Chili: Discuss

Perfect day to make chili! High of 60 and cloudy all day, mixed with football beer and chili, it doesnt get any better than that.

I dont have a recipe for chili, just started adding stuff. Started with water and chicken broth, ground beef and turkey, chili beans, corn, red onion, jalapeno, cilantro, BACON, celery, and tomato. then added some spices: red chili powder, a chili seasoning I have, taco seasoning, and garlic powder. The consistancy wasnt good yet so I added some ketchup, salsa, and ranch. This chili is nice and spicey and great for the first cold(er) day here

finsfan said:

Perfect day to make chili! High of 60 and cloudy all day, mixed with football beer and chili, it doesnt get any better than that.

I dont have a recipe for chili, just started adding stuff. Started with water and chicken broth, ground beef and turkey, chili beans, corn, red onion, jalapeno, cilantro, BACON, celery, and tomato. then added some spices: red chili powder, a chili seasoning I have, taco seasoning, and garlic powder. The consistancy wasnt good yet so I added some ketchup, salsa, and ranch. This chili is nice and spicey and great for the first cold(er) day here

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WOW!!!! You go man!!!!!

Would never have thought of ranch or celery!!!

All in what you like!

Made up a batch of TJ's red yesterday, turned out pretty good...


Broth, cubed chuck roast and soaked pinquitos.


Simmering after first spice dump.


Gravy tests good.


The final result.

I subbed San Antonio and Cowtown Light powder for the CC powder in TJ's recipe, made a few other minor changes but nothing major. Turned out quite a bit hotter than the last batch, which I'm blaming on the SA powder, but overall a really fine pot of chili.

I've always referred to Chili with beans as Yankee Chili. As for those who dress up their chili with pasta or other stuff, I eat mine with nothing else, but if I want to dress it up, it is done with Fritos, diced onion, fresh ground cheese and sour cream to make Frito Pie. Frito Pie is sort of a Dallas area specialty (I like it since that is where I grew up).

My recipe for chili is:
About 5lbs of beef. I use a cheap cut, and have even requested trim from the butcher if they offered it. The meat can be cut in small cubes or have a course chili grind--either works.
One head of garlic, roasted.
One yellow onion, diced.
Five roasted tomatoes, diced--you can roast them on the grill or over a gas stove.
1 Large can of crushed tomatoes
Four New Mexico chilis rehydrated, cleaned and run through the food processor.
Salt and Pepper to taste.
Ground chili (not chili powder) added to taste, since their heat varies.
Mexican oregano added to taste (start with a couple table spoons and adjust to taste over the cook time).
Cumin, added to taste (Start with one table spoon and adjust to taste over the cook time).

Start with rendering a few small cubes of salt pork--leave them in the chili.
Add meat to pot and brown it.
Add onion and cook until translucent.
Add the Garlic and the spices/chilis, mix well.
Add the diced tomatoes and the crushed tomatoes.
Add a couple cups of water.

Bring to a boil.
Once it boils, lower to a simmer and cook for about five hours.
Add water as needed to keep it from going dry and scorching.
Stir fairly often.
After about three hours taste and adjust spices, slightly.
After four hours make final spice adjustment.
After four hours the goal is to stop cooking when the chili gets to your preferred thickness. I like mine proud and my wife likes hers lazy. By this I mean, I like mine thick enough that a spoon almost stand up straight. She likes hers more soup consistency so the spoon would just fall over. I'm cooking, so it will be thick every time--"Oops honey, I must have overcooked it. Maybe I'll get it the way you like it next time." She can make her chili when she wants it that way. I call her chili stew, because it ain't chili!

Some rules to remember while cooking:
Do not drain off the fat--why would anyone ever do such a thing?
Never skim anything off--once it's in the pot it doesn't come out.
Never, ever, ever, under any circumstances cover a pot of chili while cooking.
Important safety rule (your safety, not mine): "It's my chili until it's in your bowl! Hands off!" One old lady at church ruined a whole pot, by "helping" while I wasn't looking.
Final rule: There are many things that should never go in a good chili. Beans are at the top of that list!

