OT: Best Chili Recipe
- Thread starter willi13
- Start date
Made the best of my life 2 weeks ago. In a dutch oven with 2 lbs ground beef and 1 lbs chorizo no beans. Browned the meat dumped everything in the dutch oven including a couple of bottles of shiner. Let it smoke on the grill for a few hours, but you could do it on the stove.
After it was good and smokey, I took it off the heat and cover it it with a layer of cheese and let the grill come up to 400. Cover the chilli and cheese with jalapeno cornbread mix and cooked it for 20 minutes or so.
The best chili I have ever had. Not even close. The cornbread sucks up the juice, man it's unbeatable. You just scoop out a large spoonful and add absolutely nothing.
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Let me know if you want the entire recipe. I need to write it down anyway.
ETA. Here is the recipe. Hopefully you can down load the screen shots. Will see if I can copy and paste from the doc file as well.
Cowboy Chili and Cornbread (1 pot meal in 5, 7, or 9 quart cast iron dutch oven)
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After it was good and smokey, I took it off the heat and cover it it with a layer of cheese and let the grill come up to 400. Cover the chilli and cheese with jalapeno cornbread mix and cooked it for 20 minutes or so.
The best chili I have ever had. Not even close. The cornbread sucks up the juice, man it's unbeatable. You just scoop out a large spoonful and add absolutely nothing.
View attachment 22758
View attachment 22759
View attachment 22760
Let me know if you want the entire recipe. I need to write it down anyway.
ETA. Here is the recipe. Hopefully you can down load the screen shots. Will see if I can copy and paste from the doc file as well.
Cowboy Chili and Cornbread (1 pot meal in 5, 7, or 9 quart cast iron dutch oven)
- 2 lbs. Ground Beef, (85% lean)
- 1 lbs. Ground Chorizo
- 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 poblano pepper, chopped
- 1 jalapeño pepper, ribs and seeds removed, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 Tbsp. chipotle chili powder
- 2 Tbsp. cayenne (Add 1 Tbsp. to make 3 alarm, 2 Tbsp. to make 4 alarm.)
- 1 Tbsp. paprika
- 1 Tbsp. ground cumin
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
- ½ tsp. Kosher salt
- 1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
- 1 can (10 oz.) diced tomatoes & green chilies Rotel
- 1 can (7 oz) chipotles in adobo sauce
- 1 12-oz bottle of beer
- 1-16 oz package farmstyle thick cut cheddar cheese
- 2 8.5 oz boxes of cornbread mix (including ingredients to prepare cornbread Jiffy if possible.)
- Heat grill up to 275 (Medium low if using stovetop)
- Place the dutch oven on the grill or stove to bring up to heat.
- Add oil to the dutch oven and sauté onion, poblano pepper, and jalapeño pepper stirring occasionally until tender, approximately 8-10 minutes. Add garlic and cook for an additional 1 minute.
- Add beef and chorizo to dutch oven and cook for 8-10 minutes, breaking beef and chorizo into small crumbles and stirring occasionally until browned. Optionally brown beef and chorizo in separate pan on stove and add to ductch oven .
- Add chili powder, cayenne, paprika, cumin, oregano, black pepper and salt; cook for 1 minute.
- Add tomato sauce, rotel, chipotle adobe and beer; bring to a boil. Cook for 2-4 hours as desired on the grill or stove. (No lid to allow steam to escape and smoke to infuse the chili.)
- Remove dutch oven from heat for 10-15 minutes while bringing the grill (or oven) up to 400. Add a layer of cheese to top of chili once it’s firm enough to hold cheese..
- Prepare cornbread mix based on box instructions and pour over chili, spreading into an even layer.
- Add dutch oven back to grill or oven and cook uncovered for 20 minutes or until cornbread is done checking halfway through. Check to see if cornbread is done by sticking a toothpick into cornbread. If the toothpick comes out clean, it is done.
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Use some chopped bacon as your base. Ground beef and chorizo. Smoke a chuck roast (or leftover brisket if you have it), cube it and save for later. Sweet onion, bell peppers, jalapeños, garlic. Seasonings. Roasted crushed tomatoes. Tomato paste. 12-16oz of beer. Add cubed beef from earlier. Add the beans here if you want them. Simmer until you get the consistency you want.
I mean be forgetting something but that’s the gist of what I do and it’s pretty good.
I mean be forgetting something but that’s the gist of what I do and it’s pretty good.
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Ingredients:
2 1/2 pounds beef - What kind depends on the cook. Some use chuck roast, sirloin, or brisket, cubed into 1/4 inch pieces (Most difficult). Some use ground beef (Easiest). Some use chili grind (My favorite) Fat in the beef is important, since a lot of the flavor comes from the fat. I like 75/25 beef/fat to get the taste I like. 80/20 is good too.
Garlic or garlic salt 3 cloves garlic, minced or 1 Tablespoon Garlic salt.
1 Large onion, diced to 1/4 inch dice.
Salt and black pepper to taste - Start with maybe 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon black pepper. You will add more later- to taste.
Oregano - 1 Tablespoon - Mexican oregano if you have it.
Chili powder, or dried chilis, rehydrated and chopped. I just use chili powder. Start with 2 Tablespoons and add more later (to taste)
Cumin - 1 - 2 Tablespoons to taste. Add one, then taste and add another if desired.
A small piece of milk chocolate, added toward the end for flavor.
Red pepper if desired. Usually not needed.
1 -2 Tablespoons Masa flower, mixed in 1/4 cup water - to make gravy and add flavor.
Here comes the fight - 1 - 2 cans beans (Kidney or pinto). Using them depends on whether you are a bean guy or not. I will stay out of this fight.
1 cup water, or (Optional) 1 can beer - I don't use beer, but some do.
Directions
Brown the ground or cubed beef. Season with salt, black pepper, garlic or garlic salt, and oregano. I use Lawry's garlic salt. I add the seasonings (except for the cumin) when I brown the beef because I don't like the smell of unseasoned ground beef cooking. The cumin breaks down if cooked a lot, so I wait until close to the end to add it.
