Help me make spicey, delicious chili.

Jokerman

So tomorrow I'm going to be making chili for some friends, and while I have some experience in the kitchen, I've never made chili proper.

So give me your Recipes\Hints PA. I'm all ears.
Probably going to make it with beef, might get some spicy sausage, but defiantly will be going with beef for the bulk of it.

Also, i don't live in Texas, so the chili will have beans. Just FYI.

TychoCelchuuu

The SomethingAwful thread has some nice recipes, like:

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2011/06/chili-recipe-with-chocolate/

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/lamb-black-bean-chili-cumin-crema-red-onion-relish-avocado-relish-native-american-fry-bread-recipe/index.html with beef instead of lamb of course

Basically the two important steps are making sure you brown a meat that is anything other than ground beef, and getting a bunch of chiles and grinding them up.

Optional additions include chocolate, beer, and/or cornmeal although maybe I'm alone in liking that last one.

Jokerman

Why wouldn't you want to Brown ground beef?

TychoCelchuuu

Because ground beef in chili is an abomination, browned or not. Chili is at its heart two ingredients: meat and chili peppers. Using ground beef for the meat is crippling 50% of your dish before you even get off the ground.

Tef

@Stale

Djeet

I basically use this recipe. My changes are that I may sub up to half of the meat with pork shoulder or veal and instead of using just dried anchos and canned chipotles I use more chilli powder overall and it's my own blend of dried chillies (you can get lots cheap at a market catering to latinos) buzzed down in a spice mill. Also instead of cooking in a casserole I cook the onion and brown the meat in a pan and then dump everything in a slow cooker for a long low cook.

MetroidZoid

TychoCelchuuu wrote: »

The SomethingAwful thread has some nice recipes, like:

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2011/06/chili-recipe-with-chocolate/

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/lamb-black-bean-chili-cumin-crema-red-onion-relish-avocado-relish-native-american-fry-bread-recipe/index.html with beef instead of lamb of course

Basically the two important steps are making sure you brown a meat that is anything other than ground beef, and getting a bunch of chiles and grinding them up.

Optional additions include chocolate, beer, and/or cornmeal although maybe I'm alone in liking that last one.

I don't use cornmeal but I do always make cornbread when I make chili. Then you dump the chili right on top of the buttered cornbread in a bowl and go to town soooo ... same result?

Druhim

TychoCelchuuu wrote: »

Because ground beef in chili is an abomination, browned or not. Chili is at its heart two ingredients: meat and chili peppers. Using ground beef for the meat is crippling 50% of your dish before you even get off the ground.

It is also fundamentally a humble peasant dish so as much as I love good food, this is just straight up food snobbery.

edit: to clarify, use the meat you want to, Joker
if you want to use ground beef, go for it! don't let someone tell you it's going to be shitty chili because you're not using cubed meat.

Djeet

Chili snobbery is hilarious. If you consider it a cowboy dish well they did not have access to fresh meat since on the trail there isn't really an icebox and it's not like they are going to butcher a steer everytime they are hungry. So cowboy chili was usually reconstituted jerky, definitely beans (since they kept well dry and bulked it up nice), if you were lucky some lard/suet and onions, and whatever spices there were to make it palatable. If you're thinking "chili con carne" from Spanish/indigenous peoples, that was a garnish/sauce (meat plus spices/chillies) and not the main event.


Not that I want authentic cowboy chili. I'm happy to use chuck, pork, and whatnot, and I don't use beans unless I want them, but what I'm making is not what they were eating on the trail.

mts

i would probably use ground sirloin since that just tastes better than regular ground chuck anyways. we usually do ours with ground turkey..Oh the humanity

Bagginses

Djeet wrote: »

Chili snobbery is hilarious. If you consider it a cowboy dish well they did not have access to fresh meat since on the trail there isn't really an icebox and it's not like they are going to butcher a steer everytime they are hungry. So cowboy chili was usually reconstituted jerky, definitely beans (since they kept well dry and bulked it up nice), if you were lucky some lard/suet and onions, and whatever spices there were to make it palatable. If you're thinking "chili con carne" from Spanish/indigenous peoples, that was a garnish/sauce (meat plus spices/chillies) and not the main event.


Not that I want authentic cowboy chili. I'm happy to use chuck, pork, and whatnot, and I don't use beans unless I want them, but what I'm making is not what they were eating on the trail.

