It’s Chilly Out, Let’s Make Chili

Let's eat!

LOOKING at the page-views, the Soup is On post is a popular page, so Dad will post about his making chili con carne y queso.

He will not wade into the controversy about what constitutes “real” chili, so don’t post comments, e-mail him, or tell him your objection that what follows is not real chili.

Dad’s chili recipe depends on what is in the pantry that needs to get eaten. When he feels like making it, he takes stock of the pantry, freezer and other ingredients on hand and makes chili. There are some things he needs and uses consistently, like chilies, but others are added or left out depending what’s in inventory.

Pantry raid!

 Once again, this food post is a longer one, so click below to continue.

This is what he did this time.

Let's cook chili

Ingredients:

1 pound ground meat, browned, seasoned with cumin, and defatted.

1 tablespoon cumin powder (thanks to Joanne and Bill for loaning this to Dad)

A few grinds of fresh ground black pepper

1 24 oz. can crushed tomatoes strained

1 16 oz. can tomato sauce

4 4 oz. cans sliced mushrooms, drained

1 16 oz. can yellow corn, drained

1 16 oz. can kidney beans, drained

1 medium onion, diced

5 fresh Serrano peppers

2 tablespoons dried cilantro (or fresh if you can get. This was a pantry raid, so he used what he had.)
2 tablespoons paprika

¾ cup of dried Ancho chilis

¾ cup of dried Pasilla chilis

½ cup sugar

16 oz. roasted red pepper and tomato soup

Parmesan cheese (he didn’t measure it, he just added what looked appropriate given the volume of chili)

Mozzarella cheese

(Some say) optional ingredients:

1 tablespoon garlic powder

Sour cream

Noticeably absent from the ingredient list is chili powder. This is for two reasons. First, the chilies in chili powder are already ground, have sat on the shelf for an unknown amount of time, and as a result have likely given up most of their flavor. Second, chili powder contains garlic powder which will turn bitter if simmered for a long time.

In a crock-pot he combined and simmered the canned goods, onion, soup, cheese, and spices until the onion and Serranos were soft and the spices re-hydrated. He browned the ground beef in a skillet and added the cumin to it. He combined it with the chili.

After the chili had simmered for an hour, he tasted it and added more sugar. Salt wasn’t necessary in that it is in all of the canned goods, soup, and Parmesan cheese. 

Bare naked chili waiting for your favorite dairy.
 The chili is cold, but it will burn your mouth!

When it was done, he added the sour cream, put some mozzarella on top, and stuck it in the convection oven to brown it.

The only thing missing from this dinner is you!
Notice the wide, shallow crock? Yeah! It provides a
 larger surface area for more cheese
than a narrower, deeper one.
Dad knows what's important.

Notes:

Mise en place, French for putting everything in its place, e.g. gathering all necessary ingredients and measuring them out before you start cooking, might seem like too much work for a home cook, but fortunately Dad did it before he started. He discovered that he was out of cumin. Friendly neighbors helped him out.

Mise en place

For better results, leave your spices whole and grind just before use. Dad has repurposed a blade type coffee grinder just for this. Compare freshly cracked black pepper to that which has sat ground in a restaurant shaker for long periods. Much stronger flavor right? The same aging process happens to other dried spices. Store them in the fridge until ready for use. Spices, once crushed, cracked, or ground, lose their volatile oils that give them their flavor.

While browning meat, use paper towels to mop up the grease for a good browning. Wait to add cumin and black pepper until the fat is removed, otherwise you are wasting your seasoning (it gets discarded with the fat).

If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitch… Seriously, the best way to cool the burn of the chilies is alcohol, preferably Negra Modelo, but not always an appropriate choice, so the next best way to cool it is dairy fat. Add a dollop or two of sour cream to your chili to balance the burn.The cheese helps too, but doesn't seem as effective as sour cream.

Dad has read some chili recipes that use cocoa powder for a mole styled chili. He has tried it, but he has not had too much success with it. Anyone ever tried it and liked it? Post a recipe or comment below.

Leave the garlic out until the end because simmering it for long periods will make it bitter.

For something different, substitute frijoles negros for kidney beans or add them along with the kidney beans.

Try serving the chili over egg noodles like the New Family Grandma Woodall used to do. 

Contrary to popular taste, Dad doesn't think chili over Fritos is that great of a combination. Chili cheese Fritos are great. But ladeling chili over Fritos makes them soggy.

Dad has put peperoni and baked it on top of the cheese. Mmmm. For additional color, and for those that like it, he has baked chopped green onion and red pepper flakes into the cheese too.