Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Mess Hall => Topic started by: K Frame on October 30, 2018, 07:17:09 AM
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First off, I'll admit that I was never very good at making chili. I always tried to do my own spices, and I was always disappointed. I finally started using the seasoning packets that you get at the grocery store, and that made things a lot better. Or at least a lot more consistent. But, over the past couple of years I've discovered a few other tricks, that in combination, really help to up the enjoyability for me...
1. Soak your own beans. Canned beans are convenient, but they don't have nearly the flavor of beans that you soak overnight, and beans you cook yourself add a lot of texture you don't get with canned beans.
2. Cook your beans BEFORE you add them to your chili. The acid in the tomatoes can make it very difficult, if not impossible, to get the beans soft if you try to cook the soaked beans with the chili.
3. Sear the living *expletive deleted*it out of your meat to brown it. That brown stuff is flavor.
4. Do the same thing with your onions. Get some caramel color in them.
5. If you think you're using enough garlic, you're not using enough. Trust me on this. More is better!
6. Be careful with the garlic. Throw it in with the meat/onions mix, but make sure it doesn't burn. Burned garlic is nasty.
7. After you've got the meat/onions/garlic cooked, add a cup or more of a hearty red wine. I prefer Malbec. It doesn't have to be expensive. Cook it until the wine is almost gone, then add the rest of your ingredients.
8. Don't be afraid to add two of the spice packets, and additional spices from your cabinet.
I've slowly put that together over the past couple of years, and it's the Malbec I use that was the final piece of the puzzle for making chili that I like.
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Try using dried peppers instead of chili powder. (you'll also need a little cumin and oregano) The varieties to look for are ancho, guajillo, and New Mexico. Guajillo and New Mexico are interchangeable but slightly different. I don't think there's any substitute for ancho.
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Tried using dried peppers. Still wasn't happy with the outcome. That's when I started using the premixed seasoning packets. That gave me results a lot closer to what I wanted.
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A) Beans in chili? Them's fightin' words! Yer probully wunna them folks who likes sweet cornbread.
B) Try finishing it with a healthy splash of heavy cream. Not sure how to describe what it does, it's just... better. You can substitute a big dollop of sour cream for a little extra zing.
Brad
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My secret to good chili? Make this: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/ryders-turkey-chili-recipe-2103705
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Beans in chili is a false controversy. Tomatoes is the real issue.
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We've had chili threads before, haven't we?
#1 should be START WITH BACON.
(Brown your meat in the bacon grease. Save the bacon crumbles for later. Serve the finished bowls of chili with a garnish topping of sour cream, diced green onion, and bacon crumbles.)
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Yep, beans is truly is a false controversy.
Tomatoes may also be a false controversy.
If one person/place had, at some point in the past, come up with the recipe, written it down, published it, then it might be a legitimate controversy.
But chili is just like stew (in fact, chili IS a stew). It was in large part working class food, developed by the less well off and often employing whatever ingredients were available, whether or not they were "approved and traditional."
Everyone claims that THEIR way is the RIGHT and ONLY way to make it, and that everyone else is a heretic...
I like my chili with beans. I also like my chili without beans.
I generally add beans to my chili because I like how they taste and they make a pot go a LOT farther, and one of my considerations for cooking stuff like this on the weekends is how many lunches (and the occasional dinner) I can get from the pot.
The pot I made last night made just shy of 12 cups. Without the beans it probably would have been closer to 8 cups.
So, 4 extra cup servings. That's enough to carry me into next weekend, meaning I don't have to cook for lunches for the rest of this week. And, tonight, I just may have chili over eggs (Egg Beaters) for dinner.
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I agree with you about using good dried beans properly prepped. I like pinto or black beans in chili.
I'm married to the spice queen. She buys in bulk and blends different spices and herbs as needed and per her standards. I have given up trying to make the blend and she always has a jar of something called chili seasoning. We don't have a spice drawer or even a spice cabinet. We have a spice pantry.
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I like beans in my chili as long as they don't overwhelm it. I usually make it w/o tomatoes, but I will sometimes add a can of tomatoes as an extender. IMHO, tomatoes should not be a major ingredient, but if you like it that way that's fine with me. If you can't make good chili without adding tomatoes, something is wrong (not enough dried peppers, maybe too-hot peppers.)
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Milk: Whole, 2%, or Skim... ?
Brad
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We've had chili threads before, haven't we?
#1 should be START WITH BACON.
(Brown your meat in the bacon grease. Save the bacon crumbles for later. Serve the finished bowls of chili with a garnish topping of sour cream, diced green onion, and bacon crumbles.)
No. First part of any good recipe is to marinate the chef.
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Milk: Whole, 2%, or Skim... ?
Brad
Whole and 2% are milk. Skim is not.
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Hurst Cajan 15 Bean Soup
I through out the season packet and use this for my beans. That's pretty much the only constant.
I don't worry too much about consistency from batch to batch. I've never made bad chili, so I tend to be random at the best of times and it works.
