So without further ado...Saturday(Started on Friday) Chili
Alright for this journey you shall need.
2 lbs Ground Chuck
A bell pepper
An onion
Some jalapenos or serranos
A 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
28 ozs of dark red kindey beans
28 oz of chili beans
2 cloves garlic chopped and pasted
Various spices that I will discuss as we proceed.
First. Chop up them veggies. You might as well get everything ready before you start to bring everything together. Chili is one of those things that can quickly take over a kitchen. I find if you go ahead and chop your veg, get your spices together, open up all the cans you will need, it confines the mess and makes clean up a lot easier. This is true with all cooking, but especially a complicated (albeit simple) soup like chili.
So veggies...
Here you see bell pepper, onion, and jalapeno all nicely diced and ready to go into the pot. NOT YET! Oh on a side note about chiles...when they are "Wet" most of the heat is retained in the white membrane. It migrates to the seeds when they are dried. Just FYI.
Spices...
In this nice bowl you will find three teaspoons of salt, 4 Tbsp of Chili Powder, 2 Tbsp of cumin, 2 Tbsp of ground coriander, a teaspoon of dried oregano, and a teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper. Add em together and mix em around in the bowl. You feel like a tv chef yet?
Alright, now get out your big soup pot and heat it up to medium high heat. LET THE BOTTOM GET HOT! Otherwise you won't get that nice browning effect on you beef. Toss in the meat with half of your spice mixture. Cooking the meat with spices adds flavor as the meat cooks.
Strain your meat and set aside.
Return the pot to the heat and reduce to medium. Add a little olive oil and throw in your veg and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent (damn I love that word)
Now reintroduce the meat and add your tomato, 4 to 5 (I have no beer but subbing one of the cups of water for a dark beer is not a bad idea)cups of water and the remainder of the spices.
Let that go for one hour at a simmer. Some people (me) like things hotter so I add a teaspoon or so of ground red pepper.
After and hour has passed add in your beans...
This will be ready to eat after another 30 minutes or so, but you should really simmer it for at least 3 more hours. Then, you refrigerate it over night and reheat it on medium so it's ready right before kickoff...
Garnish with sour cream, cilantro, cheese, white rice...whatever...
Chow down.
Oh yeah my secret ingredient...two bite size pieces of hershey's dark chocolate. It smooths out all the flavors and adds a sweet bitter note to the chili.
Enjoy.
Roll Tide
PS Refrigerating overnight also allows you to get more of the grease out of your chili. It congeals on the top of the soup and you can just pick it out with a spoon.
Alright for this journey you shall need.
2 lbs Ground Chuck
A bell pepper
An onion
Some jalapenos or serranos
A 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
28 ozs of dark red kindey beans
28 oz of chili beans
2 cloves garlic chopped and pasted
Various spices that I will discuss as we proceed.
First. Chop up them veggies. You might as well get everything ready before you start to bring everything together. Chili is one of those things that can quickly take over a kitchen. I find if you go ahead and chop your veg, get your spices together, open up all the cans you will need, it confines the mess and makes clean up a lot easier. This is true with all cooking, but especially a complicated (albeit simple) soup like chili.
So veggies...
Here you see bell pepper, onion, and jalapeno all nicely diced and ready to go into the pot. NOT YET! Oh on a side note about chiles...when they are "Wet" most of the heat is retained in the white membrane. It migrates to the seeds when they are dried. Just FYI.
Spices...
In this nice bowl you will find three teaspoons of salt, 4 Tbsp of Chili Powder, 2 Tbsp of cumin, 2 Tbsp of ground coriander, a teaspoon of dried oregano, and a teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper. Add em together and mix em around in the bowl. You feel like a tv chef yet?
Alright, now get out your big soup pot and heat it up to medium high heat. LET THE BOTTOM GET HOT! Otherwise you won't get that nice browning effect on you beef. Toss in the meat with half of your spice mixture. Cooking the meat with spices adds flavor as the meat cooks.
Strain your meat and set aside.
Return the pot to the heat and reduce to medium. Add a little olive oil and throw in your veg and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent (damn I love that word)
Now reintroduce the meat and add your tomato, 4 to 5 (I have no beer but subbing one of the cups of water for a dark beer is not a bad idea)cups of water and the remainder of the spices.
Let that go for one hour at a simmer. Some people (me) like things hotter so I add a teaspoon or so of ground red pepper.
After and hour has passed add in your beans...
This will be ready to eat after another 30 minutes or so, but you should really simmer it for at least 3 more hours. Then, you refrigerate it over night and reheat it on medium so it's ready right before kickoff...
Garnish with sour cream, cilantro, cheese, white rice...whatever...
Chow down.
Oh yeah my secret ingredient...two bite size pieces of hershey's dark chocolate. It smooths out all the flavors and adds a sweet bitter note to the chili.
Enjoy.
Roll Tide
PS Refrigerating overnight also allows you to get more of the grease out of your chili. It congeals on the top of the soup and you can just pick it out with a spoon.
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