Didn't go out of the house today at all...we've been cooking chilli and it is simmering now. We will take this enormous pot of it over to the family's house and spend the evening there. My bride and I have been slicing and cooking what seems like all day long. The smell and flavour so far, are really good. I was going to put the recipe on here when I began this thread, then realized that our recipe has no specific amounts--we do it by sniffing and tasting.Very professional, right. We are cooking for five, so the cooking pot is more like a cauldron. We do have a varied array of spices, herbs and the cacao for that bitter hit at the back of your throat. Oh yeahhhhh---I LURVE my chilli.There will be rasped cheese and onion dices to chuck on top. I hope that you guys have a good year changing and that you are careful on the roads going home. Happy New Year everyone.
Oké Mart--It is not the traditional Texas Red. I am bashful to say that I do not know what that is? Ground beef Cayenne peppers Kidney Beans Pure Cacao Salt Onions Bell Peppers of different colours Kumin Beef Boullion Chocolate Marjoram Tom puree Tyme Oregano Cilantro Basil Sour cream, onion chips and grated cheese for topping And a little Mexican music to get me in the mood. Hope that this helps, Mart.
With just a little tweaking I can make this for my youngest son who's a vegan. Thanks for the list Sjoerd.
Sjoerd, that doesn't sound anything like the chili I make, but it sure sounds good! A couple of quick questions--is the chocolate the bitter chocolate that comes in bars, or the powdered type? Also, I'm not familiar with "pure cacao". Could you describe it, please? I think my chili repertoire just expanded!
The cacao is the type where the beans are ground but no sugar added. The chocolate is the very bitter sort that comes in flat bars. It is 90 something %...so quite bitter, but with the faintest of hint of sugar. Well that chilli was wonderful to eat. Chilli like other foods so hinges on personal taste preferences, so any recipe we use is not for following, but for tweeking to suit one's needs or preferences. Amount estimation is the rule-of-thumb in nuestra casa. Did I answer this clearly? If not let me know and I shall try again.
No, not a vegetarian chilli. I used ground beef in it. I apologise for not including it in the list. I actually thought that everyone used ground beef and thus was remiss. Yes, I use ground beef and lots of it. We can get what we call, "Half-and-half" ground beef here that has some fatty pork mixed in, and that does seem to give it some extra flavour. Do you guys have the Half-and-half ground beef there, Mart?
Your chili sounds quite tasty!! I make a tasty version and use ground turkey, as I do not eat beef. I should fire up my "cauldron" too. LOL
Islandlife- pretty simple really. And I'm like Sjoerd, I don't measure or have a consistent recipe. I use 1 lb. of fresh ground turkey. Brown it with diced onion and some green pepper. I usually do not need to drain this because the turkey has little fat. Then I add any variety of pinto, and red beans. If I'm ambitious, I will soak and cook dried beans, but also use canned, when I don't want to cook beans first. I like to use at least one can with the chili seasoning in it. I add V8 vegetable juice and some diced tomatoes. The fun comes with the herbs! I don't think I ever do it the same. Salt and pepper of course when browning the turkey. Then umm... chili power, red pepper flakes, cumin, oregano, basil, thyme, garlic powder. I just improvise and don't use a heavy hand when adding the herbs and seasonings. Simmer a while, a few hours. We seem to think its pretty delish!! And thanks for asking
Sjoerd, put away the Mexican music and play some Willie Nelson....most Mexicans will strongly deny any connection to the creation of Chili. It is the basis for most Tex-Mex recipes which Mexicans will also deny the existence of. And there is a difference between Tex-Mex dishes and Mexican dishes. In New Mexico and pure Mexican restaurants you will find more green chili sauce than red used in recipes and a Mexican restaurant in Portland Oregon a few years ago got very upset with me and my friend Mary when we asked for red sauce on our enchiladas instead of green sauce....they thought we were crazy. Supposedly Chili is a creation of cooks on Texas cattle drives who fried up chunks of whatever meat they had on hand with chopped Chiles. The name Chili con carne means Chiles [sometimes whole sometimes dried] with meat. The cook added water to the mix to make it go further and it became a soupy dish served with whatever bread they had in the chuckwagon. Over time cooks began improvising, adding tomatoes or tomato sauce, onions and other spices and then the chili cook-offs began. But be very careful when the discussion of beans in Chili comes up.....most 'dyed in the wool' Texas (native) chili cooks will pull out the hangin' rope when asked to put beans in their chili. But others who grew up with beans in it to make it a fuller meal will have no problem with them. But be very sure of which type chili eater you are talking to before bringing up the subject.
Toni didn't mention two other things that define Good Chili (when those two words are spoken together they're capitalized and spoken with reverence ) and that's the consistency and heat of the chili. If you put a spoon in a bowl of truly Good Chili, it'll either stand there, or fall over slowly. If it has the proper chile fire, the metal in the spoon will be a little softer after it stands there a bit, and your ears will be ringing lightly by the time you finish. Pair it with some good Mexican cornbread and a cold Lone Star beer, or Dr. Pepper, and you have a great meal.
What a load of information there, you two. I am going to think of these postings the next time I eat chilli. I like it hot and this time of year is when I eat it mostly...but I like it in the summer as well. I find that the heat of the chilli makes me feel cooler on really hot days for some reason. It may be psychological, I dun-no.
No but its easy to request it from the butcher at my market. I usually just use ground beef in my chili but its a 70/30 mix so has plenty of fat for flavor.. As a rule,Texans do not put beans in chili. Texas Red only has meat, onions, tomato juice/sauce or diced tomatoes and the spices you like,,yes chili peppers too. Long slow cooking does the rest. Evil Roy and Toni have it down pat. I make mine pretty warm but still,, I have to load my chili with tabasco ! That just makes it taste right to me. Not the whole pot,,just my bowl.
