Variations on chili are endless and everyone
has a secret ingredient. |
 |
 Chili
Con Carne |
| 6
Hour Chili |
| Jalapeno
Cheddar Corn Bread |
Chili With Beef And Red Beans
Chili is one of the most American of dishes, not only because of its native origin but because of its egalitarian nature. Everyone thinks his or hers is the best. You don’t need a culinary degree to make it. Just put some chile peppers and meat in a pot, which is why chili is more accurately called chili con carne, and use your imagination.
“Beyond that, all’s fair,” says Robb Walsh, author of The Tex-Mex Cookbook (Broadway Books). Your chili can contain anything from juniper berries to coffee and leg of lamb to oxtails. Texans tend not to put beans in their chili because they like their starches as an accompaniment to chili. In this regard, Walsh likens chili to Italian red sauce, which is adaptable in so many ways. “Chili with beans would be like red sauce with meatballs,” he says.
Indeed, one theory of chili’s origin is that it was an extension of enchilada sauce, which isn’t far removed from the common notion that chili was created to stretch small amounts of meat, probably by the poor folk of San Antonio, Texas, sometime in the early- to mid-19th century. On the other hand, Walsh notes that Native Americans had chile peppers and meat (probably venison) long before San Antonio was settled.
Texas chili is colloquially known as a “bowl of red,” because of the deep-red or reddish-brown color imparted by the chile peppers. This style of chili—without beans—is so dominant that the championship prize for red chili at the World’s Championship Chili Cookoff, organized by the International Chili Society (ICS) (www.chilicookoff.com), is $25,000. For green chili, it’s $3,000. At the cook-offs for the rival Chili Appreciation Society International (CASI) (www.chili.org), there is no category for green chili.
Green chili or chili verde is popular in New Mexico and, as the name implies, uses green chiles primarily, as well as other green ingredients such as tomatillos and cilantro, and pork (sometimes chicken) instead of beef.
The most famous regional chili outside Texas and the Southwest was created by Macedonian immigrant Tom (Athanas) Kiradjieff in Cincinnati in 1922. Cincinnati five-way chili was named for its multiple layers, beginning with a mound of spaghetti, then chili (seasoned with spices such as cinnamon, clove and nutmeg), chopped onions, red kidney beans and grated cheddar cheese.
When it comes to making Texas-style chili, the key ingredients are chiles. At the 3 Alarm Chili Cookoff, an ICS qualifying event I once attended in Pennington, N. J., the winning chili was made by a quartet of cooks from Firmenich, a flavor and fragrance company in Princeton. The team used four dried chiles: guajillo, ancho, chipotle and New Mexican. The mix helped give their chili a remarkable complexity and depth of flavor.
I like to toast whole dried chiles in the oven, which gives them another flavor dimension, then soak them in hot water and puree them with a bit of the soaking liquid. You can also use already-ground chiles, which should not be confused with chili powder, a blend of ground chiles and other spices such as garlic, cumin and salt. Fresh chiles are seldom used in chili, though I like the herbal note they provide.
Despite the macho image of chili dishes so fiery that only real men can eat them without crying out in pain, the ICS and CASI cook-off rules discourage chili that’s too hot.
After chiles, the most commonly used spice in chili is cumin. Again, for more flavor, toast the seeds before grinding them. Mexican oregano, which is grassier and more floral than the more common Mediterranean oregano, is also a frequent chili ingredient. Then there are those individual seasoning touches. One Pennington contestant added fennel and a small amount of bitter chocolate. Another tossed in a pinch of ground ginger just before serving.
Beef is the preferred chili carne. I like a boneless chuck roast because it has lots of flavor and enough fat to keep it moist. I add some pork for sweetness; pork shoulder is preferred in the recipe that follows. Sausage meat is also used.
Most chili cook-off winners use cubed meat. But Walsh says Texans use ground meat so often that butchers have a special “chili plate” on meat grinders that gives a texture a bit coarser than that of ground hamburger. While the meat is typically browned in fat before stewing, one Pennington cook I talked to grilled the meat (before cubing it and after marinating it overnight) over charcoal and wood chips for added complexity. After two-and-a-half to three hours of gentle simmering, chili should be thick but not pasty or dry.
Good chili doesn't’t need much accompaniment. I serve mine on top of rice, which Texans tend not to do, Walsh says. Instead, they may simply serve it with crackers or, writes Walsh, “combine it with beans, tamales, tortillas, enchiladas, scrambled eggs or any number of other things” to make a meal.
Beer is the beverage of choice for chili (and is occasionally even put in the pot). I particularly liked the fruitiness of a wheat beer and the malty sweetness of a porter with chili. However, don’t discount wine, especially a Zinfandel, a Petite Sirah, a Côtes du Rhône or a Shiraz.
Chili WIth Red Beans
• 2 pounds beef stew meat,
trimmed and cut into 1-inch chunks
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 red bell peppers, cored and coarsely chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 4 cups beef broth
• 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick or 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 large pinch red chili flakes (or more to taste)
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 1 16-ounce can red beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 coarsely grated cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• Sour cream, chopped red onion, grated, cheddar cheese and/or
chopped fresh cilantro for garnish
1. Season the
meat with salt and pepper. Heat two tablespoons of the oil in a large
Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the meat in a single, loosely-packed
layer, working in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan. Sear the meat
on all sides and set it aside in a shallow bowl.
2. Once all of the meat has been seared and set aside, add the remaining tablespoon of oil and stir in the onion, peppers and garlic. Season the vegetables with a pinch of salt and cook, scraping the bottom of the pan to dislodge any browned bits. Once the vegetables are soft and browned, stir in the vinegar. Cook until the liquid has almost completely evaporated, then add the broth, tomatoes, bay leaves, cinnamon, chili flakes, cumin and maple syrup and bring to a boil. Add the meat and any juices that have accumulated and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook, partially covered, for about 2 hours, until the meat is fork-tender and the liquid has thickened somewhat. (It will still be more soup-like than stew-like at this point.)
3. Carefully transfer two cups of the hot cooking liquid to a tall-sided bowl and fold in all but 1/4 cup of the beans. Using an immersion blender, puree the beans and cooking liquid together until smooth and return the mixture to the pot, along with the remaining whole beans. Stir in the oregano and cook for another 15 minutes, then remove and discard the bay leaves and cinnamon stick, if using. Serve the chili in bowls, garnished with cheese and onions.
Serves 8.
How to Get It
Here are some sources for chili ingredients, particularly chiles.
| Melissa’s, Los Angeles, (800) 588-0151, www.melissas.com |
| Frieda’s Inc., Los Alamitos, Calif., (800) 241-1771, www.friedas.com |
| Pendery’s, Dallas, (800) 533-1870, www.penderys.com |
| The CMC Co., Avalon, N. J., (800) 262-2780, www.thecmccompany.com |