Gute Essen

Chilly? Chili!

      Saturday, November 3, 2007 | Leave a comment »

ChiliSorry about leaving this up incomplete and with no introduction. I was so full from eating the chili that I could barely think about cleaning, much less typing. Awesomely Julie usually cleans after I cook so that was an easy one for me. I just got to sit on the couch with Rob and play Halo 3. Ah, lazy Saturdays.

But you're not here to read about my Saturday nights, now are you? No. You want food. And, really, it's probably much more interesting to write about that my day-to-day. (Hint: There's an xbox 360, PS2 and Wii attached to the TV and a Nintendo DS in my bag.) But food! And by food I mean chili.

And god. I love chili. Because chili inevitably means cold weather (since it cooks for so long) and cold weather means sweaters and hats and long pants and seeing your breath and shorter days. (Can you guess I grew up in Vermont?) Now chili is a fine line to walk. There's your "overloaded" chilis replete with beans and lentils and corn and carrots and seven types of pepper and onions and five different chilis and so forth and so on. Then there's your Texas style chili which is, really, nothing more than a spicy tomato-based meat stew. I like to split the difference. A little bit of vegetation (mostly for chilis) and then some tough collagen-laden meat (preferably lamb or a mix of lamb and beef) and time, sweet time.

CornbreadOh. Cornbread. I used to say I rarely baked, but given the recent abundance of flour out on my counter recently, I think I might have to retract that statement. It's not that I didn't like baking or baked goods — very much the opposite. My problem with baking comes from my proclivity towards eye-balling everything; I'm no measurer. Fractions give me hives and I just happen to live in one of the two remaining countries on the English measurement scale (no, not Burma you assholes.) Cookbooks are always rife with warnings about over-mixing, messing up the acid-base ratio with too much baking soda or not enough baking powder or over-rising or under-kneading. Baking is a veritable minefield of opportunities to put all your hard work to naught. Or so I thought. Recently baking experiments over the past year (crisps, brown bettys, carrot cakes, muffins, breads, rolls, etc) have strengthened my baking resolve. That and the purchase of a digital scale. Measuring is easy when you don't have to worry about level cups or sifted flour. And really, there's nothing better than a skillet full of hot cornbread when you're eating chili. And yes, the recipe is nearly identical to the one on the Aunt Jemima corn meal bag. And no, I'm not embarrassed. It's some good fucking cornbread.

Chili

Unlike a lot of purists, I like beans in my chili. I like beans enough in my chili to occasionally make chili without meat. But then again I was vegetarian for nearly twelve years. There's a decent moderate heat from this — it's not overwhelming, but it's not missing. Feel free to adjust the jalapeño, poblano and chipotle pepper amounts.

  • 1 lbs beef stew meat (chuck roast is good)
  • 1 lbs lamb stew meat (shoulders would be excellent too)
  • 1 poblano pepper, stemmed and seeded, diced
  • 3 jalapeño peppers, stemmed, seeded and diced
  • 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced
  • 1 chipotle pepper with 2 tbls of the adobe sauce
  • 4 tbls chile powder (homemade, please)
  • 1 28 oz can peeled tomatoes, strained with liquid reserved, and crushed
  • 1 28 oz can beans. I like black beans. Goya! Oh boya!
  • 1 12 oz bottle of a good lager beer (Brooklyn Lager for me please. A shiner bock, if you can find one would be perfect.)
  • 2 handfuls tortilla chips, crushed
  • salt, pepper, olive oil

  1. Put some oil in your cast-iron dutch oven and put it over high heat. Put your oven on 250°F.
  2. Cube the meat (if it isn't already) and trim off any excessive fat or sinew. Season the meat with salt and pepper, then brown taking care to not crowd the pan (work in batches if necessary.)
  3. Set the browned meat aside in a bowl and pour out any excess fat that has collected. Add olive oil if necessary.
  4. Add onions, peppers (all but chipotle) and garlic along with a healthy pinch of salt and reduce heat to medium to sweat.
  5. Sweat vegetables for 20-25 minutes. They should become very soft and nearly paste-like. This is a sofrito!
  6. Add the tomatoes to the mix and cook for a minute or two, then follow it with the beans, the chipotle with adobo and the chile powder.
  7. Stir to combine and cook for 2-3 minutes.
  8. Add the beer and the meat along with the collected juices from the meat and bring heat to high.
  9. Bring to a boil — if there's not enough liquid to cover, add the reserved tomato juice until the liquid is 1/4-1/3" above the food.
  10. Add half the chips and place in the oven.
  11. Cook in the oven, stirring occasionally for 2 1/2 - 3 hours adding the second set of chips 1 hour in.
  12. Take out and let rest 10-15 minutes before serving with cornbread or rice and some cheese, pickled jalapeños, minced red onion, cilantro, sour cream, etc etc etc. I prefer it straight up with corn bread; maybe just a hit of cheese.

Chile Powder

Yes, with an "e". This is more than just ground up chili, but they're still the star attraction here. You can use any variety of dried chilies here, these are the ones that looked good at the store the other day. Feel free to adjust the amounts, but trust me, this isn't spicy, just flavorful.

  • 3 dried pasilla chilies, seeds removed
  • 2 dried ancho chilies, seeds removed
  • 2 tbls whole cumin
  • 1 tsp coriander seed
  • 1/2 tsp yellow mustard seed
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika (or hot. or sweet. smoked will give so much more flavor)
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper

  1. Place the chilies, cumin, mustard seed and coriander in a heavy cast iron skillet over medium heat. Toast until fragrant, but not burned. Remove to place and let cool.
  2. In a clean coffee grinder (blender or mortar and pestle if you're a masochist), place all ingredients. Process until powdered.
  3. WARNING: TAP LID OF PROCESSOR/GRINDER AND LET SIT AT LEAST 30 SECONDS BEFORE OPENING. THE "DUST" CAN BE VERY SPICY. DON'T MACE YOURSELF!

Cornbread

  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 1 1/4 cup stone ground corn meal
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tbls sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil (or 1/2 stick butter, melted)

  1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
  2. Mix the dry ingredients together.
  3. Mix the wet ingredients together and beat with a whisk until foamy.
  4. Pour wet on top of dry and mix until just togther; this is like pancakes, you don't want to promote the development of gluten so don't beat this until it's smooth -- just until it's together. Lumps are A-OK. Let this sit while you do the next step.
  5. Heat up a well-seasoned 12" cast iron skillet over high heat; when hot, rub down with vegetable oil (I actually used flour-based spray lubrication for baking.)
  6. Pour the batter in the pan (notice the lumps are gone? Yay for hydration!) and place pan in oven for 20-25 minutes (or until a toothpick/knife/heat-proof finger stuck in the center comes out clean.)

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