And the diced onions as the beef browns.
When the beef has browned, add chili powder (2 Tablespoons and them later, maybe 2 or 3-4 more) and 1 cup water or a beer.
Let this cook for a little while then taste for flavor, understanding it may take 4 or more Tablespoons of chili powder, depending on how strong your powder is.
After the chili has simmered a few minutes, add 1 Tablespoon of cumin, taste and then maybe add another Tablespoon (To Taste).
Add the piece of chocolate. It doesn't take a lot, but definitely adds a layer of flavor you will like.
At this point my recipe may vary from yours, because I like thick chili gravy in my chili and the taste and the taste that Masa flour adds.
Start with 3 Tablespoons Masa flour in a bowl and add enough water to make a thick paste.
Add half of it to the chili, then maybe the other half to get the gravy and thickness you want.
Skim away some of the fat if desired. Cook the chili long enough to set the flour (maybe 10 minutes)
Eat. provide crackers, cornbread, cheese, sour cream, chopped green onions, as desired
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With beans View attachment 22764
2 1/2 pounds beef - What kind depends on the cook. Some use chuck roast, sirloin, or brisket, cubed into 1/4 inch pieces (Most difficult). Some use ground beef (Easiest). Some use chili grind (My favorite) Fat in the beef is important, since a lot of the flavor comes from the fat. I like 75/25 beef/fat to get the taste I like. 80/20 is good too.
Garlic or garlic salt 3 cloves garlic, minced or 1 Tablespoon Garlic salt.
1 Large onion, diced to 1/4 inch dice.
Salt and black pepper to taste - Start with maybe 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon black pepper. You will add more later- to taste.
Oregano - 1 Tablespoon - Mexican oregano if you have it.
Chili powder, or dried chilis, rehydrated and chopped. I just use chili powder. Start with 2 Tablespoons and add more later (to taste)
Cumin - 1 - 2 Tablespoons to taste. Add one, then taste and add another if desired.
A small piece of milk chocolate, added toward the end for flavor.
Red pepper if desired. Usually not needed.
1 -2 Tablespoons Masa flower, mixed in 1/4 cup water - to make gravy and add flavor.
Here comes the fight - 1 - 2 cans beans (Kidney or pinto). Using them depends on whether you are a bean guy or not. I will stay out of this fight.
1 cup water, or (Optional) 1 can beer - I don't use beer, but some do.
Directions
Brown the ground or cubed beef. Season with salt, black pepper, garlic or garlic salt, and oregano. I use Lawry's garlic salt. I add the seasonings (except for the cumin) when I brown the beef because I don't like the smell of unseasoned ground beef cooking. The cumin breaks down if cooked a lot, so I wait until close to the end to add it.
And the diced onions as the beef browns.
When the beef has browned, add chili powder (2 Tablespoons and them later, maybe 2 or 3-4 more) and 1 cup water or a beer.
Let this cook for a little while then taste for flavor, understanding it may take 4 or more Tablespoons of chili powder, depending on how strong your powder is.
After the chili has simmered a few minutes, add 1 Tablespoon of cumin, taste and then maybe add another Tablespoon (To Taste).
Add the piece of chocolate. It doesn't take a lot, but definitely adds a layer of flavor you will like.
At this point my recipe may vary from yours, because I like thick chili gravy in my chili and the taste and the taste that Masa flour adds.
Start with 3 Tablespoons Masa flour in a bowl and add enough water to make a thick paste.
Add half of it to the chili, then maybe the other half to get the gravy and thickness you want.
Skim away some of the fat if desired. Cook the chili long enough to set the flour (maybe 10 minutes)
Eat. provide crackers, cornbread, cheese, sour cream, chopped green onions, as desired
No beans View attachment 22763
With beans View attachment 22764
Chili
1 Tbl olive oil
1 Tbl bacon Fat
2 pounds beef sirloin, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
1 1/2 tsp Fresh ground black pepper
3 cups yellow onion, medium dice
1 cup carrot, finely shredded
1 Tbl Ground Cumin
2 tsp Ground Coriander
1 tsp Oregano
1 1/2 Tbl Chili powder
1/4 cup fresh garlic minced
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
2 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 quart V-8 juice
1 quart hot chicken broth
2 Bay leaves
2 14-ounce cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 Tbl Corn flour/masa
1/2 cup water
1 Tbl fresh lime juice
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Heat the oil and bacon fat in an 8- quart, heavy duty sauce pot over high heat. Sprinkle the meat with salt and black pepper. Place half of the meat in the very hot oil. DO NOT MOVE THE MEAT FOR 3-4 MINUTES, you want to achieve a nice golden brown sear. Turn the meat over and brown the other side the best you can. Remove the meat with a slotted spoon and place it on a paper towel to drain. Repeat this process with the remaining meat.
Turn the heat to medium and add the onion, carrot and garlic to the pot. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the spices and tomato paste. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent burning. This step is very important, caramelizing the sugars in the tomato paste and vegetables with really make a difference in the outcome of the chili.
Return the meat to the pot and add in the canned tomatoes, V-8 juice, chicken broth and bay leaves. Simmer VERY slowly, covered, for 2-3 hours. Stir often to prevent sticking. Add the beans and simmer for 15 more minutes.
Combine the corn flour with the water to make a paste. Turn up the heat up so that the chili reaches a slow boil and stir in the corn flour mixture. Allow the chili to cook for 2-3 more minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the lime juice and cilantro.
Yield: 1 gallon
1 Tbl olive oil
1 Tbl bacon Fat
2 pounds beef sirloin, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
1 1/2 tsp Fresh ground black pepper
3 cups yellow onion, medium dice
1 cup carrot, finely shredded
1 Tbl Ground Cumin
2 tsp Ground Coriander
1 tsp Oregano
1 1/2 Tbl Chili powder
1/4 cup fresh garlic minced
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
2 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 quart V-8 juice
1 quart hot chicken broth
2 Bay leaves
2 14-ounce cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 Tbl Corn flour/masa
1/2 cup water
1 Tbl fresh lime juice
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Heat the oil and bacon fat in an 8- quart, heavy duty sauce pot over high heat. Sprinkle the meat with salt and black pepper. Place half of the meat in the very hot oil. DO NOT MOVE THE MEAT FOR 3-4 MINUTES, you want to achieve a nice golden brown sear. Turn the meat over and brown the other side the best you can. Remove the meat with a slotted spoon and place it on a paper towel to drain. Repeat this process with the remaining meat.
