Yeah, I looked up the ingredient list–it looks like chili powder meets curry powder. I haven’t tried it before, but years ago, when I used to be more the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink type chili guy, I would throw in a tablespoon or two of Patak’s Hot Curry paste into the chili, along with the regular ingredients.
Yeah, it certainly depends on what you’re going for. You do have a thick, hearty broth with the “purist” version, too: I forgot to mention, I usually use some masa harina to thicken up the broth, but it’s not even always necessary (although I like the extra flavor it brings.) Anyhow, I found this picture of a “purist” bowl of red on the net, which looks similar in consistency to mine, except I don’t use quite as fine a dice on the beef.
Can’t be that pure. It’s got beans in it!
I like using arbol chilis, along with chipotle and ancho. Arbols are lesser known, but really tasty and have great heat. Another little secret of mine – liquid smoke. maybe it’s cheating, but it adds smoky flavor quickly.
It’s cheating. (Okay, I’ve done it, but it’s cheating).
Protip: Maybe you don’t want identifiable bacon bits (not sure how much crumbled bacon would sublime as it were, maybe it just melts away). One ingredient I have improvised with success is bacon slurry, i.e., raw bacon cuisinarted to a paste so as to integrate and impart flavor throughout the dish.
Works with fatback too.
Four hours is enough time to cook dry pinto or black beans, as long as you keep the liquid at a simmer. Your crock pot may not be hot enough to cook dry beans in the amount of time you have.
I thought that, too, but the website it comes from claims no beans, no tomato. Scroll down.
I think that’s just little red pools of fat or something you see there. Looking at it even more closely, I don’t see any beans.
Holy Trinity is peppers, onions and celery. No carrot. Mirepoix is carrots, celery and onion. Nothing wrong with your bastard combo for a chili base, but that’s not Trinity.
I’ve got a couple stunts/gimmicks that might work for a chili contest. They might not have profound effects on the taste of the chili and I think the appeal of them is more psychological than culinary but they tend to get talked about at contests where having a “trick” is often as important as having a good flavor.
Can of Coke or Dr. Pepper.
Can of beer; lager, ale or stout.
Hunk of bitter dark chocolate.
Crushed tortilla chips.
Booze; tequila, bourbon or cognac.
Red wine.
Non-savory spices; cinnamon, allspice, star anise, nutmeg.
There’s different ways and combinations for implementing them all, some terrible and some good, and you probably shouldn’t combine too many different ideas. You certainly want to do a little trial and error ahead of time.
The can of Coke or Dr. Pepper can be a good for dark smokey chilis that might benefit from some sweetness and the caramel color helps a lot. I like my chili on the spicy red side so I tend to avoid this, but I’ve had chilis with it that were good and had a certain mystery appeal. Adding beer is a longtime tradition and one that I’m not a big fan of. It doesn’t hurt anything but I think people just think it makes their chili seem more manly. When cooked down most beers have very little flavor to contribute. Hoppy ales might stand up a little more but hops clash with chili flavors. Stouts are the way to go if you decide to use beer, the burnt coffee-like flavor and dark color are a plus for chilis that lack an inherent smokiness.
I avoid wine generally in cooking but that’s largely just a personal preference. Both wine and liquor can be good for deglazing a pan or the bottom of the pot if you decide to brown some of your aromatics ahead of time. I think this is a good idea, especially for the diced onion and garlic. Some people add bourbon or tequila at the end to “brighten” the flavor. I think it just makes it taste boozy but it might be something worth trying. Alcohol soluble flavors and all.
The corn chips are actually a good and traditional add. Masa is the proper thickener to use and the corn chips add a saltiness and corny flavor that can really help a wet chili recipe. Make sure you chili isn’t too tomatoey though, some northern chilis are more beans and tomatoes than beef and spice. Avoid that.
I haven’t tried the chocolate myself. I’m not a baker and never have chocolate laying around and I’m not a huge fan of the flavor of dark chocolate in the first place. I suspect that stout and dark chocolate contribute similar flavors.
Could be. The closer I look, the less sure I am about it. I’ll take his and your word for it.
