Wimbo
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This time of year when the nights have started to cool off & football is starting to heat up, my thoughts and hunger both turn towards my favorite cool weather food - chili. I am going to share with you all my favorite classic chili recipe. It started as a recipe I found a while back, but I have tweaked it many times & settled in on how I like it best. I don't compete in contests, but I did win my neighborhood cookoff by a landslide vote. This recipe is also easy to manipulate to you desired level of hotness by varying the type and amount of peppers you use. The way I make it, it is too spicy for the kids to tolerate, but most adults can handle the heat. You can make adjustments to fit your own tastes. However, I believe the spice balance is darn near perfect, so use peppers to add heat rather than adding more chili powder, hot sauce, etc. I use jalapenos - they are easy to find & work with & I prefer their taste to others I have tried. Don't use pickled jalapeno's... use fresh or buy a can of diced jalapenos (in mexican section of most grocery stores - near taco kits).
Note: I know Hos has posted his chili recipe here before & he likes it crazy hot. I am not trying to make the most unique, most hot chili on the planet... just chili that tastes awesome to me.
The only potential "gotcha" ingredient in my chili is chorizo. Chorizo is a spanish sausage that comes in many varieties. You can get it pre-cooked or smoked - which ends up looking something like pepperoni - but this is not what you want for this chili. You have to find raw chorizo, which can either come in a butcher wrap (similar to regular ground beef), or it can be in a sausage casing. Either way is fine, you just want to get it in it's soft, raw form so that it looks like this in your skillet:
<a href="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.slashfood.com/media/2008/04/tacomeat050108.jpg" target="_blank"><a href="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.slashfood.com/media/2008/04/tacomeat050108.jpg" target="_blank">
Ok, on to the ingredients...
Meats:
* 2.5 # lean ground chuck
* 1 # ground pork
* 0.5 # chorizo
Veggies & beans:
* 4-5 cloves garlic, chopped fine
* 1 small onion, finely chopped (about a cup or so)
* 16 oz tomato sauce - whatever brand you like. I use Hunts
* 1 can (about 16 oz) pinto beans, drained
* Jalapeno's to your taste. Use 2-3 diced for chili as I described above. Jack it up if you like it hotter. Or, use other peppers that you like. This is where you control the heat. Remember, you can always add peppers, but you cant take them out... so, plan accordingly.
Spices:
* 3 T Mexican Chili Powder
* 2 T instant beef bouillon granuals
* 2 T ground Cumin
* 2 tsp Hungarian paprika
* 2 tsp dried oregano
* 2 tsp turbinado (raw) sugar
* 0.5 tsp ground coriander
* 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa (yes, cocoa like you make hot cocoa with- it adds depth to you chili. don't worry, it doesn't make it taste chocolatety.)
* 1 tsp Lousiana hot sauce (your favorite brand is fine)
Other ingredients:
* 1 bottle beer - I have tried many, but the best I have found for this chili is Shocktop Belgian White. It's a wheat beer that is brewed with coriander & I think it matches up perfectly to this chili.
* water
* 1 tsp cornmeal
* 1 tsp flour
Directions:
1. Start browning your chorizo in a small skillet. Drain the fat when done. Meanwhile...
2. In a large dutch oven or saucepan (this will accomodate your full recipe, so make it a big pot), brown half of the ground chuck and half of the pork and drain the fat into a bowl for use later. Remove meat from pot & set aside. Brown the rest of the beef and pork, drain, and remove from pot & set aside.
3. Add some of the reserved fat that you drained from the first batch of meat back into the pot. Add garlic and onion & cook until tender.
4. Return all of the meat to the pot, including the now cooked chorizo. Add beans, jalapenos, tomato sauce, 1 cup of water, beer, chili powder, bouillon, cumin, paprika, oregano, sugar, coriander, cocoa, and hot sauce & stir all ingredients together.
5. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low temp, cover, and let the chili simmer for about 2 hours. (note: after about an hour you can taste to see if you want to add more diced jalapenos to kick up the heat)
6. Mix the flour and cornmeal in a small bowl with 2 tsp warm water, then stir it into the chili.
7. Cover the chili & let it cook for another 20 minutes or so.
I like my chili as is, with no toppings. but, if you must:
Suggested toppings:
* Fritos
* shreaded cheese
* raw onion, diced
* additional jalapeno
* putting this chili on top of a baked potato is also fantastic
Note: I know Hos has posted his chili recipe here before & he likes it crazy hot. I am not trying to make the most unique, most hot chili on the planet... just chili that tastes awesome to me.
The only potential "gotcha" ingredient in my chili is chorizo. Chorizo is a spanish sausage that comes in many varieties. You can get it pre-cooked or smoked - which ends up looking something like pepperoni - but this is not what you want for this chili. You have to find raw chorizo, which can either come in a butcher wrap (similar to regular ground beef), or it can be in a sausage casing. Either way is fine, you just want to get it in it's soft, raw form so that it looks like this in your skillet:
<a href="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.slashfood.com/media/2008/04/tacomeat050108.jpg" target="_blank"><a href="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.slashfood.com/media/2008/04/tacomeat050108.jpg" target="_blank">
Ok, on to the ingredients...
Meats:
* 2.5 # lean ground chuck
* 1 # ground pork
* 0.5 # chorizo
Veggies & beans:
* 4-5 cloves garlic, chopped fine
* 1 small onion, finely chopped (about a cup or so)
* 16 oz tomato sauce - whatever brand you like. I use Hunts
* 1 can (about 16 oz) pinto beans, drained
* Jalapeno's to your taste. Use 2-3 diced for chili as I described above. Jack it up if you like it hotter. Or, use other peppers that you like. This is where you control the heat. Remember, you can always add peppers, but you cant take them out... so, plan accordingly.
Spices:
* 3 T Mexican Chili Powder
* 2 T instant beef bouillon granuals
* 2 T ground Cumin
* 2 tsp Hungarian paprika
* 2 tsp dried oregano
* 2 tsp turbinado (raw) sugar
* 0.5 tsp ground coriander
* 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa (yes, cocoa like you make hot cocoa with- it adds depth to you chili. don't worry, it doesn't make it taste chocolatety.)
* 1 tsp Lousiana hot sauce (your favorite brand is fine)
Other ingredients:
* 1 bottle beer - I have tried many, but the best I have found for this chili is Shocktop Belgian White. It's a wheat beer that is brewed with coriander & I think it matches up perfectly to this chili.
* water
* 1 tsp cornmeal
* 1 tsp flour
Directions:
1. Start browning your chorizo in a small skillet. Drain the fat when done. Meanwhile...
2. In a large dutch oven or saucepan (this will accomodate your full recipe, so make it a big pot), brown half of the ground chuck and half of the pork and drain the fat into a bowl for use later. Remove meat from pot & set aside. Brown the rest of the beef and pork, drain, and remove from pot & set aside.
3. Add some of the reserved fat that you drained from the first batch of meat back into the pot. Add garlic and onion & cook until tender.
4. Return all of the meat to the pot, including the now cooked chorizo. Add beans, jalapenos, tomato sauce, 1 cup of water, beer, chili powder, bouillon, cumin, paprika, oregano, sugar, coriander, cocoa, and hot sauce & stir all ingredients together.
5. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low temp, cover, and let the chili simmer for about 2 hours. (note: after about an hour you can taste to see if you want to add more diced jalapenos to kick up the heat)
6. Mix the flour and cornmeal in a small bowl with 2 tsp warm water, then stir it into the chili.
7. Cover the chili & let it cook for another 20 minutes or so.
I like my chili as is, with no toppings. but, if you must:
Suggested toppings:
* Fritos
* shreaded cheese
* raw onion, diced
* additional jalapeno
* putting this chili on top of a baked potato is also fantastic
