Friday, March 05, 2021

Foodie Friday - Chilli


 When I was growing up, as a lunchtime treat my mother would sometimes open canned Hormel Chilli, always with beans.  So that was my baseline for what chilli should be.  I remember the first time I had chilli in a restaurant with a dollop of sour cream in the middle.  I was unsure why, then I tasted it, and realized how the cream offset the spice.  Then it was shredded cheese.  The saltier and crumblier of the cheese the better.  

Home made chilli is not complicated.  It can be fairly fast, though it is often better after a long simmer, or even refrigerated overnight and reheated.  

I am an omnivore, so my chilli is meat based. 

What you need:

  • One or two yellow onions, medium to fine chop
  • Optional:Celery, carrots, mushrooms, sweet and hot peppers, chopped.
  • 1 pound (about 500 grams) ground beef
    • or
    • 1-2 pounds beef - stew beef, eye-round, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
  • 1 - 2 teaspoons chilli powder
  • 1-2 teaspoons ground cumin 
  • 2 - 14-16 ounce cans red-chilli beans (or mix it up with black-beans, great-northern beans, whatever you like.  
  • 1 14-16 ounce can or box of crushed or chopped tomatoes, or one small can tomato paste.
  • Optional, asian garlic chilli paste, sriracha, or tabasco  
In a large pot, saute the onions in a little oil (I use olive oil for almost all cooking) until softened and starting to color.
Add the optional veggies - an opportunity to use up what is on hand. 
When the veggies have softened, 
Add the beef.  If you are using ground beef, continue to break it down as it cooks until you have the desired texture for the finished dish.  
  • If you are using cubed beef, allow it to brown, 
Add salt, pepper and spices.  Exactly how much spice to add, is a matter of personal taste, start on the low side, and taste as it cooks, you can add more. 
Add the beans and tomato (I have used chopped fresh tomatoes when I had them on hand.) 
You may need to add moisture, chicken or beef stock, red wine, or water will work. 
Allow to simmer.  
If you are using ground beef, the dish can be ready to eat in 30-45 minutes.  It will get better after a slow simmer, but is just fine as a quick dinner. 

If you are using cubed beef, the chilli should should simmer, covered on low heat for 3 to 7 hours.  I know that is a lot of time difference, it depends on how tough the beef is, and how tender you want it.  You can make really tough (cheap) beef tender by slow cooking it for hours.   A few weeks ago I bought a whole "eye-round" of beef.  It was like 7 pounds (about 3 kilos) for something like $35 on sale.  It turned out to be tough.  I made slow cooked chilli with the last couple of pounds of it recently and it turned out spectacular, it simmered for 7 hours. 

You could do this in a slow cooker or crock pot.  I have never used one, I feel unsafe leaving something cooking overnight, or when I am not home (and until this last year, I was seldom if ever home all day.) 

How spicy do you like it? 

  

 

19 comments:

  1. Chili is like potato salad, everybody has a different way of making it. I like mine without all of the optional veggies. I cook dry pinto beans. Mix ground beef with chorizo and onion. Throw in a pack or two of McCormick hot taco seasoning (NOT the chili seasoning). Maybe add tomato paste, but not usually. I don't use Hormel anything. Everything I've ever had by them was like eating a salt lick! Their pickled pigs' feet are pretty good though. Oh, I like chili hot and spicy. That was the question wasn't it?

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    1. I can see how Taco seasoning would work, it has Cummin in it. I have never tried pigs feet, I think J would leave me.

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    2. Oh dear lord, I hope you are talking about cumin! Big difference! My grandfather used to cook regular pigs feet in butter beans. Also pigs ears. Gross! He was from one of the Carolinas, so maybe a carry over from slavery days? Who knows.

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    3. Jay's father would eat pickled pigs feet, and the kids would scream and run in horror at the sight. Pigs feet, and other specialty items were foods of poverty, that many people associated with family and love. Oh, my spelling!

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  2. todd makes his own chili with macaroni and beans and ground beef or turkey and I don't know what else. I don't eat chili.

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    1. Add that to the list of things not to serve

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  3. I can't even remember the first time I had chili; I was definitely well into my 20s. It may even have been made by San Geraldo. My mother never made it, nor have I ever had a can of Hormel anything. Such a sheltered life. I like it with mild to medium spice.

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    1. The older we get, generally the spicer we like it,

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  4. I loved chili and rarely met a bowl I didn’t like. Especially with sour cream and shredded cheese. The more meat and veggies, the better. And I liked mild to spicy, but not mouth burning spicy. Unfortunately, I lost the ability to safely consume beans, beef, or spicy foods years ago and can no longer eat “proper chili.” A huge loss. Thankfully, Jeffrey discovered a cauliflower chili recipe that is easy to make, delicious, and gut friendly for me, so I can once again enjoy the relative flavor without the fear. (And yes it’s an all day simmer in the pot recipe which we only make on weekends when we are home to watch the pot. Oh, how the glorious smell of it fills the house.) But I still water at the mouth when I see or smell a bowl of proper chili (one of Jeffrey’s favorite dishes, so he will often order it as an appetizer when we’re out. I have to hide my envy with cocktails and cheese boards.)

    Your recipe looks delicious!

    Sassybear
    Www.Idleeyesandadormy.Com

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    1. Cocktails and cheese boards are a nice way to feel better.

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  5. I love chili, also with meat, and the spicier the better.
    Plus, I get to have homemade cornbread with it, and that's always a good thing.

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    1. I made corn bread a few times this year, the grist mill at the Mt Vernon distillery sells corn meal.

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  6. My chili is similar to this but I like mine a little more soup like. I add V-8 juice to give it more broth.

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    1. Sounds nice, I will have to try that. I like rice cooked in V-8.

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  7. Chili is always better the second day, after the flavours blend. I like mine a little spicy, but not too much -- my stomach can't handle big spice anymore. I never use a slow cooker either, both for the reasons you state and also because it always overcooks everything to mush, in my opinion.

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    1. Long slow cooking, cold weather cooking. Our aging digestion,

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  8. Sadly chilli does not agree with me any more but I would love a taste of some of those cheeses.

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    1. I think that was taken in the Borough Market in London

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  9. Very, thank you
    nearly 20 years living in AZ everything needs spice or it takes bland.

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