One final note to get really good chili--make it one day, then cover and refrigerate and let it sit for two to three days. Reheat and eat. It only gets better.

the BigHair brewed up a batch of her awesome chili in the crockpot for the first time. not sure why we've never done it that way before but it was her best batch ever

was cooking away while I was at a co-brewer's house bottling up our Czech Pilsner.

We have the Spice House here in Chicago. Do any of you chili mad men or women, have a great place to get chili's?

We have a market nearby that has a ton of dried chiles. All from Mexico.

I actually believe that there are two great dishes that share the name chili.

My native chili is all beef and chili peppers and other spices/aromatics with zero beans, not much tomato. Ideally the beef (or buffalo or venison) is best cut into very small cubes and slow cooked until very, very tender. It's liquid should be thick- almost like a gravy. This chili is a close cousin to mole dishes in Mexico, though it is thoroughly Texified these days. It can be eaten as a stew, but is can also be the sauce for cheese enchiladas or smothered burritos or other such Tex-Mex delicacies. It's also smashing on hot dogs and nachos or added to melted cheese for a queso dip.

Then there is what I call Yankee Chili. (No offense Yankees.) This is a spicy stew full of beef (or other meat) that is best ground- fine or chunky. Along with chili peppers and aromatics, it is brimming with tomatoes and beans- kidney beans typically, but very tasty with black beans or pintos. The liquid in this chili isn't as thick as Texas chili, so it doesn't make a great sauce for Tex-Mex dishes. It does, however, make a fine toping for baked potatoes or (in Cincinnati) pasta.

I've been known to cook both very often and I love both- but if I had to pick one, it would be the Texas variety simply because it is what I grew up on.

BigJack said:

I actually believe that there are two great dishes that share the name chili.

My native chili is all beef and chili peppers and other spices/aromatics with zero beans, not much tomato. Ideally the beef (or buffalo or venison) is best cut into very small cubes and slow cooked until very, very tender. It's liquid should be thick- almost like a gravy. This chili is a close cousin to mole dishes in Mexico, though it is thoroughly Texified these days. It can be eaten as a stew, but is can also be the sauce for cheese enchiladas or smothered burritos or other such Tex-Mex delicacies. It's also smashing on hot dogs and nachos or added to melted cheese for a queso dip.

Then there is what I call Yankee Chili. (No offense Yankees.) This is a spicy stew full of beef (or other meat) that is best ground- fine or chunky. Along with chili peppers and aromatics, it is brimming with tomatoes and beans- kidney beans typically, but very tasty with black beans or pintos. The liquid in this chili isn't as thick as Texas chili, so it doesn't make a great sauce for Tex-Mex dishes. It does, however, make a fine toping for baked potatoes or (in Cincinnati) pasta.

I've been known to cook both very often and I love both- but if I had to pick one, it would be the Texas variety simply because it is what I grew up on.

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Good post. Yankee chili for me.

The weather finally cooled down a little bit here so I guess it's time for venison chili.




Still has quite a bit of simmering time left.

I got a crazy idea for a meatless chili recipe a couple days ago and got ingredients at the store yesterday, so I'll be doing that some time this week. My number one objective with this recipe is to stay away from tomatoes for the bulk of the body of the chili.

As I said before I had a veggie green chili with peas and cactus as the base...

In the spirit of "anything goes" chili, I dumped the leftover steaks and roasted veggies in the crock pot to start some epic chili.

BEETS.......r2d2 damned beets

Despite all of the seasonings and other flavors, the flavor of roasted beets completely overpowered everything else. Beet soup.

cheezydemon3 said:

Despite all of the seasonings and other flavors, the flavor of roasted beets completely overpowered everything else. Beet soup.

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Is that a bad thing? Roasted beets are awesomeness in a tiny red package.

Beets are awesome

cheezy has been dropping the beets again.

Sorry. Couldn't help myself.

beets suck :cross:

BigJack said:

I actually believe that there are two great dishes that share the name chili.

