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.

[Gamplayerx]

We have two little tiny scary latino stores.  The stores themselves aren't necessarily scary, but the patrons and neighborhoods are.

[dazie]

When I walked in to our mercado here, I was mostly ignored.

Until I asked for what I was looking for in Spanish and told them what I was cooking.   

They gave me a free cool woven grocery bag.

[grace]

homemade Tamales are to die for....

[Jessie]

I just diced up a roast and sauteed it with some onion to start a pot of chili.  I've never had it this way, so I'm curious.

I don't have any fancy peppers, so I just used some chili seasoning, a can of black beans, and a can of hot chili beans.

Nothing fancy, but it usually tastes pretty good.  I'm sure I'll add some other seasonings, though.

[dazie]

Hoo-ah!

Award winning chili, right here.

2nd place in the chili cookoff. 

[Alice]

Nice!  Congrats!

[DownSouth]

Nice!

[dazie]

I realized that I was a bit misleading- I didn't use the exact recipe I posted.  This batch of chili powder had cumin, dried chilis (including chipotle) oregano, dried onion, black peppercorns, annatto, thyme, about an inch of cinnamon stick, kosher salt and some cocoa powder.

Ground it all up together this morning, maced myself in the process, but it seems to have done the trick for the contest.

[Alice]

I realized that I was a bit misleading- I didn't use the exact recipe I posted.  This batch of chili powder had cumin, dried chilis (including chipotle) oregano, dried onion, black peppercorns, annatto, thyme, about an inch of cinnamon stick, kosher salt and some cocoa powder.

Ground it all up together this morning, maced myself in the process, but it seems to have done the trick for the contest.

I've heard that adding a can of Guinness to chili makes it awesome.  I'm going to try that soon.

[dazie]

I considered tequila, as I'm out of beer at the moment.  Didn't do it though.

[grace]

worcestershire,crystal hot sauce, and a little red wine, works well on liquid content too

[dazie]

It never occurs to me to cook with red wine, as I can't stand to drink it.  hmm...

[grace]

It never occurs to me to cook with red wine, as I can't stand to drink it.  hmm...

i never drink it either....but think of it as "stock"

[dazie]

I didn't even PLACE this year.  *lol*

Here's one of the top 3 recipes though:

Kinney's Chili

1 can mexican-style chili beans
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
1/2 bag frozen green beans
1/2 can black olives, sliced
1 bag frozen sweet corn
3 lb. ground beef
1 jalapeno, de-seeded and diced
1 large white onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 big bottle of spicy V8
4 cups beef stock
1 canister chili powder (the standard 4 oz. McCormick or whatever)
1 dash Cinnamon
1 truckload Black Pepper
1 bottle Frank's Red Hot hot sauce
1 dash Coarsely ground salt
3 tsp. Cumin
3 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
Cheddar Cheese, grated (optional)
Sour Cream (optional)

Despite the relatively long list of ingredients, preparation is a simple, if not lengthy process.

1. Start your beef frying and season with about 1/4 of the chili powder.

2. While the beef is cooking, dice your onion and jalapeno and throw them in a large stew pot with the beans, corn, garlic and the rest of the chili powder (WARNING: Don't strain the juices out of the canned beans. They add a bit of extra flavor to the mix). Start simmering over medium heat.

3. Once the beef is cooked strain out the grease and add it to the pot along with the V8, beef stock, cumin, black pepper, salt, cayenne pepper and cinnamon.

4. Simmer.

5. Stir, then simmer more.

6. Taste, and add more seasoning to your liking. Personally, I usually go heavy on the hot sauce and add a little extra cumin and cayenne to up the heat a bit. You can always cool it down with a good sharp cheddar and sour cream when you serve.

7. Repeat steps 4-6 for a couple of hours, or until the liquid reduces. A good test for when it's done is to dip a spoon into the chili and see if the liquid part sticks. If it runs or drips at all, you're not quite there yet.

[dazie]

2nd place...

The Completely True Legend of Lucifer's Lime Chili

It all began in the summer of 1931. My great grandpappy, Ezekiel Carlton, found himself – like so many other good folk in those days – without a job during that Great Depression. On one particular hot and dusty evening, he was walking the outskirts of Tupelo, Mississippi, searching the ground for grains or grubs, when he espied a dapper devil standing on a tree trunk by the side of the road.

Now, when I say devil, I mean just that. Neatly trimmed beard. Horned forehead. Bifurcated tail and pitchfork. Yessir, it was Old Scratch hisself.

As it so happened, the devil in those days was having to work extra hard on account of the distressed economic situation. For you see, when things are good, the devil needn't even lift a finger. But when things turn bad, folks have a tendency to fall to their knees and look upward.

