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Chili con carne, a first attempt from a European |
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Boilermaker
Chef Joined: 23 July 2010 Location: Marietta, GA Status: Offline Points: 685 |
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Sounds like reason enough to stir up a pot of red to me.
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Karl
Chef's Apprentice Joined: 23 January 2012 Location: Juneau Status: Offline Points: 251 |
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There are endless varieties of chili and I suspect that folks here could fill up a thread with a fantastic collection of unique chili recipes and ideas. I like to make fairly spicy chili so I suggest that people eat it over corn chips (or my fresh corn bread) and with sour cream to tame it a little. My favorite store bought meat is half course ground bison and half beef. Some butchers can "course grind meat" if you request it and it makes it more like the old cowboy term for chili: "spoon steak." I definitely like beans in my chili. Wild game meat like venison is always a treat but the local meat of choice is moose which adds an absolutely wonderful flavor and I highly recommend trying moose chili if you have the opportunity. Of course any chili cooked out of the back of a cowboy chuck wagon is always better. After chili the next most diverse and passionate American food are the endless varieties of BBQ. |
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TasunkaWitko
Admin Group Joined: 25 January 2010 Location: Chinook, MT Status: Offline Points: 9356 |
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>>>Of course any chili cooked out of the back of a cowboy chuck wagon is always better.<<<
agreed, 100%!
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Rod Franklin
Chef Joined: 17 February 2010 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 921 |
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I think you could create an entire web site devoted solely to chile. There has to be 10,000 ways to make it.
In my mind chile doesn't have beans. But of course this thread is about chile con carne which has beans. And that's fine. To me it starts with dried powdered chiles. Anchos, pasillas and red New Mexican sorts. Lots of them too. Now, I don't know what kind of dried chiles might be available in Europe, but there is probably something that would work as a substitute. And I agree that paprika is not the way to go here. Then cumin and oregano(Mexican oregano if possible.) You could make it without these two spices, but I wouldn't. Then some hotter chiles just for the heat, and I don't think it matters much which kind you use. Lots of onions and very coarsely ground beef. Tomatoes? Your choice to add or not. And how many? Your choice again. Maybe just some tomato paste instead. I believe chile should be thick, like a spoon standing up in it thick. So, a thickener like corn flour would be used. Throw some cooked beans in there, check for salt and you're done. If you use the ingredients above you would have made a more than passable chile that anyone would be happy to eat and say that without a doubt they just ate a bowl of chile. Also, I don't eat big steaming bowls of the stuff. It's more like an accompaniment to a meal of good buttered bread or soda crackers or tortilla chips. Was the above a recipe? Naw, but if you use your skills and imagination you'll get that 10,001st recipe for chile that will be all yours. |
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Hungry
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Hoser
Admin Group Joined: 06 February 2010 Location: Cumberland, RI Status: Offline Points: 3454 |
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A most interesting thread indeed.....we all have our own ideas on what chili should be like.
I must agree with most of you though...a true chili will not contain beans of any type. At the firehouse the boys enjoyed some beans in it, so that's the way I made it for them....red kidneys. My personal favorite is a Cincinnati style chili which I thicken with a block of chocolate. The Cincinnati style is served on spaghetti traditionally, and onions, cheese, beans are options. This is also a very nice topping for chili dogs or burgers. My regular house chili will contain some pork sausage, but the main protein is always beef. |
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Go ahead...play with your food!
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ChrisFlanders
Chef's Apprentice Joined: 01 March 2012 Location: Flanders Status: Offline Points: 343 |
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Nice idea, Andy, but my guess is that sending organic stuff like that would not be allowed. Dunno.
I'll check what peppers are available in our etnic stores. That Alton Brown recipe for making chili powder can be used but maybe with other peppers, depending on my discoveries.
Some of you mention chocolate too, that's getting in next time, hey, this is chocolate country n° 1...
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Karl
Chef's Apprentice Joined: 23 January 2012 Location: Juneau Status: Offline Points: 251 |
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If you happen to know or meet any US military stationed in the Netherlands or Germany they probably have access to good chili peppers and other ingredients at their base Commissary. Most Americans can fully understand and support a quest for the perfect chili. I understand trying to make a national dish correctly that you have not gotten to actually taste: http://foodsoftheworld.activeboards.net/brazilian-portuguese-feijoada_topic1731.html |
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TasunkaWitko
Admin Group Joined: 25 January 2010 Location: Chinook, MT Status: Offline Points: 9356 |
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good idea there ^^^
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Boilermaker
Chef Joined: 23 July 2010 Location: Marietta, GA Status: Offline Points: 685 |
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+1. If I had to name one dish Americans are both passionate about and proud of it would be chili and I agree it is probably the closest thing we have to a national dish. I am so happy that Chris is interested in it, "American" is not known as one of the world's great cuisines so it is really cool that someone coming from the great European culinary tradition is interested in one of our humble American creations. |
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Daikon
Chef's Apprentice Joined: 20 October 2011 Location: San Francisco Status: Offline Points: 381 |
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"American" is not known as one of the world's great cuisines I've got to take exception to that claim. "American cuisine" is not something that can be comprehensively defined with ease and clarity, but there are definitely chefs and ways of thinking about food that are recognized as distinctively American and are well regarded and highly respected.