The snobbery in this case is more due to pre-ground beef having poor texture, inconsistent characteristics, and poor quality. I use pre-ground meat fairly frequently, but it does hurt a dish and it's not that hard to cube the beef and send it through the food processor. In this case, I'd use some mix of chuck and brisket from ideally two different animals (I'm fond of beef [obviously], goat, and buffalo). Don't use veal or foreign lamb, as those are far too subtle for this application (American has no age limit on the term "lamb," so American lamb is basically mutton).

This recipe is from my favored resource for recipes, although I would suggest a few adjustments: to prep the chiles, try making something like the original chile con carne by grinding the chiles with jerky, corned beef, or pastrami. I'd also suggest adding at least one fresh chile and Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum (called chiltepin or tepin, among other things) in some form. They provide a good balance, with the former granting freshness and the latter providing a fast heat to fill the delay in the heat of most types of dried chiles. I'd also use smoky peppers, but that's personal taste. If thickening is necessary, nut butters are nature's beurre manié and eggs, while somewhat touchy and likely requiring tempering, lend a nice richness to a dish. A potato boiled in the chile, removed, made into a slurry, and reincorporated would also work well.

TychoCelchuuu

Druhim wrote: »

TychoCelchuuu wrote: »

Because ground beef in chili is an abomination, browned or not. Chili is at its heart two ingredients: meat and chili peppers. Using ground beef for the meat is crippling 50% of your dish before you even get off the ground.

It is also fundamentally a humble peasant dish so as much as I love good food, this is just straight up food snobbery.

edit: to clarify, use the meat you want to, Joker
if you want to use ground beef, go for it! don't let someone tell you it's going to be shitty chili because you're not using cubed meat.

"Ground beef" is much worse than peasant food. No peasant would ever have taken perfectly good meat and ground it up into an unappealing pink mass. There are specific dishes where ground beef makes sense (meat sauces, meatballs) but it's not food snobbery to let someone know that their chili is going to be bad if they use ground beef, just like it's not food snobbery to let someone know that their tacos are going to be bad if they flavor them with "taco seasoning."

Barrakketh

TychoCelchuuu wrote: »

but it's not food snobbery to let someone know that their chili is going to be bad if they use ground beef

Personally, I pick a roast and have it ground up for me. Works fantastic and tastes much better than whatever cuts are used in prepackaged ground beef.

MetroidZoid

My chilli is: (1) can of chili (2) fancy local sausage links (3) barbeque sauce

Served with mac and cheese.

Can you tell I'm a college student?

bsjezz

nothing wrong with premium ground beef. it has to be lean, though.

heat a big pot with vegetable oil and a slice of butter. chop two or three onions finely and brown them with some crushed garlic. add a heaping spoonful of smokey paprika, exactly fifteen turns of black pepper, a couple of star anise thingies if you have some handy and your beef. do not add any more liquids until the beef is very brown, basically crispy. stir infrequently. this is a one pot method that doesn't use stock; you need that caramelization. if anything looks to be approaching burning, deglaze with beer.

you have to add chilli powder or cayenne pepper, but you can go easy if you don't want too much heat. you also need cumin, preferably pan-roasted and ground in a mortar and pestle yourself - if not, just throw them in whole, a big spoonful at least. i'd also add dried oregano myself.

chop up a half a dozen fresh green chillies (jalapenos!) and celery sticks and add them to the mix. i usually would grate up a couple of carrots for extra healthfulness. sweat that all off, then add a tin or three of crushed tomatoes, salt, brown sugar, vinegar (apple cider, please) and any more of the beer you're willing to share. add beans here if you like it with beans. i only do if i can find fresh ones. chilli with fresh berlotti beans is a revolution.

cover, cook until reduced, add more beer, and reduce again. stir, taste and adjust as necessary.

i don't think this is very traditional.