Turn the heat to medium and add the onion, carrot and garlic to the pot. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the spices and tomato paste. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent burning. This step is very important, caramelizing the sugars in the tomato paste and vegetables with really make a difference in the outcome of the chili.
Return the meat to the pot and add in the canned tomatoes, V-8 juice, chicken broth and bay leaves. Simmer VERY slowly, covered, for 2-3 hours. Stir often to prevent sticking. Add the beans and simmer for 15 more minutes.
Combine the corn flour with the water to make a paste. Turn up the heat up so that the chili reaches a slow boil and stir in the corn flour mixture. Allow the chili to cook for 2-3 more minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the lime juice and cilantro.
Yield: 1 gallon
I used to cook competition BBQ. I never could place with brisket even though I was respectable with butts and ribs. Once at an unsanctioned event I bought a Lawlers precooked brisket at Sams Club, turned it in and placed higher than I ever had. Luckily I didn’t place in the money or I would have had to fess up.
Four chili recipes that were used to comprise the Award winning recipe (last one below)recipe. #1 was not even tried. # 2, #3, and #4 were. A committee decided to take the basics of the # 4 and combine it with the ratios of # 2.
#1 MEAT, GREASE, FIRE
There's no recipe for chili; it's an art, not a science. It can't be done in ten seconds flat, in fact, it'll take the entire afternoon. A little quality and care can go a long way.
MEAT:
- 5 lb of the cheapest stewing meat you can buy. Stewing beef, aka cubed chuck, cubed pork shoulder, aka "boneless country style pork ribs", hunks of stewing lamb hacked off a leg-o-lamb, doesn't matter what kinda animal it came from. Venison, incidentally, rocks. If you're in France, take a hunk outa Celestia's flank for all I care. You want meat. Five pounds of it, in respectable 1" cubes or thereabouts.
- 1 lb bacon. because bacon. You want the bacon because you want grease.
GREASE:
See that bacon up there? Fry the whole pound up slowly until it's crispy. Eat some of it (if you don't like your bacon crispy, eat some of it before it gets crispy!) You knew you were going to eat some of that bacon anyways, and using the whole pound of bacon means you get to eat some of it now, while keeping all the grease in the pan for later. (If you like your bacon crispy, crumble the rest before you eat it all!)
Now, see that big pool of fat down there in the pan? That there's grease. Don't throw that out! What you're gonna do with it is use it to brown those cubes of meat and toss the browned cubes into a big pot. You're not trying to cook the meat, just get some of that lovely Maillard action going on the edges.
You should now have an unholy mess of splatters over your stovetop, and a goodly bit of grease left over. Don't you dare throw that grease out either; because we're gonna use every drop of baconated goodness that pig had to offer.
FIRE:
Before you got to the meat and grease part, you should have done some prep work on the fire. Mise-en-place, the hoity-toity word for doing all the grunt work up front, so you can concentrate on the fun part when you actually get cooking.
I use:
- 2 heads garlic, peeled and crushed. (This is the only time when it's ever acceptable to buy pre-peeled cloves of garlic.)
- 1 large yellow onion
- 3 green onions (more for color than flavor)
- 1 red bell pepper (for color)
- 5 red jalapeno peppers (for flavor)
- Optional: One of them ghost peppers. Just one.
- 5 serranos (for color and flavor)
- 5 of those little orange habaneros (for fire and flavor)
- 3-4 of whatever other pepper strikes your fancy while you're shopping (really, just pick something)
- 4 Tbl of a quality chili powder. I use a New Mexican red chili powder with beef, a green chili powder with pork; if you can roast your own peppers and do this from scratch, go for it, but as long as it's a good quality powder, it'll be good.
- Have a hot sauce at the ready, but you're not gonna add it just yet. - Salt/pepper to taste, later on.
Dice all that stuff up real fine. Especially the habaneros. You might wanna wear gloves and eye protection for the habanero dicing. (If you have a partner, you really wanna wear gloves for that habanero dicing, or the later part of your evening is gonna get real awkward real fast.) Take your mash of veggie dice, and throw it into the remaining grease along with the crumbled bacon bits.
Dump the powder onto the pepper-squeezy-bacon-greasy-mess in your pan, and under medium heat, work that mash down until the oniony bits are translucent. If you stick your head into the plume of steam and your eyes are watering, you're doing it right.
EVERYTHING ELSE:
If you were in a hurry, you'd just add 4 cups of water (or beef stock) and start rendering all this stuff down. I use one cup of water, one cup of beef stock, and a cup or two worth of good beer. If your beer comes in 22-oz bombers, as it should, half of one of those should be a good start, leaving you with the other half to drink over the course of the afternoon. You're gonna be adjusting everything for taste over the next few hours anyways, so you might as well get started early.
Throw the veggie-chili mush into the pot with the browned cubes of meat, add the water, add the beer, and raise the liquid level until it's just a little bit beneath the level of the meat. If you poured a little light the first time and need to open another beer, go for it. We'll wait.
Bring this all to a boil, and then reduce the heat down until it's just barely simmering. Adjust to taste with a little salt/pepper. The flavor profile will change over the next few hours as the meat renders out its fat, the volatiles in the beer evaporate off, so don't aim for perfection just yet.
Wait a couple hours. Get to know the rest of that beer. Stir occasionally.
Somewhere into the third hour, those tough chunks of cubed chuck or pork shoulder should have broken down nicely - still nice chunks, but you can easily pierce them with a fork, and any fat/connective tissue should be broken down into silky smoothness.