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Aspen Hill
Cook's Assistant Joined: 15 August 2011 Location: Vermont Status: Offline Points: 89 |
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It cannot be chili without cilantro!
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AK1
Master Chef Joined: 10 April 2012 Location: Ontario, Canada Status: Offline Points: 1081 |
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Sure it can
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Boilermaker
Chef Joined: 23 July 2010 Location: Marietta, GA Status: Offline Points: 685 |
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That's a new one to me, Ann but it sounds good. |
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Melissa Mead
Master Chef Joined: 17 July 2010 Location: Albany, NY, USA Status: Offline Points: 1174 |
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I've never put it in mine. Of course, mine isn't "real chili" by anyone's definition. Even mine.
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Aspen Hill
Cook's Assistant Joined: 15 August 2011 Location: Vermont Status: Offline Points: 89 |
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I made chili yesterday and it was by far my best yet.
One makes the best stuff in a slow cooker/ crock pot. I always use some vinegar in mine, this is also a 'key' to recipes that contain several items that are cooked together. The acid does wonders to blend the flavors- very important. Use ACV, balsamic or RWV. About a cup of it in a large batch of chili. As mentioned, cilantro is also key, too bad some folks cannot eat it. It would be like not having basil or other aromatic herbs in your cuisine to me. I use fresh leaves, you cannot add too many. Cilantro is a key ingredient for salsas too. Medium chilis and several cans of diced tomatoes and red kidney beans. Fresh, coarsely cut onions and garlic. I like big onion pieces and do not cook them down in advance. I also added a few ounces of mesquite liquid smoke this time. Chilies hotter than medium mask the rest of the flavors for me so that is as high as I go. I do not add water to my pot. Only what comes in the canned beans and tomaotes goes in. Do not rinse your beans. The onions and any other veggies adds the rest of the moisture needed. I put a small amount of corn and canned 'shrooms in this batch. If the pot needs some water later, after several hours of cooking I will add a very small amount. So this time my pot consisted of both ground chicken and beef hamburger. To me any meat works in chili. I fry the meat in either coconut oil or macadamia nut oil. Tree nut oils or animal fat are best for frying meats. Olive oil is not suitable for these temps. You will not get the proper flavor from the meat if you use the wrong oils. The low smoke point ruins it. Put that damn olive oil away and save it for cold salads and bread dips! Many other oils marketed at you and not healthy either, ban soy anything from your life now and forever. For the main chili spice I really like the McCormick stuff you can buy at the grocery. It has the correct blend to my palate. I do add some extra cumin, paprika and as mentioned the cilantro. Review of my ingredients: Ground chicken and beef (about 2.5 pounds) - fried alone with no spices in macadamia nut oil. Three large onions, coarse chopped, garlic, lots Balsamic vinegar- about a cup Mesquite liquid smoke- a few shakes Fresh cilantro leaves- big handful Half a cup of ground paprika and some cumin to taste Two small cans of mushrooms One small can of corn Three cans of dark red kidney beans (approx 15 oz cans) Four cans of diced tomatoes, one had medium chilies in it (approx 15 oz cans) McCormick 'original' chili seasoning packet I only precook the meat, the rest is put into the crock pot to simmer and when the meat is cooked add it and stir well. I let my pot go for at least 6 hours on the high setting and stir occasionally. Serve in a large bowl with some sour cream and a nice buttered bread roll. Give this a try and let us know if it tastes right to you!
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TasunkaWitko
Admin Group Joined: 25 January 2010 Location: Chinook, MT Status: Offline Points: 9356 |
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sounds pretty good, ann!
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Boilermaker
Chef Joined: 23 July 2010 Location: Marietta, GA Status: Offline Points: 685 |
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That's sounds fantastic, Ann!
Macadamia nut oil? Sounds wonderful, is it expensive? |
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Aspen Hill
Cook's Assistant Joined: 15 August 2011 Location: Vermont Status: Offline Points: 89 |
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Dunno, mine was a gift, very treasured too!
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Muleskinner
Cook's Assistant Joined: 07 October 2011 Location: Wilmington, OH Status: Offline Points: 25 |
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Learning chili from a frenchman. Hmmm. No wonder you got carrots and fennel in there. I'd get some real chili powder as was suggested.
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HistoricFoodie
Admin Group Joined: 21 February 2012 Location: Kentucky Status: Offline Points: 4940 |
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Just to be clar, Mule, Chris is a Belgian, not a Frenchman.
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