Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

So, this is my first post in the Falcon Food section, but hopefully not my last. It is my intention that this topic be used for one of two purposes: I am planning on making chili soon, and after I do I will write down my recipe and post it. I never write it down, and it always changes each time I make it, so I really want to write it down and pass it out. I use anywhere from 4-10 different types of beans, depending on my mood.

The second purpose for this topic is I am looking for some good ideas and/or recipes to try as far as chili goes. I am a huge fan of chili, and my wife loves it, too. I am always looking for a few good ideas on things to try.

So, hopefully in a few days I'll have a recipe to post. In the meantime, does anybody have anything (ideas, tricks, recipes) that they would like to share?

Oh, btw, I usually cook my chili all day in the crock pot, and I don't use tomato juice. Apparently this is drastically different from traditional chili. Instead, I use tomato sauce and paste for a thicker chili, and then I take a can of diced tomatoes and dump the entire can in for some tomato chunks. However, I'm getting tired of using cans of tomatoes and cans of beans and feel like branching out to cooking my own beans and slicing my own tomatoes.

Step 1 for making better chili: Chili doesn't have beans!


Traditionally it doesn't use tomatoes either, but I do like tomatoes in my chili. If you're making it in North West Ohio though, I'd probably recommend sticking with the canned tomatoes. You're just not going to find any worthwhile fresh tomatoes this time of year. Ideally I'd say grow your own tomatoes in the summertime and can them for use in the winter yourself, but that's up to you. I'd definitely stick with canned tomatoes though...fresh tomatoes just don't have any flavor this time of year.

My chili involves Yuengling, baking chocolate, at least 3 types of meat, and of course NO BEANS. I can't give you the exact recipe, because then I'd have to kill you.

The beans aren't a principles type of thing though - I just really hate beans.

We use a lot of beans and tend to mix it up - dark red, light red, black - at least three.

I'm a big fan of using corn, too.

Agree with hammb ... fresh tomatoes this time of year = blech.

When it comes to food I'm generally a big fan of cooking things the traditional way. Don't know why, it's just my thing. With Chili I'm DEFINITELY a traditionalist. No chocolate, no cinnamon, no beans, etc.

Traditionally chili is a pretty simple dish. It is essentially meat & chiles. I do like to add some canned diced tomatoes. One other place I have strayed from tradition is with the chiles. The chiles should be dried, and ground into a powder for use in chili. When I've made chili I've just roasted my chiles in the oven, scraped the burned skin off them, then pureed them. This makes the final product a little runnier than it should be...still I think it turns out a good product...much better than relying on store bought chili powders would. One of these days I'm going to think about it ahead of time and throw my chiles in the dehydrator for a few days and grind them into homemade chili powder and see how that works.

Regardless of how you prep the chiles you can pretty much use any combination you want. I like some combination of Habanero, Anaheim, Cascabel, Poblano, and Jalapeno chiles. Some of these can be tough to find at times, so none are really required, just go with whatever you prefer.

After you've got your chiles prepped the process is generally the same. Heat a large stock pot to pretty high heat. Take the meat of your choice (I like beef stew meat, and chunks of pork shoulder) toss in a little oil, then brown in small batches. DO NOT OVERLOAD THE POT. You want the temperature of the pot to stay very high so it will brown the meat. After each batch of meat is browned put it in a bowl. When all the meat is browned I like to add some onion and garlic and sautee them until they start to come translucent. Then deglaze the the pan with a good dark beer. Avoid anything too hoppy though, I don't like the hops after it cooks down.

After deglazing the pan with the beer add back all the browned meat, and your chiles. I do like to add in a can of diced tomatoes as well. Bring it all to a simmer, reduce heat, cover, and let slow cook until the meat is tender and falls apart. Rather than cook on the stovetop, the crockpot is a perfectly viable option. In fact I like to do everything up to this point in one evening, then put it in my slowcooker and throw it in the fridge. Then just plug it in and put it on low while I go to work the next day.

Quantities/ratios are just a matter of taste. In the end its stewed meat with chiles

1987alum wrote:We use a lot of beans and tend to mix it up - dark red, light red, black - at least three.

I'm a big fan of using corn, too.

Agree with hammb ... fresh tomatoes this time of year = blech.

The beans I have used in the past are varieties of kidney, pinto, black, navy, great northern, pink, butter, chili beans. I have found that butter beans tend to mess up the flavor, and I instead use them when I'm making homemade baked burger and beans (another recipe I need to post).

I think the chocolate and cinnamon are a bit of a traditional ingrediant. The use stems from mole in some older chili recipes. I have not really enjoyed any recipes that I have tried with those ingredients though. I am still looking for that perfect bowl of Texas Red, I had an excellent bowl of chili at a DU smoker event that I attended years ago. It was a competition recipe made by two guys that followed and won some chili cookoffs. they would not give up a single key to their recipe. I will be following this thread with care.