Now that the flavors have started to marry and the meat's mostly tender, make some more flavor adjustments. Maybe that means you splash in another few ounces of beer (hmm, this beer's warm, better dispose of the last ounce or two and open another). Another teaspoon of salt. Maybe you get a little square or two of bittersweet (70%+ cocoa) chocolate and throw that in - or use the real Mexican chocolate shown above. Or some mole, which probably has some chocolate in it anyways. If it's too weak, have some hot sauce on hand and throw that in.
You're on final approach now - thicken it up. This is traditionally done with masa, but a corn starch slurry is just fine here. All that capsaicin that's dissolved into the fat that's rendered off the meat is going to find its way back into the stew when you add the starchy stuff to to thicken it. Aim for that sweet spot between burnination and mediocrity; about 20% cooler than the hottest sauce you can tolerate. You can always make it hotter with the hot sauce, but it's hard to make an overly-hot chili weaker and still retain balance. Final adjustments could involve fresh oregano or maybe a few more cloves of fresh crushed garlic to brighten things up at the very end. If it's too thick, add a little more water. Too thin, a little more masa. A drop (or a pinch) of whatever you're using to adjust can be swirled into a localized spot at the top of the vat and taste-tested before you make the decision to commit to putting a whole portion of it into the pot and giving it a big stir. When you've nailed it, you'll know you've nailed it.
#2
2 Lbs. Ground Beef
2 Lbs Chuck Roast, cubed 1/2"
1 Big Green Pepper, chopped
2 Cups Onions, chopped
2 Tablespoons Garlic, minced
2 Jalapenos, sliced
1/2 Cup Flour seasoned with 1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
Vegetable oil
1 Can Whole Tomatoes
1 Can of Beer (shiner bock was recommended)
1 Small Can of Tomato Paste
1 Tablespoons Hot Sauce
3 Teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
6+/- Tablespoons Chili Powder
3+/- Teaspoons Cumin
3+/- Tablespoon Oregano
Salt and Pepper to taste
1. Season with salt and pepper and brown 1 lb ground beef with green pepper and onions. Remove from pot, leaving grease.
2. Season with salt and pepper and brown remaining ground beef with garlic and jalapenos. Remove meat and set aside with other browned ground beef, leaving grease.
3. Cut chuck roast into 1/2" squares, dust with seasoned flour and brown in remaining grease. Cooking in batches, adding vegetable oil as needed.
4. Drain grease and add the ground beef back into the pot.
5. Add in whole tomatoes, beer (shiner bock was recommended), tomato paste, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, 2 Tablespoon Chili Powder, 1 teaspoon Cumin, 1 Tablespoon Oregano and salt and pepper to taste. Stir, cover and cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
6. Uncover and cook for 2-4 more hours - stirring, tasting and seasoning as needed every hour.
#3
http://dadcooksdinner.com/2009/12/texas-red-chili.html/
Good instructions on how to cook Fond (corn flour and greases for chili)
Recipe: Texas Red Chili
Makes 6 quarts (serves 10-12, and is great for leftovers)
Ingredients:
• 3 tsp vegetable oil, divided
• 5 lbs beef chuck roast, trimmed of fat and cut into 1 1/2 inch to 2 inch cubes
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 large onions, diced
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt.
• 2 tbsp pureed chipotles en adobo
• 1/2 cup chili powder
• 3 tbsp cumin powder
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 6 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 jalapeno chiles, minced
• 1 – 28oz can diced or crushed tomatoes
• 4 cups water (or homemade chicken stock, if you have some available)
• 1/4 cup masa harina! (mexican corn flour, optional)
• 1 tsp chili powder (optional)
• 1/2 cup water (optional)
• juice of 2 limes
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Instructions:
1. Sear the Beef: Salt the beef cubes with 2 tsp of salt. Sear the beef cubes in 3 batches. Heat 1 tsp vegetable oil in a large (8 quart) dutch oven over medium-high heat until
just smoking, then add the beef. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes per side, until well browned. I usually just treat them as having two “sides” – 3 minutes, flip, 3 minutes on the
other side. Between each batch, add a teaspoon of oil, and let heat for about 1 minute before adding the next batch of beef. Put browned cubes in a big bowl while you work on the other batches. When they’re done, you’ll have a nice, browned fond on the bottom of the pot. If the fond looks like it is starting to burn, reduce the heat to medium, and put the beef cubes directly over the part of the pan that’s in danger of burning.
*I use three batches because that allows me to brown the beef without overcrowding the pan. It works best if you use two pans for the browning; you don’t have to watch out for burning as carefully. **Overcrowding leads to steaming, not browning, and without browning you don’t have as much flavor in your chill. See “Fond” in the notes section for details. You want your pan to look like the one below – not too crowded.
2. Saute the Onions: Reduce heat to medium. You want 2 tablespoons of fat in the pan. Add more vegetable oil, or pour out fat to get to 2 tbsp. Put the onions in the pot, add 1/2 tsp
salt, then saute the onions until softened and just starting to brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Scrape the pot after a minute or two, to loosen up the browned fond and mix it into the onions.
3. Toast the Spices: Make a hole in the center of the onions, then add the chipotle puree, 1/2 cup of chili powder, cumin and oregano to the pot. Stir for 1 minute, or until you really start to smell the spices – you want to toast them a bit. Make another hole in the center of the onions, and add the garlic and diced jalapeno. Stir for another minute, or until you smell the garlic.
4. Cook the Chili: Make sure your oven rack is in the bottom third of the oven, then heat oven to 325F. Add the tomatoes and water to the chili pot, and scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any stuck spices. Add the reserved beef cubes and any juices they released. Turn the heat on the stove to high, and bring to a boil. Cover the pot, and move it into the oven. Bake for 3 hours.
5. Final Seasoning: Mix the masa harina, 1 tsp chili powder and water in a small bowl until combined. It should be the consistency a thick cream; add more water if it needs it. Remove the chili from the oven, and stir in the masa harina mix. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, or put back in the oven for 10 minutes to thicken. Stir in the lime juice, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
*Be careful – the lid and handles are hot!