Hypatia

I like to do:

1 of each color bell pepper (red, yellow, green)
1x onion, I usually get a yellow one
2-5 jalapeno peppers
1-5 habanero peppers
1x 14.5 can of diced tomatoes
1x of those little cans of tomato paste
2-3 cans of chili beans
1 lb ground beef
1 lb italian sausage
1 beer
Chopped garlic to taste ~1-4 tsp
Cayenne pepper, chili powder, paprika, salt, pepper -- all to taste

1) Brown the meat and drain it, set it to one side
2) Chop up all the peppers and the onion into whatever size bits you find tolerable for your chili, I usually try to get them down moderately small, you can work on this while you're waiting for the meat to brown
3) Get a big pot, put in maybe a tablespoon or two of vegetable oil and dump the veggies in, do this on medium heat and stir occasionally until the veggies start looking translucent or slightly browned
4) Spoon in as much garlic as you want and mix it in, I use quite a bit because I like garlic
5) Turn up the heat to high and add everything else and mix it all up. If it seems too thick, add some water. Approximately 1/4 cup of chili powder and a tsp each of the cayenne and paprika are a good start.
6) Once it starts getting close to boiling, turn it back down to a simmer and leave it there for an hour, stirring occasionally to keep it from burning
7) At the hour mark, get a spoon and taste it, add salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne, if you want to adjust the taste
8) Let it simmer for another hour+, then turn off the heat, let it cool a little, and stick it in the fridge overnight
9) Heat it the next day to serve

I make no claims on the authenticity of this, this is just a mash-up of a bunch of chili recipes and it seems pretty good to me.

The things I've found with chili are:
a) chili is pretty forgiving and you can toss in other herbs or more of different pieces if you like, just make it whatever you think tastes good
b) chili will get hotter (at least if you're using those kinds of peppers in it) after it's been in the fridge for a night or if you freeze it and reheat it
c) chili stores really well if you pour it into ice cube trays, then you can stick all the chili cubes into a bag and reheat however many cubes will fit your appetite later
d) you can always add water to thicken things
e) in general, the longer you leave it simmering for, the better it seems to taste

Wassermelone

...1-5 habaneros? Thats seems like a lot! I can take quite a bit of heat, but I only use one habanero (along with all the cayenne pepper/paprika) in my chili. Do you cook them in with all the other vegetables? Maybe the difference is that I 'float' my habanero near the end. I cut off the top and drop it on top while the whole thing is simmering. And I take it out once its done its thing.

Johnny Chopsocky

Ground beef is fine in chili. So is Chorizo. So is Spicy Italian Sausage. So is Rump, Sirloin, Lamb, Chicken, Pork Butt etc etc. It's REALLY hard to fuck up with a chili meat, because the key to a good chili isn't the meat, it's the sauce and the spice.

I like tomato-based chilis, personally. The redder the sauce, the better. I lean towards canned diced tomatoes with jalapenos, but if you have the stuff for homemade do that. Also, if at all possible (and if you have a VERY well-ventilated kitchen), make your own chili seasoning. Trust me, there is a big flavor difference.

Besides beans, there are other ways to introduce non-meat flavor and texture to a chili. Personally, I also throw in a can of mushrooms (drained and rinsed) and a can of white hominy (also drained and rinsed). Both bring texture and flavor to the party. Also, if you want a little more liquid in your chili, brew a cup of (regular non-flavored) coffee and throw it in.

Also, be creative. It's chili. There is no set recipe. Chili is a clusterfuck of personal preferences and endless tweaking, and no two people make the same bowl of red.

Hypatia

Wassermelone wrote: »

...1-5 habaneros? Thats seems like a lot! I can take quite a bit of heat, but I only use one habanero (along with all the cayenne pepper/paprika) in my chili. Do you cook them in with all the other vegetables? Maybe the difference is that I 'float' my habanero near the end. I cut off the top and drop it on top while the whole thing is simmering. And I take it out once its done its thing.

I try to adjust it each recipe if it wasn't hot enough or was a little too hot.

You lose heat when you remove the seats and the ribs in the pepper, and because I remove the seeds and chop mine up I tend to lose a bit of the rib (I try not to), so it's going to be less hot than if you just chop the top off and float it.

I sort of feel like chopping up the habaneros and the jalapenos and mixing them in adds to the overall richness of flavor of the whole thing, rather than just using them to make the chili spicier, but that's probably a personal thing.

Darkewolfe

Pound of ground beef. Pound of ground pork. Several cloves of garlic. Crushed red pepper and chili powder. Bottle of newcastle beer. Chopped onion. Can of diced tomato. Can of beans. Cook and stir for however long you feel like. Put in fridge. Reheat and eat for the next week.