I am NOT a traditionalist when it comes to chili. It's similar to any other food type which INVITES variation: bread, quiche, pie, clam or seafood chowder just to name several. I mean, it's not like we're talking about something sacred such as martinis are anything.

I build flavor in my chili. I start with minced carrot and celery and chopped onion and bell pepper. The carrots and celery basically disappear during the long cooking, but add amazing fresh undertones and smooths out the smokey flavor. Add ground pork, beef, and veal to brown. Deglaze with red wine. Add beef stock, chipotle peppers [my fav], pepper sauce, and tomato paste. The pepper sauce is to give it more bright, up front heat and the chipotles provides the lasting heat which soaks into your soul.
Let cook and thicken. Add fire roasted canned tomato [Muir Glen] and kidneys.

To serve, I have further variations.

*Just chili with cheese, sour cream, and green onion. Side up with homemade buttermilk biscuits or bread.

*Put Fritos in the bottom of a bowl. Top with chili, sour cream, cheese, and green onion. Texans call this "Frito Pie" and it's mighty good.

*If I'm really feeling it, I add extra smoky spice to the chili and top it with sour cream, cheese, and an avocado corn salsa.

I finally had the opportunity to make my chili on Monday. I had the day off work and started the chili in the crock pot at about 11:00. We ate at about 6:30, so it didn't cook for as long as I had hoped, but still good nonetheless.

My recipe:

3 lbs. Ground Chuck
1 12oz can Tomato Paste
1 15oz can Tomato Sauce
1 14.5oz can Chili Ready Tomatoes
1 16oz can Navy Beans
2 15.5oz can Chili Beans
1 15.5oz can Light Red Kidney Beans
1 15.5oz can Pinto Beans
1 Large Anaheim Pepper, chopped
1 Large White onion, chopped

Brown the meat, and season to taste, then add to the slow cooker. Add tomato sauce and tomato paste and stir. Mix in all beans, onion, and Anaheim pepper. Then, add additional seasonings to taste. Cook 8-10 hours on low, 4-6 hours on high, or longer if desired.



I cooked mine on high for a couple hours due to time constraints, and then put it on low for the last 5 hours. The seasonings I used were chili powder, garlic powder (generous portions of both), cilantro, cayenne, black pepper, and habanero hot sauce. Lastly, crush up corn muffins when serving. It was excellent, and not too spicy. For more spice, use a different pepper other than Anaheim. The choice of the white onion is just a personal choice: white onions are used more in Mexican dishes, as opposed to the yellow onion.

I know my recipe is more of a traditional recipe, so I am interested in trying some of these other suggestions. I could eat chili every week, if my wife could stand to sleep in the same bed as me

Rightupinthere wrote:I mean, it's not like we're talking about something sacred such as martinis are anything.

I very rarely touch alcohol so of course I was recently selected to provide drinks at a dinner party, specifically martinis. When I showed up with the "wrong" ingredients, a woman there told me they must be made with vodka, and only Grey Goose at that. Fortunately, she just "happened" to have some. Another, more gracious woman there, accepted one of my gin offerings. Both set their drinks down and left the room for a bit.

Upon their return, the vodka lady picked up the wrong drink and finished it-the gin lady picked up the vodka and said "eeewww, this isn't mine." I got a huge kick out of that-don't know if martinis are sacred but I'm always amazed at how people overrate their palates.

h2oville rocket wrote:

Rightupinthere wrote:I mean, it's not like we're talking about something sacred such as martinis are anything.

I very rarely touch alcohol so of course I was recently selected to provide drinks at a dinner party, specifically martinis. When I showed up with the "wrong" ingredients, a woman there told me they must be made with vodka, and only Grey Goose at that. Fortunately, she just "happened" to have some. Another, more gracious woman there, accepted one of my gin offerings. Both set their drinks down and left the room for a bit.

Upon their return, the vodka lady picked up the wrong drink and finished it-the gin lady picked up the vodka and said "eeewww, this isn't mine." I got a huge kick out of that-don't know if martinis are sacred but I'm always amazed at how people overrate their palates.

If you were making "martinis" they are made with gin. The first woman wanted you to make "Vodka Martinis."

There also VERY little difference between vodkas, but Goose S-U-C-K-S in vodka martinis. The best vodka martini I've had was with Ciroc - a french grape vodka which was extremely smooth. I only fancy vodka martinis during the summer months but love martinis when the weather turns cool.

Nope- first lady wanted me to know what a heathen I was! Made a big pot of chili last night-discovered that buffalo (OK, BISON for you purists) tastes way better in chili than ground sirloin and holds together better.

I L-O-V-E bison [purist: guilty!] because it tastes the way meat is suppose to taste.