**For some reason, I always forget that, and sear my hand when I grab the handles.
6. Rest and Reheat: (Optional, but helps the flavor a lot.) Leave the chili on the counter, uncovered, until it cools to room temperature, a couple of hours. Cover and move to the refrigerator. Refrigerate overnight, or up to four days. Remove from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before you want to serve, and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
Notes:
*Fond is the browned bits of meat and vegetables that stick to the bottom of the pan. It is the basis of flavor in most stews and chilis. The more fond you have, the more flavor you get in the chili when it dissolves into the cooking liquid. Because of this, do not brown the meat for your chili in a nonstick pan! You want the sticking, because that’s how you build a good fond, and that’s how you build flavor. In this recipe we’re doing it twice; once when you brown the beef, and once when you’re sauteing the onions and spices.
*Browning three batches of beef in your pot can take a while, and lead to burning the fond on the bottom of your pan. You can speed up this step by browning some batches of beef in a separate skillet. When you’re done, put the water (or stock) in that skillet, bring it to a simmer, and scrape the browned fond off the bottom. You don’t want to lose any of the browned bits – they’re all flavor. Add this water from the skillet when you would add it in the recipe.
*The masa harina slurry is optional, but it helps thicken up the chili.
If you want to reduce the heat, you can halve the jalapenos and chipotles, or omit one or the other.
Or just skip the peppers all together. But this IS Texas chili...why are you making the recipe if you can’t take the heat?
You didn’t hear it from me, but you can add up to four cups of kidney or pinto beans to this chili. Just don’t use the name Texas in the title if you do that. And I’ll claim I’ve never met you before in my life.
The chili police are relentless, and very specific...no beans allowed.
**Of course, some true believers are going to be after me for adding tomatoes. I’m not a
number! I’m a free man!
If you really want to go all out, use bacon fat instead of the vegetable oil. If you really want to do it right, start the recipe by cooking 8 pieces of bacon. Reserve the fat, use it for the cooking, and mince the bacon and sprinkle it on as a garnish when you serve.
I usually make this recipe for a crowd – if you want to scale it back (serving 6-8), cut back to 3 pounds of beef, and halve the rest of the ingredients.
#4
http://slapyamama.com/slap-ya-mamas-hearty-beef-bean-chili/
Slap Ya Mama’s chili recipe
Ingredients:
o 1 lb ground beef (ground round) o 1 lb beef sirloin steak, diced
o 1 onion, chopped
o 1 bell pepper, chopped
o 3 cloves garlic, chopped
o 1 jalapeno, chopped
o 1 can Rotel diced tomatoes & green chilies (10oz)
o 2 cans tomato sauce (8oz)
o 1 can tomato paste (6oz)
o 1⁄2 cup beef broth
o 1⁄2 cup water
o 2 tsp chili powder
o 1 tsp ground cumin
o 1 tsp ground oregano
o 1 can kidney beans, drained & rinsed (15oz)
o 1 can pinto beans, drained & rinsed (15oz)
o 2 Tbsp Slap Ya Mama Pepper Sauce
o 2 tsp Slap Ya Mama Original Blend Seasoning
o 1 tsp Slap Ya Mama Hot Blend Seasoning, for seasoning meat o olive oil
o shredded cheddar cheese – topping
o green onions, chopped – topping
Season meat with Slap Ya Mama Hot Blend Seasoning. In a large pot on medium-high heat, coat bottom of pot with olive oil and add seasoned meat. Cook meat, stirring frequently until all meat is browned. Add onions, bell peppers, garlic and jalapenos. Sautee until onions and bell peppers are soft. Reduce heat to medium, stir in rotel, tomato sauce, tomato paste, beef broth, water, chili powder, cumin, oregano, beans, Slap Ya Mama Pepper Sauce, Slap Ya Mama Original Blend Seasoning and mix well. Bring to a slight boil, reduce heat, cover and let simmer for 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Serve in a bowl, top with cheddar and green onions. Eat with tortilla chips or crackers and enjoy!
(thought to be too salty, but it was after adding 1⁄4 teaspoon of kosher salt to the mixture)
award winning recipe (I placed 3rd in a chili cook off out of 15 entries)
3 LBS GROUND SIRLOIN
1 LB GROUND PORK
4 SLICES THICK BACON
6 CLOVES GARLIC
1/2 RED BELL PEPPER
1 WHOLE GREEN BELL PEPPER
1 MEDIUM YELLOW ONION
2 16 OZ CANS TOMATO SAUCE
2 10 OZ CANS ROTEL DICED TOMATOES WITH GREEN CHILIES
1 CAN 8 oz TOMATO PASTE
1 CUP BEEF BROTH
1/3 cup corn flour
1 CUP WATER
3 Tablespoons Chili Powder (Use your favorite brand)
1 1/2 Teaspoons Cumin
1 1/2 Tablespoon Oregano
1 Tablespoon ground pepper powder (I suggest the Los Mexicanos, Chili Pequin, from most Mexican groceries
Using a sticky steel bottom skillet Brown ground sirloin and ground pork. Drain liquids into a cup
Pan fry bacon in same pan. Drain grease into same cup. Eat bacon.
Chop onions, and garlic. Saute in pan (add minimal amounts of grease as needed to keep from burning).
Add chopped peppers and keep sauting them
Add all seasoning except for the ground red pepper Cook until onions are translucent
Add mixture to the meat. Add tomato sauce, rotel, tomato paste, beef broth, and water.
Cook on low to medium heat, stirring in seasoning and tomato sauces until consistent texture.
Take no more than 1 cup of grease from bacon, sirloin and pork and pour back into steel pan.
Heat up and add the 1/3 cup of corn flour and cook like a roux. Add mixture to meat.
Cook on low heat, stirring in pot to prevent burning and sticking. Add minimal amounts of the ground pepper to season to taste.
Spoon off grease that floats to top.