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"I agree with you about using good dried beans properly prepped. I like pinto or black beans in chili."
I made this batch with pintos, but I'll use just about any kind of bean in my chili, including chick peas.
I got to talking to a coworker yesterday, and our talk turned to chili somehow, and I mentioned that I had cooked a batch. He started asking me about how I made mine, and I ran down through what I put on this list. He was very interested in my comments; even more so when I invited him to try it (I brought some for lunch). He's going to give my recommendations a try.
One thing I should also mention is that you can never have too many onions.
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Semi relevant.. I was in a chilli cook off yesterday at work. My pretty standard "Texas Red" recipe lost out to this:
White Chicken chili :
3 chicken breasts
2 Cups Chicken broth
½ teaspoon Cumin
pinch of Basil
Salt (start small and add until its right for you… I Love salt)
Pepper (same as above)
2 table spoons minced Garlic
2 cans Green Chilies
1 Can Hot Green Chilies
( I prefer to roast pablano chilies until skin is black and bubbling away from pepper and remove skin, tedious task but canned works just as well)
1 large can Las Palmas Green Chile Enchilada Sauce.
4 cans white beans (rinse and drain)
1 small bag frozen corn
1 softened Cream Cheese
1 Cup half and half
Mrs. Renfro’s Green Salsa (This is the heat for your chili, I suggest start with a 1/2 cup and add for your heat level! This can be bought at Rosauers!
After 6 hours on high in a crock pot pull your chicken breasts and pull apart, return pulled chicken to the pot for another hour.
Best served on day 2 after refrigerated letting flavors mix but not necessary.
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Semi relevant.. I was in a chilli cook off yesterday at work. My pretty standard "Texas Red" recipe lost out to this:
White Chicken chili :
That is just wrong.
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That is just wrong.
I don’t know, I think it is OK.
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I like white chili.
It's privilege is just absolutely awsome...
:rofl:
Actually, I think more of it as chicken & bean stew than chili. Haven't made a pot in a long time.
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I had a friend that used to make turkey chili, at least that is what he said. I just called it turkey and bean soup. ;)
bob
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Somewhere I read about cinnamon in chili and I tried it, usually toss a stick in and fish it out later. If you have a lot of spice it complements it nicely.
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"Greek style" or Cincinnati style chili includes cinnamon, sometimes other spices, and sometimes chocolate.
Apparently the Greeks running diners in the Cincinnati area in the 1920s started adding chili to their menus, and started using the same spices that were used in Greek mousakka. They also started serving it over spaghetti.
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Apparently the Greeks running diners in the Cincinnati area in the 1920s started adding chili to their menus, and started using the same spices that were used in Greek mousakka. They also started serving it over spaghetti.
And they are wrong. So wrong. And they should be banned from making, serving, selling, or otherwise working with, Cincinnati "chili." That stuff is disgusting. I wouldn't even let fistful eat it.
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Have a snickers bar...
Have a cinnamon chocolate snickers bar.
I put it in your chili for you.
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Cincinnati style is good if eaten over spaghetti topped with cheese, chopped onions and jalapeños slices.
It’s not as good as regular chili as a stand alone chili IMHO.
I’ll make Cincinnati style on occasion.
Mine isn’t authentic though, I always use beans.
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And they are wrong. So wrong. And they should be banned from making, serving, selling, or otherwise working with, Cincinnati "chili." That stuff is disgusting. I wouldn't even let fistful eat it.
I'm with you. That stuff is [barf]
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And they are wrong. So wrong. And they should be banned from making, serving, selling, or otherwise working with, Cincinnati "chili." That stuff is disgusting. I wouldn't even let fistful eat it.
Based on the descriptions I'm hearing (of fistful, and of the "chili"), I wouldn't let him eat it, either.
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"Greek style" or Cincinnati style chili includes cinnamon, sometimes other spices, and sometimes chocolate.
Apparently the Greeks running diners in the Cincinnati area in the 1920s started adding chili to their menus, and started using the same spices that were used in Greek mousakka. They also started serving it over spaghetti.
Tasty stuff, man I miss eating beef. Not the same with other meats.
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I think we had the worst chili growing up. This was popular in my hometown
Chili consisted of
browned ground beef with onions
V-8 juice
chunks of canned tomatoes
canned pork and beans
maybe a dash of chili powder
one bay leaf
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I think we had the worst chili growing up. This was popular in my hometown
Chili consisted of
browned ground beef with onions
V-8 juice
chunks of canned tomatoes
canned pork and beans
maybe a dash of chili powder
one bay leaf
Spicy V8 works really well for chili. The rest of your listed ingredients, not so much.
Brad
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Well, I tried two of your "secrets" for the batch I did this weekend.