This caused me to look it up, and I’ve been wrong for quite awhile. One little battle against ignorance won.
That said, I don’t think celery would go as well in a chili as carrot. The sweet is needed to balance the spicy.
I had a thread a long time ago where I biatched about my local pub serving me chili with cubed carrots. Admittedly they had not cooked it for anywhere near four hours, it was plain, so the crunchy texture was driving me nuts as well as the outre idea of carrots in chili, period, but in any event the peppers and if you use it, tomato, will bring a ton of sweet/fruity flavor to the mix.
Yeah, I wouldn’t feel the need to add something just to sweeten chili. The peppers (and onions, and tomatoes) are sweet enough. And while I won’t criticize someone who adds carrots, it’s not something I would ever do.
The vegetables I wouldn’t do without are some kind of peppers (bells if you’re cooking for wimps, but there have to be peppers), tomatoes, onions, and some kind of beans. A lot of folks add whole-kernel corn, but that’s not my style. Anything else, if I were to add it, I’d chop it up into unrecognizable bits. The texture of celery is just all wrong for chili.
I can’t help thinking a prepackaged spice mix is cheating somehow. Mix your own, lazy! Give it a unique signature.
For a contest, sure. But at home, when you just can’t be bothered, it’s handy to have some Morton’s in the pantry.
I think you have to have some kind of chili peppers or it isn’t chili, just a stew.
Sure, but that’s usually in the form of dried chiles that are in the chili powder. And, if you’re being absolutely pedantic, bell peppers are a type of chile pepper.
I’ve used carrots in marinara sauce before and found them to be surprisingly good. You’ve got to dice them tiny or whack them in a food processor (preferred) and roast/saute them well so they pretty much disappear in the sauce but the contribute an excellent subtle sweetness, color and depth of flavor.
I suspect that they could work the same way in a northern style chili that’s not real heavy on the chili and has junk in it.
Per my comment on the 1/4" crunchy carrot cubes my damn pub cook put it – I’d be willing to consider that (as with my suggestion on the bacon slurry) – I don’t really want a bunch of (identifiable) “things” in my chili, but call it part of the stock – sure. Hey, I wonder if the bean-haters (I go either way) would react any differently to a bean puree being added in.
Final thought – cheddar is nice as a garnish, but it integrates well enough that, on yet another “cook it in” note, I sometimes throw it into the sauce during the making of the chili (on the same theory as adding Parmesan while cooking spag bol sauce).
Damn, all this good advice has done is make me question which direction I want to take this.
Here is where my head is at right now:
There Will Be Beans (wasn’t that a movie?). Us Yankees expect it, and I’m afraid I would be penalized by the tasters if they were omitted. Not sure which kind(s) yet, though, but they’ll come from a can. I promise to add them very judiciously.
Vegetables: Onions, tomatoes, maybe small cubes of celery. Diced red chili peppers, too. No corn, no mushrooms, no carrots, no potatoes.
Meat: Still waffling on this. (mmmm…waffles). I suppose I should use beef chunks rather than pork chunks. I still want some porky flavor, though, but I haven’t decided how to approach this. I’m still leaning toward bacon (not a lot, not even so much that you can easily see it in there, just enough to add a familiar and loved but unexpected component to the flavor). Other options I’m considering aside from bacon (all in relatively small amounts): crumbled pork sausage, crumbled spicy Italian sausage, cubed pork butt (much less quantity than the cubed beef).
Spices/flavorings: ground chipotle chili pepper, cumin, a bit of ground jalapeno powder, salt, pepper, garlic (?), dash of maple syrup, maybe cayenne if it needs more kick.
Any thoughts on adding maybe a half-cup of quality salsa to the pot?
mmm
Celery just doesn’t work for me. If you’re looking for additional veggies, add green bell pepper or mild chilis like diced poblano. Also garlic. Salsa is just tomatoes and peppers, so it won’t hurt anything. If you’re not going to add a prepared chili powder (which contains chili powder, cumin, etc.), then you need to add a few tablespoons of ground ancho chili powder along with your other spices. And go easy on the chipotle, as it will add heat as well as smoke.