NOTE: For added kick, add teaspoons, of spicy-spicy Slap Ya Mama blend. It was noted that this might make it too salty. So, season to taste.
I ended up adding about a tablespoon or two of the Pequot pepper. This was served in a large crockpot. I let it cook for about 4 hours in the crockpot.
#1 MEAT, GREASE, FIRE
There's no recipe for chili; it's an art, not a science. It can't be done in ten seconds flat, in fact, it'll take the entire afternoon. A little quality and care can go a long way.
MEAT:
- 5 lb of the cheapest stewing meat you can buy. Stewing beef, aka cubed chuck, cubed pork shoulder, aka "boneless country style pork ribs", hunks of stewing lamb hacked off a leg-o-lamb, doesn't matter what kinda animal it came from. Venison, incidentally, rocks. If you're in France, take a hunk outa Celestia's flank for all I care. You want meat. Five pounds of it, in respectable 1" cubes or thereabouts.
- 1 lb bacon. because bacon. You want the bacon because you want grease.
GREASE:
See that bacon up there? Fry the whole pound up slowly until it's crispy. Eat some of it (if you don't like your bacon crispy, eat some of it before it gets crispy!) You knew you were going to eat some of that bacon anyways, and using the whole pound of bacon means you get to eat some of it now, while keeping all the grease in the pan for later. (If you like your bacon crispy, crumble the rest before you eat it all!)
Now, see that big pool of fat down there in the pan? That there's grease. Don't throw that out! What you're gonna do with it is use it to brown those cubes of meat and toss the browned cubes into a big pot. You're not trying to cook the meat, just get some of that lovely Maillard action going on the edges.
You should now have an unholy mess of splatters over your stovetop, and a goodly bit of grease left over. Don't you dare throw that grease out either; because we're gonna use every drop of baconated goodness that pig had to offer.
FIRE:
Before you got to the meat and grease part, you should have done some prep work on the fire. Mise-en-place, the hoity-toity word for doing all the grunt work up front, so you can concentrate on the fun part when you actually get cooking.
I use:
- 2 heads garlic, peeled and crushed. (This is the only time when it's ever acceptable to buy pre-peeled cloves of garlic.)
- 1 large yellow onion
- 3 green onions (more for color than flavor)
- 1 red bell pepper (for color)
- 5 red jalapeno peppers (for flavor)
- Optional: One of them ghost peppers. Just one.
- 5 serranos (for color and flavor)
- 5 of those little orange habaneros (for fire and flavor)
- 3-4 of whatever other pepper strikes your fancy while you're shopping (really, just pick something)
- 4 Tbl of a quality chili powder. I use a New Mexican red chili powder with beef, a green chili powder with pork; if you can roast your own peppers and do this from scratch, go for it, but as long as it's a good quality powder, it'll be good.
- Have a hot sauce at the ready, but you're not gonna add it just yet. - Salt/pepper to taste, later on.
Dice all that stuff up real fine. Especially the habaneros. You might wanna wear gloves and eye protection for the habanero dicing. (If you have a partner, you really wanna wear gloves for that habanero dicing, or the later part of your evening is gonna get real awkward real fast.) Take your mash of veggie dice, and throw it into the remaining grease along with the crumbled bacon bits.
Dump the powder onto the pepper-squeezy-bacon-greasy-mess in your pan, and under medium heat, work that mash down until the oniony bits are translucent. If you stick your head into the plume of steam and your eyes are watering, you're doing it right.
EVERYTHING ELSE:
If you were in a hurry, you'd just add 4 cups of water (or beef stock) and start rendering all this stuff down. I use one cup of water, one cup of beef stock, and a cup or two worth of good beer. If your beer comes in 22-oz bombers, as it should, half of one of those should be a good start, leaving you with the other half to drink over the course of the afternoon. You're gonna be adjusting everything for taste over the next few hours anyways, so you might as well get started early.
Throw the veggie-chili mush into the pot with the browned cubes of meat, add the water, add the beer, and raise the liquid level until it's just a little bit beneath the level of the meat. If you poured a little light the first time and need to open another beer, go for it. We'll wait.
Bring this all to a boil, and then reduce the heat down until it's just barely simmering. Adjust to taste with a little salt/pepper. The flavor profile will change over the next few hours as the meat renders out its fat, the volatiles in the beer evaporate off, so don't aim for perfection just yet.
Wait a couple hours. Get to know the rest of that beer. Stir occasionally.
Somewhere into the third hour, those tough chunks of cubed chuck or pork shoulder should have broken down nicely - still nice chunks, but you can easily pierce them with a fork, and any fat/connective tissue should be broken down into silky smoothness.
Now that the flavors have started to marry and the meat's mostly tender, make some more flavor adjustments. Maybe that means you splash in another few ounces of beer (hmm, this beer's warm, better dispose of the last ounce or two and open another). Another teaspoon of salt. Maybe you get a little square or two of bittersweet (70%+ cocoa) chocolate and throw that in - or use the real Mexican chocolate shown above. Or some mole, which probably has some chocolate in it anyways. If it's too weak, have some hot sauce on hand and throw that in.
You're on final approach now - thicken it up. This is traditionally done with masa, but a corn starch slurry is just fine here. All that capsaicin that's dissolved into the fat that's rendered off the meat is going to find its way back into the stew when you add the starchy stuff to to thicken it. Aim for that sweet spot between burnination and mediocrity; about 20% cooler than the hottest sauce you can tolerate. You can always make it hotter with the hot sauce, but it's hard to make an overly-hot chili weaker and still retain balance. Final adjustments could involve fresh oregano or maybe a few more cloves of fresh crushed garlic to brighten things up at the very end. If it's too thick, add a little more water. Too thin, a little more masa. A drop (or a pinch) of whatever you're using to adjust can be swirled into a localized spot at the top of the vat and taste-tested before you make the decision to commit to putting a whole portion of it into the pot and giving it a big stir. When you've nailed it, you'll know you've nailed it.