THAT is how you do peasant food, ladies.

zepherin

As an aside how spicy do you want your chilli. Are you looking for some kick aka white people spicy? 3 or 4 spicy jalapeneos. For a heavier spice habaneros or even hotter peppers. I'm personally a big fan of going with a hotter pepper as opposed to more peppers.

DirtyDirtyVagrant

I'll bet you could get some really interesting stuff going on if you cubed and browned a pork roast or something and braised it, and then used all of that goodness to start off your pot of chili.

Bagginses

Instead of butter or vegetable fat, I'd render the fatty bits of a chicken or beef trimmings or brown up some chicken thighs, wings, or legs to have for lunch while the chile cooks. That should get you some nice meaty flavour.

spookymuffin

So glad to have happened upon this thread. I'm going to take a crack at making chili pretty soon. I'm a sucker for cooking competitions, and there is one for chili in December.

Djeet

I can't not say it, but I'm not a fan of ground beef chili. I think all it takes to convert you is to eat once chili from braised or slow cooked 1-2" cubed browned meat. Ground beef chili is fine for topping you chilidog or cheese fries, but if it's the main event, well that's basically a spicy red meat pasta sauce. I mean, if ground beef is all you can do then that's all you can do, but if you are searching for a good bowl of chili I'd try large cubes of mainly beef (some pork to add fat) slow cooked for a long time. Personally I like serving it over a big helping of baby greens, with shredded cheese and diced onion for garnish.

corky842

I get good results with ground beef if I season it while it's browning and don't get the chunks too small.

StrifeRaZoR

For all these recipes calling for beer, please remember one thing. If you are cooking with beer, allow it to sit outside a cooled area (Fridge/freezer). A cold beer does not retain its taste and will cause issues with cooking. Please ensure the beer is room temperature.

Source: My fiancee just graduated from the Art Institute of Charlotte. Culinary. I get to eat her homework, so I trust her.

azith28

Ground beef has a bad rep for no real reason.

Yes, it may be an unappealing visual aspect (to some) compared to a steak, however the form of ground beef or any ground meat is a great texture to produce a slow cooked, falling apart type of meat dish that blends great with rice, pasta, or other kinds of complements. Frankly the best italian dish i ever ate was what could be best described as a brown sauce that was essentially a liquified combination of veal, and beef. You couldnt see chunks of meat, just a pretty smooth brown sauce that went on top of pasta. It may have looked like shit but damn was it delicious.

Bagginses

azith28 wrote: »

Ground beef has a bad rep for no real reason.

Yes, it may be an unappealing visual aspect (to some) compared to a steak, however the form of ground beef or any ground meat is a great texture to produce a slow cooked, falling apart type of meat dish that blends great with rice, pasta, or other kinds of complements. Frankly the best italian dish i ever ate was what could be best described as a brown sauce that was essentially a liquified combination of veal, and beef. You couldnt see chunks of meat, just a pretty smooth brown sauce that went on top of pasta. It may have looked like shit but damn was it delicious.

You do realize that meat falling apart like that is due to chemical reactions in a long cook time, not shear forces, and the two produce incredibly different results, right?

TychoCelchuuu

There's no way you could make that Italian dish with ground beef, and since you're looking for a similar sort of effect with a chili, you can't get a great chili with ground beef either.

Djeet

I make a killer Bolognese; it uses ground beef and you end up with something the consistency of potted meat or wet cat food (lovely image there). I also make a good Italian-American meat sauce, which is not unlike the "chili" they sell at whole foods soup stall but not quite as reduced. I stand by the statement, that if the dish is chili (and it's not a garnish to another dish) try it out with chunks of meat instead of ground. It won't be as cheap, but you will probably be pleased with the results. Good chili has the mouthfeel of strands of meat, not grains.

bsjezz

StrifeRaZoR wrote: »

For all these recipes calling for beer, please remember one thing. If you are cooking with beer, allow it to sit outside a cooled area (Fridge/freezer). A cold beer does not retain its taste and will cause issues with cooking. Please ensure the beer is room temperature.

Source: My fiancee just graduated from the Art Institute of Charlotte. Culinary. I get to eat her homework, so I trust her.

fact: the detrimental effects of cold beer on chilli are marginal, if noticable at all, compared to the detrimental effect of warm beer on drinking beer. which you'll do. if you're cooking with it.

azith28

TychoCelchuuu wrote: »

There's no way you could make that Italian dish with ground beef, and since you're looking for a similar sort of effect with a chili, you can't get a great chili with ground beef either.

