After reading these posts I have decided that the Jimson household will be having chili for diner Sunday.
As to my contribution to the growing chili wisdom here, I brown the beef cube in the fat from 3-4 pieces of good bacon (not the usual crap in the grocery but good 1/4 inch thick smoked bacon). Not to be waste full, if I don’t eat all the bacon as I cook, I crumble it and toss it in. It adds a subtle smoky flavor.
Just to cause trouble I’m going to admit, I like black beans in my chili but I cook them on the side.
By the way, the book “The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American” has a very nice discussion of chili along with some good and not so good recipes.
I just knew it was a matter of time before this thread was hijacked by heretics.
I pray for all of your wayward souls.
Except for those of you that put potatoes in your chili. Verily, you are doomed to burn in some sort of watered-down, canned version of hell for all eternity.
I lost all respect for Texas as the chili capital of the world after my brother (an Idaho native) and his wife (from Mt. Shasta country in California) won a chili cook-off in Austin.
I’m also a Terlingua vet, but as a contestant (CASI). The team I was on won the Arkansas and Louisiana State Chili Championships back in the mid eighties. We didn’t win at Turlingua, but Like Pantellerite we sure had a great time.
I usually use cheap meat like chuck, blade roasts, or rump roasts. Flank steak is top drawer, but london broil, sirloin, or tri-tip is very good too. I have also made chili from bear, elk, and javalena, and in my opinion, roadkill is OK if properly cleaned. I brown the meat first using pork fat. I use beer, and I also add some pork sausage, (like Jimmy Dean), which I brown, drain well, and crumble before adding. If I use 5lbs of meat, I add 1/2 - 3/4 lb of sausage.
I’ll be taking the lid off the pot in another hour or so to let the liquid cook down. I will definitely be adding beer…I used TEN of those damn New Mexico chiles, plus ground chilpotle and three fresh chiles, and this mother is SPICY.
Some of us enjoy farting, okay? More beans please!
What do you chili-lovin’, ever-fartin’ folks think about Coca-Cola in the chili instead of beer? I’ve heard the acidity in the Coke reacts favorably to the ingredients.
Now we’re putting Coke in our Black-Eyed Pea and Potato Chili?
I need to go pour another G&T…
I mean beer. We chili-lovin’ Texans only drink beer.
DaToad, how’d’ja like CASI? I always had a slight preference for the Behind-the-Store cook-off, but I gotta admit that CASI is the better party. CASI is also the scarier party, come to think of it. You know, last time I was at CASI someone was selling homemade pork rinds. Take my advice: DON’T TRY THE HOMEMADE PORK RINDS!
Are y’all makin fuckin spaghetti or WHAT…goddamned all the secret ingredients.
It’s meat, chilis, onions, and salt …allright
everything else is usually served on the side
if you like tomatos, fine, put them in sparingly if you must
if you like beans , fine, that’s where/why the BEER comes in
as long as you have plenty of Cuervo Gold and ice cold margaritas
NO ONE WILL GIVE A RATS ASS…
the quickest way to fuck up chili is by doing too much
(whispers…although I have been known to put a touch of brown sugar in a batch once in awhile, sshhh)
I like to add cocoa and black beans, but other than that, nothing unusual. I will be trying the soaked/mashed chili trick, though. That’s a new one on me.
and then I’ll try not to notice Mr. Singular eating it with spaghetti. sigh…
So, about this chili mashing thing… (and it’s a bit late for the batch that’s currently in the crock pot), how does it work?
I ended up removing the seeds, from the chilis and boiling them for a while. They didn’t look like they could be mashed - so instead I scraped the insides off of the skins (which were kind of pulpy), and threw that into the pot. Should I have mashed the skins and the pulp stuff together?
Where is the cornbread? I absolutely must have cornbread and Shiner with my chili. And get those beans, potatoes, and other sundry defilers out of that bowl of red!
