Ok. Tonight, I played around with concocting my own chili off of various people's comments, some discussion with Arb, and my own ideas. Here's what I came up with. It was pretty tasty, but there was still room for improvement. If anybody wants to offer some suggestions, they're more than welcome. If you want to make it and offer comments, even better!
<b>ARUN'S CHILI EXPERIMENT NUMBER ONE</b>
<ul><li>10 dried arbol chiles
<li>3 dried ancho chiles
<li>5 dried cascabel chiles
<li>5 corn tortillas, chopped into small squares
<li>4 cups beef stock
<li>1 medium yellow onion, chopped
<li>3/4 cup bourbon whiskey
<li>4 tbsp blackstrap molasses
<li>3-4 cloves garlic, minced
<li>1 red bell pepper, diced
<li>2 lbs cubed beef for stew
<li>2 whole pork loins, 1 lb each
<li>28 oz can whole tomatoes in sauce - hand crushed
<li>7 oz can chopped green chiles
<li>2 tsp ground cumin
<li>1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
<li>2 chipotle peppers in adobo, minced
<li>1/4 cup finely chopped carrot
</ul>
1. Prepare the dried chiles (all of them) by placing in a pot with enough water to cover well, and boiling 10-15 minutes or until chiles are soft. Drain, reserving liquid, and set chiles aside to cool. When cool enough to touch, remove stems and place in blender with 1 cup or so of the liquid used to boil them. Puree and strain seeds/bits of skin out with a fine mesh sieve. Set aside both this chili puree and the extra water from the boiling.
2. In your stock pot, put together chopped onion, garlic, red bell pepper, one of the pork loins (cubed) and 1 lb of the stew meat cubes. Cook over med-high heat until stew meat is lightly browned. At this point, add in the chili puree, 2 cups of beef stock, hand crushed tomatoes in sauce, bourbon, tortillas and molasses. Let cook until reduced by about 1/4. Pull the meat out and set aside to cool. Once cooled, pull meat apart and return to pot to simmer. By the next round of additions, the tortillas should have broken up and disappeared.
3. Meanwhile, take the other whole pork loin, crust it with chili powder, cayenne pepper and garlic salt, and roast in the oven at 425 for about an hour, or until browned and done, but tender. When done, pull it apart and set aside.
4. After chili has thickened some, add in the other 1 lb stew meat cubes (raw), pulled roast pork loin, the other 2 cups of beef stock, chipotles, green chiles, the rest of the broth from the chiles, cumin and carrots. Let cook until thickened and the last of the stew meat is done and tender.
Serve topped with cilantro, minced red onion and cotijo chese.
chili experiment #1 (for the cookoff) - need feedback
- Arundel Pajo
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chili experiment #1 (for the cookoff) - need feedback
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Arundel,
Good work sir! I have not yet tried your recipe, but I see that much thought and personality has gone into it. Good work! I can see by your extensive list of ingredients that you do indeed understand now. All you have to do is close your eyes and imagine a simmering pot filled with meat and beans and spices, and you have done just that!
/cheers
Good work sir! I have not yet tried your recipe, but I see that much thought and personality has gone into it. Good work! I can see by your extensive list of ingredients that you do indeed understand now. All you have to do is close your eyes and imagine a simmering pot filled with meat and beans and spices, and you have done just that!
/cheers
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Hmm. So far feedback from friends and family has ranged from "this is really awesome" to "hmmm....it's not very traditional, is it?"....
That last one is a little bit alarming. Should I be concerned about that? I'll be the first to admit that with the assortment of chilis, the corn tortillas, and the cilantro and cotija, this leans more towards a Mexican flavor....but, then again, I *do* live in Texas, so maybe I can get away with that...
Should I go more traditional? Would more cumin help that?
That last one is a little bit alarming. Should I be concerned about that? I'll be the first to admit that with the assortment of chilis, the corn tortillas, and the cilantro and cotija, this leans more towards a Mexican flavor....but, then again, I *do* live in Texas, so maybe I can get away with that...
Should I go more traditional? Would more cumin help that?
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- CalandraWindrose
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I assume you probably already had the cookoff but I'll give you my chili feedback - I make awesome chili - of course this is my own personal opinon but is supported by numerous tasters over a number of years - I probably make a big batch of chili at least once a month
so comments -
more beef - used cubed beef a lot of it and try to get some nice tender cut if you can afford it
don't use pork loin - use sweet italian pork sausage removed from the casings - don't mush it all up let it fry up in chunks (some people use hot sausage or a mix of hot and sweet - I think the sweet is a nice contrast with the spicy sauce)
cook up all the meat together before you start the sauce along with some olive oil, onion, garlic and seasoned pepper - drain off all the oil which will be considerable from the sausage - re add a little olive oil as you start to add in sauce ingredients
YES I use beans in my chili - I know some weirdos don't but how is it chili without beans? usually 2-3 kinds - red kindney, pink and whatever else I have on hand NEVER EVER EVER EVER black beans
and what is this beef stock shit? tsk tsk - isn't chili tomato based? I usually use a combo depending of crushed and diced tomatoes and some tomato sauce and/or paste depending upon how much I am making - I warn you using paste makes it harder to spice and get rid of the tomato flavor so I wouldn't recommend it
I use the following spices -
chili powder
cumin
dill (yes really)
basil
oregano
paprika
black pepper
seasoned pepper
Tony's seasoning
little salt
don't even ask me how much it's all to taste and depends on how much you make - no worries it doesn't taste remotely like a pasta sauce
I use garlic, onions and peppers (not just green)
good luck!
so comments -
more beef - used cubed beef a lot of it and try to get some nice tender cut if you can afford it
don't use pork loin - use sweet italian pork sausage removed from the casings - don't mush it all up let it fry up in chunks (some people use hot sausage or a mix of hot and sweet - I think the sweet is a nice contrast with the spicy sauce)
cook up all the meat together before you start the sauce along with some olive oil, onion, garlic and seasoned pepper - drain off all the oil which will be considerable from the sausage - re add a little olive oil as you start to add in sauce ingredients
YES I use beans in my chili - I know some weirdos don't but how is it chili without beans? usually 2-3 kinds - red kindney, pink and whatever else I have on hand NEVER EVER EVER EVER black beans
and what is this beef stock shit? tsk tsk - isn't chili tomato based? I usually use a combo depending of crushed and diced tomatoes and some tomato sauce and/or paste depending upon how much I am making - I warn you using paste makes it harder to spice and get rid of the tomato flavor so I wouldn't recommend it
I use the following spices -
chili powder
cumin
dill (yes really)
basil
oregano
paprika
black pepper
seasoned pepper
Tony's seasoning
little salt
don't even ask me how much it's all to taste and depends on how much you make - no worries it doesn't taste remotely like a pasta sauce
I use garlic, onions and peppers (not just green)
good luck!