The sear the *expletive deleted*it out of the meat is going to be a keeper. The onion thing on the other hand, I'm going to have to work on that. I burned the crap out of the frying pan. There were a couple onions that got a little blackened, but the overall chili turned out alright. Probably helps that I was a little heavy handed with the spicing. It turned out to be one of those latent burns where you get flavor and then you feel the heat kick in. It's a good thing I bought the big container of sour cream and two bags of shredded cheddar, because it's needed to cut the burn for the next bite. :laugh:
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I think we had the worst chili growing up. This was popular in my hometown
Chili consisted of
browned ground beef with onions
V-8 juice
chunks of canned tomatoes
canned pork and beans
maybe a dash of chili powder
one bay leaf
I feel your pain.
What often passes as 'chili' in WI is Tomato soup + Macaroni noodles + hamburger + a few kidney beans. Its a bowl of sadness.
I do way better without even trying... just dump several cans of black beans and kidney beans (in chili sauce) in with a bunch of cans of diced tomatoes (the kind with chili peppers meant for salsa), an onion, some browned hamburger, and a handful of rice...
When I have more time, I cook my own beans- much better.
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Well, I tried two of your "secrets" for the batch I did this weekend.
The sear the *expletive deleted*it out of the meat is going to be a keeper. The onion thing on the other hand, I'm going to have to work on that. I burned the crap out of the frying pan. There were a couple onions that got a little blackened, but the overall chili turned out alright. Probably helps that I was a little heavy handed with the spicing. It turned out to be one of those latent burns where you get flavor and then you feel the heat kick in. It's a good thing I bought the big container of sour cream and two bags of shredded cheddar, because it's needed to cut the burn for the next bite. :laugh:
If you keep the unit at the same temperature as when you seared the meat you've got to tend it at all times and keep stirring it. That's especially true if you put the garlic in withthe onions. Burn the garlic and it's terrible. Burned garlic is nasty.
If you're using ground meat, you can turn the heat down and then add the onions, but that will often result in completely dried out meat by the time the onions are nicely carmelized. If you want to do the onions at a lower temperature, pull the meat out of the pot first.
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I was using stew chunks for the beef and cooking separately. My problem with the onions was two fold. Trying to do other stuff at the same time and still recovering from chopping the onions. I always use strong yellow onions for chili, which I think works in the chili, but they are a stone cold bitch to chop up. I should have lowered the heat, but I was just going for get it done and throw it in.
Like I said, it didn't turn out bad and I've always liked a little black on my sauteed onions anyway.
Anyhoo, the onions made me think... I wonder what would happen if I used whole pearl onions? I bet those would be good in chili. Probably in addition to regular onions for flavoring. hmmmmm....
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How about leeks instead of onions? I have a row of leeks in my garden. If they are still good when I get back from Texas, (I don't know what mid-20's weather does to them) I will need to do something with them. Chili seems like as good a use as any. Except maybe potato soup... Should be enough there for both.
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How about leeks instead of onions? I have a row of leeks in my garden. If they are still good when I get back from Texas, (I don't know what mid-20's weather does to them) I will need to do something with them. Chili seems like as good a use as any. Except maybe potato soup... Should be enough there for both.
That could be good too.
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"they are a stone cold bitch to chop up."
20 to 30 minutes in the freezer before chopping.
I'd think pearl onions would add a nice texture, but I'm not sure about the taste. They tend to be fairly mild.
How about shallots?
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How about shallots?
Leeks will work in a pinch.
Brad
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Leeks will work in a pinch.
Brad
I have tastier things to do with leeks...
Grill braised leeks in balsamic vinegar... Perfect accompaniment for a steak.
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I cheat: I buy the frozen bags of chopped onion and use that. My wife insists on chopping fresh onions.
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I cheat: I buy the frozen bags of chopped onion and use that. My wife insists on chopping fresh onions.
Go standing in the corner and think about what you did!
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I cheat: I buy the frozen bags of chopped onion and use that. My wife insists on chopping fresh onions.
I didn't even know there was such a thing. :O I may be cheating next batch. :laugh:
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^^^With the frozen vegetables at my local Safeway and Walmart. Usually towards the top shelf.
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I made another pot of chili yesterday.
Mixed it up a bit and added mushrooms, as I saw a recipe for that. Meh.
Also made a larger batch to get me through lunches for the rest of this week.
But, I only had 2 seasoning packs. I should have used 3 because it's pretty bland.
Oh well, enough hot sauce and sour cream takes care of that.
I also managed to scorch the bottom as I was cooking it. Nothing terrible, but you can just taste it. I've not 100% gotten used to the nuances of cooking on a glass top stove. I think I may, in the future, start baking my chili.
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I think I may, in the future, start baking my chili.
When I was able to eat beef and field beans, I rocked he cockpot for chili.
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Yeah, I normally use the crockpot, but I had a bunch of other stuff to do yesterday and didn't get it made early enough to crock pot it.
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I did a London Broil on the pellet grill a while back and this thread has me thinking about how good it would be chunked up in a pot of chili. With only two of us there is always at least half of the London Broil left over and this will give me a completely new use for the leftovers.
bob
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Need to simmer it for a long time to break down the connective tissue in the London Broil.