Yes, im aware, but as mentioned for like a meat sauce, it does render down enough to just become such small pieces that it blends exceptionally well with the other ingredients. I'm not saying that serloin or pork/veal are not superior meats but it does not deserve quite the scorn you give it. It has its place in many dishes just like those other meats do.

TychoCelchuuu

My third post in this thread very specifically said that ground beef has its uses, like in meat sauce. Chili's not a meat sauce unless you want it to put on top of hot dogs.

V1m

Djeet wrote: »

I make a killer Bolognese; it uses ground beef and you end up with something the consistency of potted meat or wet cat food (lovely image there). I also make a good Italian-American meat sauce, which is not unlike the "chili" they sell at whole foods soup stall but not quite as reduced. I stand by the statement, that if the dish is chili (and it's not a garnish to another dish) try it out with chunks of meat instead of ground. It won't be as cheap, but you will probably be pleased with the results. Good chili has the mouthfeel of strands of meat, not grains.

Try making that bolognese with beef cut up fairly small. I did and now I never willingly make it with mince.

Ditto chilli: if minced beef is all you can get, use that, it'll be OK. But diced meat really is just better.

I really like a 4:2:1 Stewing steak/belly pork/chicken thigh meat combo chilli; the variety of meats adds interest, and the different meats convey the flavours differently - and the chicken lightens it up a bit.

When the chilli is cooked and being left to stand for a while (as you should), shake a little ground cumin over it.

I say YES to beans.

ceres

Hey guys, you aren't campaigning here. So how about if you accept that some people like it just fine with ground meat, some people don't like it that way, and some people like their chili one way or the other depending on what they're doing, because frankly this is a really stupid line of conversation. Post your recipes and why you do it that way, but don't be an ass.

This is not a request.

Lanchester

Can i piggy back on this thread and ask for chili recipes with a crock pot specifically in mind? I don't mind ground beef in my chili so I'm all for suggestions regarding any kind

For those whose posted recipes already...have you made those in crock pot before? Does it work?

Djeet

The recipe I linked (5th post) works fine in a crock pot. That's the only way I've made it actually. I would put more dried chillies (reduced to powder) and a larger variety of chillies. I usually get everything prepped night before. In the morning cut up the meat. Here I switch the order and brown the meat. Transfer meat to crock. Throw in the diced onion into the pan so I can stir up the brown bits while the onion cooks. You don't need to fully cook the onion as it will get fully cooked in the crock; this is just to deglaze the pan. Throw remaining ingredients into crock, set to low, cover. When I get back from work the whole place will smell like chili and it would be ready to serve (it'll be very hot, temp-wise). I also sub granulated garlic for fresh, cause I don't like to peel and mince garlic if I don't have to.

Wassermelone

Also if anyone is looking for a vegetarian chili, I make a mean one. Its very soul/gut pleasing. I say this as a meat eater. Adapted from elsewhere:

6 cloves of garlic sauteing in a pot (12 quart) with olive oil

chop up and throw in:
Half an onion
A zucchini
Three biggish carrots
Two peppers (I use red and orange)

Saute saute saute saute

Then throw in:

a beer

6 oz can tomato paste
28 oz can diced tomato (undrained)
15 oz can tomato sauce

drained:
can cannelini beans
can kidney beans
can black beans
can pinto beans
can corn

undrained
can beets/cooked beets

1 tbs Cumin
1 tbs paprika
1 tbs mustard powder
3 tbs cayenne powder

1 ts oregano

After it bubbles a bit, turn it down to simmer.

chop the top off a habenero (or jalepeno you wusses)
throw the pepper sans the top in to 'float'. Take it out when you reach your desired heat level

Then let simmer for 45+ minutes.

mts

Lanchester wrote: »

Can i piggy back on this thread and ask for chili recipes with a crock pot specifically in mind? I don't mind ground beef in my chili so I'm all for suggestions regarding any kind

For those whose posted recipes already...have you made those in crock pot before? Does it work?

just do a quick brown and then throw everything in the pot and let them go.
that is essentially what we do for our turkey chili

Jokerman

Wow, that was a pasionate thread.

I decided to go with ground beef, because I'm a poor college student, but I took hints from all over the thread. It's currently in the crockpot now, and in the morning I'm going to check on it. Will report back in when it's in my tummy.