My native chili is all beef and chili peppers and other spices/aromatics with zero beans, not much tomato. Ideally the beef (or buffalo or venison) is best cut into very small cubes and slow cooked until very, very tender. It's liquid should be thick- almost like a gravy. This chili is a close cousin to mole dishes in Mexico, though it is thoroughly Texified these days. It can be eaten as a stew, but is can also be the sauce for cheese enchiladas or smothered burritos or other such Tex-Mex delicacies. It's also smashing on hot dogs and nachos or added to melted cheese for a queso dip.

Then there is what I call Yankee Chili. (No offense Yankees.) This is a spicy stew full of beef (or other meat) that is best ground- fine or chunky. Along with chili peppers and aromatics, it is brimming with tomatoes and beans- kidney beans typically, but very tasty with black beans or pintos. The liquid in this chili isn't as thick as Texas chili, so it doesn't make a great sauce for Tex-Mex dishes. It does, however, make a fine toping for baked potatoes or (in Cincinnati) pasta.

I've been known to cook both very often and I love both- but if I had to pick one, it would be the Texas variety simply because it is what I grew up on.

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I like bo'fums. yankee chili, unless it's on a hot dog, then it's gotta be native

headbanger said:

beets suck :cross:

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ugg... reminds me of the time we visited Russia right after the Iron Curtain fell. served us beet soup that tasted like it was strained through an unwashed sock. we thought we were going to starve to death, until they brought Chicken Kiev and that was pretty darn tasty

and I thought Chicken Kiev was an American dish and just named after the capital of the Ukraine

GrogNerd said:

visited Russia right after the Iron Curtain fell. served us beet soup that tasted like it was strained through an unwashed sock. we thought we were going to starve to death, until they brought Chicken Kiev and that was pretty darn tasty

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Yeah that crap's so nasty they're not even allowed to call it soup.

Roasted beets in a root veg roast are awesome. Drop one in chili and NOT awesome happens.

Kinda like Creamsicles are AWESOME but not awesome in chili.

cheezydemon3 said:

Kinda like Creamsicles are AWESOME but not awesome in chili.

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Oh, I beg to differ my friend.

DrunkleJon said:

cheezy has been dropping the beets again.

Sorry. Couldn't help myself.

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Let the beet drop.

Total de-rail, lol.

First chili I have EVER thrown out!

WesleyS said:

The weather finally cooled down a little bit here so I guess it's time for venison chili.





Still has quite a bit of simmering time left.

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I forgot to follow up on this. It ended up being the best chili I've made. I made some cornbread the night after, but I ate it over fritos the first night.

Whipped up a batch of chili this morning and in the crock for a few hours...3 lbs beef, onion, garlic, chili powder, paprika, cumin, fire roasted tomatoes, jalapano and a bottle of Pepper Ale.

Top it with fritos, chopped onions, cheese and sour cream. MMMMMMM!!

Should be ready for game two tonight...hope the Cards can get their game back...Go Cards! Wacha, Wacha.

Tonights veggie quinoa chili. I got a wild hair on my ass to try this recipe that I made up from nothing. What I would change with this recipe would be some fresh garlic instead of powder, and cut the quinoa by half, which seems to be my decision about all recipes I make that have quinoa. I think with less quinoa it won't be as thick as this batch ended up, either that or don't simmer it as long.

2 dried ancho chiles
5 dried New Mexico chiles
5 dried cascavel chiles
2 quarts of water
1 canned chipotle in adobo
Remove stems and all seeds from dried chiles. Bring bring first four ingredients to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer covered for 15 minutes. Remove chiles from liquid and add to a blender or food processor plus 1 cup of the liquid. Reserve the rest of the liquid. Add chipotle and blend until smooth.

1 25oz can black beans rinsed and drained
0.5 cups uncooked quinoa
0.5 tsp ground cumin
1 cup reserved liquid
Put mixture into a sauce pot and add above ingredients. Bring to a boil them simmer 20-30 minutes until the quinoa is done.

Add salt, jalapeno salt, and garlic powder to taste.

Like I said, it came out thicker than I wanted so next time I will either add more liquid or less quinoa. There really is a lot of quinoa so that is probably what I will reduce. Other than that the taste and smell and color is awesome.

Trying a new batch. I'll let you know how it tastes in a few hours.