#2
2 Lbs. Ground Beef
2 Lbs Chuck Roast, cubed 1/2"
1 Big Green Pepper, chopped
2 Cups Onions, chopped
2 Tablespoons Garlic, minced
2 Jalapenos, sliced
1/2 Cup Flour seasoned with 1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
Vegetable oil
1 Can Whole Tomatoes
1 Can of Beer (shiner bock was recommended)
1 Small Can of Tomato Paste
1 Tablespoons Hot Sauce
3 Teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
6+/- Tablespoons Chili Powder
3+/- Teaspoons Cumin
3+/- Tablespoon Oregano
Salt and Pepper to taste
1. Season with salt and pepper and brown 1 lb ground beef with green pepper and onions. Remove from pot, leaving grease.
2. Season with salt and pepper and brown remaining ground beef with garlic and jalapenos. Remove meat and set aside with other browned ground beef, leaving grease.
3. Cut chuck roast into 1/2" squares, dust with seasoned flour and brown in remaining grease. Cooking in batches, adding vegetable oil as needed.
4. Drain grease and add the ground beef back into the pot.
5. Add in whole tomatoes, beer (shiner bock was recommended), tomato paste, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, 2 Tablespoon Chili Powder, 1 teaspoon Cumin, 1 Tablespoon Oregano and salt and pepper to taste. Stir, cover and cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
6. Uncover and cook for 2-4 more hours - stirring, tasting and seasoning as needed every hour.
#3
http://dadcooksdinner.com/2009/12/texas-red-chili.html/
Good instructions on how to cook Fond (corn flour and greases for chili)
Recipe: Texas Red Chili
Makes 6 quarts (serves 10-12, and is great for leftovers)
Ingredients:
• 3 tsp vegetable oil, divided
• 5 lbs beef chuck roast, trimmed of fat and cut into 1 1/2 inch to 2 inch cubes
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 large onions, diced
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt.
• 2 tbsp pureed chipotles en adobo
• 1/2 cup chili powder
• 3 tbsp cumin powder
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 6 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 jalapeno chiles, minced
• 1 – 28oz can diced or crushed tomatoes
• 4 cups water (or homemade chicken stock, if you have some available)
• 1/4 cup masa harina! (mexican corn flour, optional)
• 1 tsp chili powder (optional)
• 1/2 cup water (optional)
• juice of 2 limes
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Instructions:
1. Sear the Beef: Salt the beef cubes with 2 tsp of salt. Sear the beef cubes in 3 batches. Heat 1 tsp vegetable oil in a large (8 quart) dutch oven over medium-high heat until
just smoking, then add the beef. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes per side, until well browned. I usually just treat them as having two “sides” – 3 minutes, flip, 3 minutes on the
other side. Between each batch, add a teaspoon of oil, and let heat for about 1 minute before adding the next batch of beef. Put browned cubes in a big bowl while you work on the other batches. When they’re done, you’ll have a nice, browned fond on the bottom of the pot. If the fond looks like it is starting to burn, reduce the heat to medium, and put the beef cubes directly over the part of the pan that’s in danger of burning.
*I use three batches because that allows me to brown the beef without overcrowding the pan. It works best if you use two pans for the browning; you don’t have to watch out for burning as carefully. **Overcrowding leads to steaming, not browning, and without browning you don’t have as much flavor in your chill. See “Fond” in the notes section for details. You want your pan to look like the one below – not too crowded.
2. Saute the Onions: Reduce heat to medium. You want 2 tablespoons of fat in the pan. Add more vegetable oil, or pour out fat to get to 2 tbsp. Put the onions in the pot, add 1/2 tsp
salt, then saute the onions until softened and just starting to brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Scrape the pot after a minute or two, to loosen up the browned fond and mix it into the onions.
3. Toast the Spices: Make a hole in the center of the onions, then add the chipotle puree, 1/2 cup of chili powder, cumin and oregano to the pot. Stir for 1 minute, or until you really start to smell the spices – you want to toast them a bit. Make another hole in the center of the onions, and add the garlic and diced jalapeno. Stir for another minute, or until you smell the garlic.
4. Cook the Chili: Make sure your oven rack is in the bottom third of the oven, then heat oven to 325F. Add the tomatoes and water to the chili pot, and scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any stuck spices. Add the reserved beef cubes and any juices they released. Turn the heat on the stove to high, and bring to a boil. Cover the pot, and move it into the oven. Bake for 3 hours.
5. Final Seasoning: Mix the masa harina, 1 tsp chili powder and water in a small bowl until combined. It should be the consistency a thick cream; add more water if it needs it. Remove the chili from the oven, and stir in the masa harina mix. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, or put back in the oven for 10 minutes to thicken. Stir in the lime juice, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
*Be careful – the lid and handles are hot!
**For some reason, I always forget that, and sear my hand when I grab the handles.
6. Rest and Reheat: (Optional, but helps the flavor a lot.) Leave the chili on the counter, uncovered, until it cools to room temperature, a couple of hours. Cover and move to the refrigerator. Refrigerate overnight, or up to four days. Remove from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before you want to serve, and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
Notes:
*Fond is the browned bits of meat and vegetables that stick to the bottom of the pan. It is the basis of flavor in most stews and chilis. The more fond you have, the more flavor you get in the chili when it dissolves into the cooking liquid. Because of this, do not brown the meat for your chili in a nonstick pan! You want the sticking, because that’s how you build a good fond, and that’s how you build flavor. In this recipe we’re doing it twice; once when you brown the beef, and once when you’re sauteing the onions and spices.
*Browning three batches of beef in your pot can take a while, and lead to burning the fond on the bottom of your pan. You can speed up this step by browning some batches of beef in a separate skillet. When you’re done, put the water (or stock) in that skillet, bring it to a simmer, and scrape the browned fond off the bottom. You don’t want to lose any of the browned bits – they’re all flavor. Add this water from the skillet when you would add it in the recipe.
*The masa harina slurry is optional, but it helps thicken up the chili.
If you want to reduce the heat, you can halve the jalapenos and chipotles, or omit one or the other.
Or just skip the peppers all together. But this IS Texas chili...why are you making the recipe if you can’t take the heat?
