've got others.

[Bennyhana]

Man, everyone likes recycling until it comes to meat.  Day-old burgers (properly refrigerated) in chili is GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND COWS.  If you were really committed to saving the planet, you'd eat the damn chili!

[Jessie]

Man, everyone likes recycling until it comes to meat.  Day-old burgers (properly refrigerated) in chili is GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND COWS.  If you were really committed to saving the planet, you'd eat the damn chili!

Plus, leftovers usually have more flavor.

[grace]

Man, everyone likes recycling until it comes to meat.  Day-old burgers (properly refrigerated) in chili is GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND COWS.  If you were really committed to saving the planet, you'd eat the damn chili!

Plus, leftovers usually have more flavor.

fermenting flavor of gradual meat-decay....i do eat leftovers, veggie ones.

[dazie]

I made a version of this chili for dinner tonight.

Didn't add any salt, but other than that it was really tasty. 

I used ancho, chipotle and guadillo peppers because I was too lazy to go buy cascabel and arbol.

I added a little cocoa powder at the end of the cook time (crock pot) and it tasted pretty good.

[Alice]

What are guadillo peppers?

[dazie]

Maybe I spelled it wrong- just another sort of dried chili.  Not as big as an ancho, a little spicier but not as spicy as a habanero.

Just one of the other dried chilis I had in the cupboard. 

[dazie]

I did spell it wrong:

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/guajillo.htm

[Alice]

I did spell it wrong:

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/guajillo.htm

FYI - this wasn't some way to sneakily correct you.  I'd just never heard of it, either spelling, and was curious.

[dazie]

  no worries.

[Jessie]

I've never heard of any of those peppers. I need to learn about stuff like that, because I LOVE spicy food.

[dazie]

Do you have a mexican section at any of your grocery stores?  Or even better- a mexican grocery store?  There are tons of different kinds.

I haven't looked much, but I'm sure there's a bunch of info online.

Go to http://www.penzeys.com too- they have lots of information about all the spices etc. that they offer.

[Alice]

We have a new asian grocery store that's friggin awesome here.  It's the size of our "normal" grocery stores but it has this seafood selection that is ridiculous.  And they've got all sorts of other foods that I've never even heard of.