3# of beef stew meat
Black beans
Kidney beans
Crushed tomatoes
Homemade tomato sauce
Porter
Lots of onion & garlic
Chili powder
Oregano
Crushed red peppers
Dried jalapeño
Other assorted peppers from the garden
Cayenne powder

Hopefully it won't be to hot for the little ones

My chili is drop dead simple and everybody loves it. I can make it in less than 20 minutes.

Fry 600 grams of lean ground beef and a chopped onion. Add two packages of Old El Paso Chili Spice Mix.

Add two cans of crushed tomatoes.

Add two cans of drained kidney beans.

Add 1 can of La Costena Chipotles. Cut into smaller pieces with kitchen scissors.

Add 6 thai red chilis, cut up with scissors.

Done. Yep, less than 20 minutes from start to finish.

I like to put some grated cheddar on top of mine.

Kinda OT but...A coworker of mine gave me a bucket of chiles from his greenhouse and I'm waffling on what to do with them. I've got some cayennes, Thais, jalapenos, and lemon drops. My first thought was to make a pot of chili con carne with fresh peppers, then I thought I could make a nice salsa, but now I'm thinking I might pulverize them and ferment them to make a hot sauce. I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up doing hot sauce because I've never done a fermented hot sauce, but if anyone has a way to talk me out of it I'm all ears.

N7KMS said:

Kinda OT but...A coworker of mine gave me a bucket of chiles from his greenhouse and I'm waffling on what to do with them. I've got some cayennes, Thais, jalapenos, and lemon drops. My first thought was to make a pot of chili con carne with fresh peppers, then I thought I could make a nice salsa, but now I'm thinking I might pulverize them and ferment them to make a hot sauce. I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up doing hot sauce because I've never done a fermented hot sauce, but if anyone has a way to talk me out of it I'm all ears.

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Agreed OT, but I'm listening...

IMO you can't make chili without the 3 "B"s: Beef, Beans, and Beer, after that all other ingredients are added to taste.

Trox said:

IMO you can't make chili without the 3 "B"s: Beef, Beans, and Beer, after that all other ingredients are added to taste.

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I am now sold on STEAK (definitely still beef, but ground beef doesn't get it anymore)

cheezydemon3 said:

I am now sold on STEAK (definitely still beef, but ground beef doesn't get it anymore)

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I don't think I've ever made chili with ground meat. Cubed sirloin or venison is what I use.

N7KMS said:

Kinda OT but...A coworker of mine gave me a bucket of chiles from his greenhouse and I'm waffling on what to do with them. I've got some cayennes, Thais, jalapenos, and lemon drops. My first thought was to make a pot of chili con carne with fresh peppers, then I thought I could make a nice salsa, but now I'm thinking I might pulverize them and ferment them to make a hot sauce. I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up doing hot sauce because I've never done a fermented hot sauce, but if anyone has a way to talk me out of it I'm all ears.

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I would dry a BUNCH of them. Mixed pepper flakes are AWESOME to sprinkle on pasta, etc. and can still be made into great sauces and salsas.

I don't have a whole lot to work with, just 5 cayennes and about 10 or so of all the others. The guy that gave them to me said he makes pepper flakes with his though and its awesome because they are so colorful instead of just red like store bought flakes.

Or you could flake them up and steep in olive oil for some awesome hot oil....

Trox said:

IMO you can't make chili without the 3 "B"s: Beef, Beans, and Beer, after that all other ingredients are added to taste.

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I made some with leftover smoked pork shoulder (pulled) and it was amazing. no beef whatsoever. The smoked pork added something special.

DrunkleJon said:

I made some with leftover smoked pork shoulder (pulled) and it was amazing. no beef whatsoever. The smoked pork added something special.

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Usually does. That's why I keep leftover que in the freezer.

Melana said:

Usually does. That's why I keep leftover que in the freezer.

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It was something I really wanted to try. You do not know how hard it was to save some for it. Unfortunately with 3 lbs of que as the emat base of the chili it didnt last the night. Definitely going to have to do it again sometime. I even had one person who hates any level of spicy (and I was a touch heavy handed I will admit) ate half a bowl because it smelled and tasted so good.