The devil was not going to sit idly by and watch all those souls slip away. No, sir. Rather, he was keen to go walk amongst the folks and attempt to lure them to their eternal damnation.

Now, my great grandpappy hadn't eaten a real meal in two weeks when he had the pleasure of meeting the Prince of Darkness on that dusty patch of land. So when the devil wagered an endless supply of chili against young Ezekiel's soul, the boy could hardly resist. Anyway, all Ezekiel had to do was finish one bowl of chili. It seemed like a sure thing.

But this being the devil, the deal wasn't exactly on the straight and narrow. You see, ol' Beelzebub didn't mention that the chili had been cooked in the flames of hell itself and the ingredients picked straight from the devil's own garden in the very bowels of that foul pit. Why, I daresay that one drop of those infernal victuals would be enough to give a mortal man third-degree burns.

Fortunately, Ezekiel was no hayseed and he was on to that mischievous imp's ways. He wandered over to a withering lime tree and plucked the last two pieces of green salvation from its gaunt limbs. When he squeezed the juice onto the chili, it tempered the effects of that hellfire – and made a right tasty meal of it in the process. Not another word was spoken until Ezekiel had licked the bowl clean, looked up with a grin and asked for more.

Needless to say, the devil was unhappy at this unexpected turn of events. Perturbed, even. But a deal's a deal, and the recipe's been a family tradition ever since.

And that there's the entirely true story of how a few drops of lime helped Ezekiel Carlton avoid the flames of hell. Until his demise in 1973, anyways. (For though he won his bet with the devil, he never was the churchin' type.)

The spirited recipe still goes by the name of Lucifer's Lime Chili, but this here version is more befitting of a minor demon. It's a right docile version made for the public that will allow the fairer sex and those with a more delicate palate to enjoy.

Anyway, hope you vote for it. And if not, may God have mercy on your soul.


Lucifer's Lime Chili

1.5 lbs of boneless pork, cut into 1/4 inch cubes and browned
2 cans of hot red chili beans
1 can of white kernel corn (drained)
6 oz. Cholula sauce
8 oz. sliced jalapeños (drained)
6-8 oz. store-bought lime juice
3 full limes, squeezed
1 packet of McCormick's hot chili powder
A few sprigs of cilantro

Mix in crock pot. Cook for two hours. Cut up additional lime wedges to garnish. Top with Monterey Jack cheese.

[BigDun]

I didn't even PLACE this year.  *lol*

Here's one of the top 3 recipes though:

Kinney's Chili

1 can mexican-style chili beans
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
1/2 bag frozen green beans
1/2 can black olives, sliced
1 bag frozen sweet corn
3 lb. ground beef
1 jalapeno, de-seeded and diced
1 large white onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 big bottle of spicy V8
4 cups beef stock
1 canister chili powder (the standard 4 oz. McCormick or whatever)
1 dash Cinnamon
1 truckload Black Pepper
1 bottle Frank's Red Hot hot sauce
1 dash Coarsely ground salt
3 tsp. Cumin
3 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
Cheddar Cheese, grated (optional)
Sour Cream (optional)

Despite the relatively long list of ingredients, preparation is a simple, if not lengthy process.

1. Start your beef frying and season with about 1/4 of the chili powder.

2. While the beef is cooking, dice your onion and jalapeno and throw them in a large stew pot with the beans, corn, garlic and the rest of the chili powder (WARNING: Don't strain the juices out of the canned beans. They add a bit of extra flavor to the mix). Start simmering over medium heat.

3. Once the beef is cooked strain out the grease and add it to the pot along with the V8, beef stock, cumin, black pepper, salt, cayenne pepper and cinnamon.

4. Simmer.

5. Stir, then simmer more.

6. Taste, and add more seasoning to your liking. Personally, I usually go heavy on the hot sauce and add a little extra cumin and cayenne to up the heat a bit. You can always cool it down with a good sharp cheddar and sour cream when you serve.

7. Repeat steps 4-6 for a couple of hours, or until the liquid reduces. A good test for when it's done is to dip a spoon into the chili and see if the liquid part sticks. If it runs or drips at all, you're not quite there yet.

That's a lot of pepper.

[dazie]

It was a big pot of chili.

[Dry then Catch]

sounds great but also a lot of work!

[Gamplayerx]

What's Cholula sauce?  And what was first place?

I just got a crockpot for $9.99.  I want to try and make some chili, but most of the recipes I am finding call for things that have way too much salt in them.  Perhaps non-canned beans and corn and that lime one is doable.  Depending on what Cholula sauce is.

[dazie]

http://www.cholula.com/

[Gamplayerx]

Oh, it's a brand. Gotcha.

I did make some crockpot chili.  I used non-canned beans.  No lime or Cholula, but it was amazing! 

I am so loving me my crockpot.