Tried and True Chilli Recipes

[freeztar]

Why not?

 

Chilli is such a wonderful food. It's simple, tasty, healthy, and diverse in its manifestations.

 

In ode to the annual Atlanta chilli cookoff, I'm making a big batch of chilli right now and figured I'd share my recipe for those interested. Hopefully others will chime in with other variations on this wonderful dish?

 

Freeztar's Fabulous Fhilli (couldn't help it - alliteration demanded)

 

(cans can be substituted with equivalent amount of prepared beans etc.)

3 lbs. ground beef

3 8oz. cans of tomato sauce

3 16oz. cans of beans (I use a mix of kidney beans, black beans, and pinto beans)

1 16oz. can of sweet corn

6tbls. chilli seasoning *

1tbls. cayenne

8 cloves of garlic (mashed)

 

Brown meat and drain. Combine meat and tomato sauce with 24oz. of water, chilli seasoning, and garlic. Stir. Add beans, corn, and garlic. Simmer until desired consistency is reached (stir every ten minutes). Note that as the mix cools, it will thicken some more (for thicker chilli and less cooking time, add cornstarch, kudzu starch, or arrowroot powder).

 

Let it cool a bit and garnish with grated medium cheddar and as much hot sauce as you like.

 

* Chilli seasoning powder can be purchased or can be made by combining 4tbls. cumin, 2tbls. paprika, and salt, pepper (white or black), and garlic powder to taste.

 

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When I make this for myself only, I throw in a few whole habaneros (I'm a chilihead).

 

Other ideas: Add stewed (or diced) tomatos, celery, and diced carrots. Other garnishes can include sour cream, chives, and bits of bacon.

 

Enjoy! :eek_big:

[Buffy]

I never make it the same way twice, but here are a few random thoughts:

 

I eschew beans. Meaningless carbs. No flavor. Leave them out. In the spirit of the first sentence though, I have used black beans, and black-eyed peas, green split peas, yellow split peas and lentils...

 

Because beans do have the chemical benefit of thickening the chili, I do agree with freezy's recommendation to use some sort of thickening agent, but I strongly favor arrowroot: it takes much less to thicken it, and its less starchy (those darn carbs!). Arrowroot also has the very strange property of making the resulting chili very shiny! If you're weird, experiment with food coloring too! If you do want to use something more like flour or cornstarch, I recommend using a trick I learned from Caroll Shelby's chili mix: use *masa* flour...it's much tastier. With any thickener, its a good idea to add water to the mix first, let it boil off just a bit and get the other flavors mixed in, then turn it *way* down, add the thickener and let it cook as long as you can so the flavors merge.

 

I also tend to leave out tomato sauce or tomatoes (although if i add either, it's the latter, fresh/peeled)...I go for really slow cooked chili, so they disappear except for an overwhelmed, barely noticeable flavor (only enhanced by using fresh ones!). I think BigDog recommended giving crock pots as gifts once, and although I've got a big pot and a stove that has settings to do the same thing, I'll second his motion on this one for making really good chili without the nervous hovering that pro's tend not to be able to avoid....

 

I have started replacing chili powder with chipotle chili powder which is pretty easy to find these days, and it tastes much more interesting! You should also try dumping a chunk of a bottle of Tabasco's new chipotle sauce.

 

A few Secret Ingredients in mine: worcestershire sauce...capers...brown sugar(only every once in a while...it's an acquired taste), and (people think this is so weird)...tequila.

 

Second, third and fourth the habaneros: if you dont like the heat, *leave out the seeds*...it's really all about how interesting the habaneros *taste*.

 

Evil additions: bacon. putting the cheese in and let it cook a while longer.

 

Unamerican additions: garam masala. blue cheese.

 

Extravagant option: get really expensive filet mignon and chop it up really well (do NOT put it in a grinder, or even a Cuisinart): sounds silly until you've actually had it....

 

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Bottom line is that mine really evolved from making Mexican food, so really instead of just a "bowl" with obligatory home-made cornbread, fry some tortillas, and toss some on them with lettuce cheese, tomatoes, and your favorite salsa!

 

Andale! Andale! Arriba! Arriba! :)

Buffy