good chili recipes

[ssampier]

I'll admit, I'm not a great cook. But I mean well. I had a Guy Fieri chili recipe and it just wasn't very good.

The beer taste was very strong. I like beer in the bottle, the chili didn't taste like the beer.

I made another chili that called for a chipolte chile and adobe sauce. That had a very bitter after-taste.

On a related note, any good chili verde recipes? I usually buy some La Victoria bottled sauce, brown some pork, and add onions and garlic. It's good, but I know it could be better.

 

[freyar]

Well, I like my chilis, but I doubt most people would consider them very special. Usually make burritos or enchiladas instead. One "secret ingredient" that I've liked in chili in the past but don't usually keep around the house is unsweetened cocoa powder.

Continuing my rambling, I had a chili made by an acquaintance a couple of weeks ago that I didn't like at all. It had some weird smoky aftertaste that I just couldn't place.

 

[Janx]

most folks like my wife's chili. It ain't overly spicy, but that's just a few more peppers away. It scores nicely on the weight watchers point system, as well

The basics are:

1 pound of ground hamburger (or lean turkey burger)
a can of tomato sauce, tomatoa paste, and diced tomatoes (drained)
1 chopped up onion
some chopped up garlic cloves
some chili powder
1 jalapeno pepper sliced up
chopped up bell peppers
beans (not baked beans) kidney, and other types, usually from a can, drained

brown the meat, throw it all in a crockpot, and let it cook all day.

I'm glossing over some stuff, but that's the basics. You could take those steps and fine tune it for your own tastes. There might be a few more seasonings, but I can't recall.

According to legend, reall chili has no beans. whatever.
different beans, different meats change the taste.

I've seen cubed steak used, that was pretty good, actually...

You want to drain all the watery stuff, it'll make your chili very runny. The diced tomatoes will add their own water...

The tomoto sauce is your basic filler, the paste will become sauce, as it soaks up water, and the diced tomatoes adds more solid matter and water (think of the paste as the water counter-agent).

Anyway, my basic directions will give you a launchpad for making your own version.

 

[MonkeyDragon]

My white turkey chili is not really chili at all, I suspect, but it's still durn good.

All you need is a big skillet with high sides.

Brown a poundish of ground turkey and drain off most of the fat.
Chop up some onions and a buncha garlic, add to the pan and cook til tender.
Add 2 cans of rinsed white northern beans and a bag of frozen corn.
Add a box of chicken broth or stock
Add half the spice cupboard. I never keep track of what I put in, but it's all about what seems like a good idea at the time. I always add salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, chili powder, cumin, paprika, etc. Bay leaves are good if you remember to fish em out later.
Simmer until everything is hot and the broth is reduced a bit.
Thicken with a mixture of cream (half and half, light cream, heavy cream, whole milk, whatever) and cornstarch.

Done! It's really fast, too.

 

[Janx]

straight from the missus:

Ingredients:


1-20 oz package Jennie O ground turkey breast
2 cans organic tri-bean mix (pinto, kidney, and black beans)
1 can butter beans or garbanzo beans (whichever you want)
1-28 oz. can diced tomatoes and 1-16 oz can diced tomatoes
1-16 oz. can tomato sauce
1-4 oz. can tomato paste
1 large onion, chopped coarsely (color of your choice)
1 bell pepper, chopped coarsely (color of your choice)
1 serrano pepper, chopped fine
6-8 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 tsp. ground cumin
3-4 tbl chili powder
salt and pepper to taste of desired


Instructions:
Brown meat in pan, drain. Add to slow cooker. Drain canned beans and add to slow cooker, same with diced tomatoes. Add rest of ingredients to slow cooker. Stir well, cover. Cook for 10-12 hours on low or 5-6 hours on high.


I don't know all the calories and such, but I know it's like 1 point for a whole cup on Weight Watchers, very dense and very filling.

 

[Umbran]

I had a Guy Fieri chili recipe and it just wasn't very good.

Well, that's not surprising. Guy is there as a personality. IMHO, he can't cook all that well.

At this point, I don't work from a recipe for making chili, which isn't terribly helpful to you.

A few notes about making chili:

1) Heat does not equal flavor. If it doesn't taste good without the heat, it won't taste good with the heat either. Consider practicing with low-power stuff - you can always add heat later.

2) Quality of your chili powder matters. If you want really good chili, don't work with supermarket chili powder - it has generally been a long time since it was ground, and that means the powder has had access to air, and that means oxidation, and a degradation of flavor. Buy your chili powder from a spice house (like Pensey's) to make the most flavorful chili.

2a) Chili powder does not equal powdered chilies! I know a couple people who have made that mistake, and it wasn't fun.

3) Sweeteners! One of the keys to round and robust chili flavor is sweetness - not enough to make it taste like candy, but a bit. To match the smokiness most folks like in chilis, go with a sweetener that has molasses - molasses, brown sugar, or a good sweet BBQ sauce. Honey also works well.

4) Beans - I understand the convenience (and make use of it too often), but canned beans are not a good way to get good flavor.

5) Meats - consider using a mixture of meats (beef, lamb, and pork).

 

[Janx]

umbran's got some good advice

I know people like my wife's chili. I'd recommend taking that as a "stock" recipe, and then consider alterations to it. Umbran's tips would be a good starting point. Everything he's saying makes sense and is a compatible modification to my wife's recipe.

 

[ssampier]

I will have to try some of these recipes and let you know how they go.

Last thought: I am not a big chili bean fan. Can I omit the beans and use the recipe as is or do I need to add more water?

Yeah Guy Fieri is pretty entertaining, but I haven't seen a recipe I really wanted to duplicate. Once bitten, twice shy.

Call me what you want, but I like your basics dressed up a bit: burgers, sandwiches, chili, salads, stews, and roasts.

 

[Umbran]

Last thought: I am not a big chili bean fan. Can I omit the beans and use the recipe as is or do I need to add more water?

Another thing about chili - chili preferences are kind of like game edition preferences. People have been known to fight about them ("Chili without beans?! That's just meat sauce! Heathen!") Thankfully, I am not a purist

Anyway - No, you wouldn't want to add more water. Beans usually release starches that help thicken your chili. If you are omitting beans, you'll typically get rather watery stuff.

You may wish to use masa flour (a form of corn flour) as a thickener. You probably don't want to buy a whole bag of masa for one pot of chili, but luckily there's another common source for masa - tortilla chips! Crush up a handful or two of tortilla chips into your chili, and they'll disintegrate and thicken your stuff.

As with all stew-like things, you'll have to guage for yourself exactly how muc thickening it does or doesn't need.

 

[Pbartender]

Last thought: I am not a big chili bean fan. Can I omit the beans and use the recipe as is or do I need to add more water?

...

Call me what you want, but I like your basics dressed up a bit: burgers, sandwiches, chili, salads, stews, and roasts.

You should try making "Cincinnati style" chili sometime. It has a rather unusual flavor for chili (it typically uses cocoa powder, allspice and cinnamon for the sweetening Umbran mentions), but delicious.

The sauce is beanless and is served over spaghetti noodles. Kidney beans, chopped onions, shredded cheddar cheese, oyster crackers and hot sauce (Frank's, if you're traditional) are served on the side as "condiments" to be added as you desire.

I'll see if I can find my recipe.