You didn’t hear it from me, but you can add up to four cups of kidney or pinto beans to this chili. Just don’t use the name Texas in the title if you do that. And I’ll claim I’ve never met you before in my life.
The chili police are relentless, and very specific...no beans allowed.
**Of course, some true believers are going to be after me for adding tomatoes. I’m not a
number! I’m a free man!
If you really want to go all out, use bacon fat instead of the vegetable oil. If you really want to do it right, start the recipe by cooking 8 pieces of bacon. Reserve the fat, use it for the cooking, and mince the bacon and sprinkle it on as a garnish when you serve.
I usually make this recipe for a crowd – if you want to scale it back (serving 6-8), cut back to 3 pounds of beef, and halve the rest of the ingredients.
#4
http://slapyamama.com/slap-ya-mamas-hearty-beef-bean-chili/
Slap Ya Mama’s chili recipe
Ingredients:
o 1 lb ground beef (ground round) o 1 lb beef sirloin steak, diced
o 1 onion, chopped
o 1 bell pepper, chopped
o 3 cloves garlic, chopped
o 1 jalapeno, chopped
o 1 can Rotel diced tomatoes & green chilies (10oz)
o 2 cans tomato sauce (8oz)
o 1 can tomato paste (6oz)
o 1⁄2 cup beef broth
o 1⁄2 cup water
o 2 tsp chili powder
o 1 tsp ground cumin
o 1 tsp ground oregano
o 1 can kidney beans, drained & rinsed (15oz)
o 1 can pinto beans, drained & rinsed (15oz)
o 2 Tbsp Slap Ya Mama Pepper Sauce
o 2 tsp Slap Ya Mama Original Blend Seasoning
o 1 tsp Slap Ya Mama Hot Blend Seasoning, for seasoning meat o olive oil
o shredded cheddar cheese – topping
o green onions, chopped – topping
Season meat with Slap Ya Mama Hot Blend Seasoning. In a large pot on medium-high heat, coat bottom of pot with olive oil and add seasoned meat. Cook meat, stirring frequently until all meat is browned. Add onions, bell peppers, garlic and jalapenos. Sautee until onions and bell peppers are soft. Reduce heat to medium, stir in rotel, tomato sauce, tomato paste, beef broth, water, chili powder, cumin, oregano, beans, Slap Ya Mama Pepper Sauce, Slap Ya Mama Original Blend Seasoning and mix well. Bring to a slight boil, reduce heat, cover and let simmer for 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Serve in a bowl, top with cheddar and green onions. Eat with tortilla chips or crackers and enjoy!
(thought to be too salty, but it was after adding 1⁄4 teaspoon of kosher salt to the mixture)
award winning recipe (I placed 3rd in a chili cook off out of 15 entries)
3 LBS GROUND SIRLOIN
1 LB GROUND PORK
4 SLICES THICK BACON
6 CLOVES GARLIC
1/2 RED BELL PEPPER
1 WHOLE GREEN BELL PEPPER
1 MEDIUM YELLOW ONION
2 16 OZ CANS TOMATO SAUCE
2 10 OZ CANS ROTEL DICED TOMATOES WITH GREEN CHILIES
1 CAN 8 oz TOMATO PASTE
1 CUP BEEF BROTH
1/3 cup corn flour
1 CUP WATER
3 Tablespoons Chili Powder (Use your favorite brand)
1 1/2 Teaspoons Cumin
1 1/2 Tablespoon Oregano
1 Tablespoon ground pepper powder (I suggest the Los Mexicanos, Chili Pequin, from most Mexican groceries
Using a sticky steel bottom skillet Brown ground sirloin and ground pork. Drain liquids into a cup
Pan fry bacon in same pan. Drain grease into same cup. Eat bacon.
Chop onions, and garlic. Saute in pan (add minimal amounts of grease as needed to keep from burning).
Add chopped peppers and keep sauting them
Add all seasoning except for the ground red pepper Cook until onions are translucent
Add mixture to the meat. Add tomato sauce, rotel, tomato paste, beef broth, and water.
Cook on low to medium heat, stirring in seasoning and tomato sauces until consistent texture.
Take no more than 1 cup of grease from bacon, sirloin and pork and pour back into steel pan.
Heat up and add the 1/3 cup of corn flour and cook like a roux. Add mixture to meat.
Cook on low heat, stirring in pot to prevent burning and sticking. Add minimal amounts of the ground pepper to season to taste.
Spoon off grease that floats to top.
NOTE: For added kick, add teaspoons, of spicy-spicy Slap Ya Mama blend. It was noted that this might make it too salty. So, season to taste.
I ended up adding about a tablespoon or two of the Pequot pepper. This was served in a large crockpot. I let it cook for about 4 hours in the crockpot.
Last edited:
Start by cooking bacon, 6 strips minimum
Take the bacon out (leave the grease) and add onions, bell peppers (red and green), garlic and sauté
Add ground beef and cook till brown
Drain most of the grease
Crumble the bacon and add back to pot
Add chili powder, oregano, cumin, salt, pepper, and whatever other seasonings tickle your pickle
Stare angrily at your mother-in-law while adding as much Tabasco as your butthole will allow
Add 1-2 cups of beef broth, one can of tomato sauce, one large can of whole tomatoes and your beans of choice (can also add diced zucchini and mushrooms if you swing that way)
Cook until you feel like it has learned its lesson.
Eat.
Take the bacon out (leave the grease) and add onions, bell peppers (red and green), garlic and sauté
Add ground beef and cook till brown
Drain most of the grease
Crumble the bacon and add back to pot
Add chili powder, oregano, cumin, salt, pepper, and whatever other seasonings tickle your pickle
Stare angrily at your mother-in-law while adding as much Tabasco as your butthole will allow
Add 1-2 cups of beef broth, one can of tomato sauce, one large can of whole tomatoes and your beans of choice (can also add diced zucchini and mushrooms if you swing that way)
Cook until you feel like it has learned its lesson.
Eat.
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