Chili

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I don't usually use thickeners in my chili, but sometimes it's unavoidable when you're in a hurry. Cornmeal probably works quite well although I haven't tried it. My go to is gravy thickener, bistro brand usually, but any cornstarch based product will give you that translucent look if you use to much and that's not a good look for chili.
 
I don't usually use thickeners in my chili, but sometimes it's unavoidable when you're in a hurry. Cornmeal probably works quite well although I haven't tried it. My go to is gravy thickener, bistro brand usually, but any cornstarch based product will give you that translucent look if you use to much and that's not a good look for chili.

That's a good point. One thing I like about masa is the corn flavor it gives--I really like that in combination with chili spices. I normally eat chili either with cornbread or tortilla chips, to get that corny goodness.

By chance, I made chili last night. Since I didn't have any masa or cornmeal, I put some corn kernels into the chili, and ate it with cornbread from a local market. Looking over the thread, I realized that I use more spice than many people: about 2.5 tablespoons of chili powder for 1 pound of meat + 1 can of black beans and 1 can of diced tomatoes. I think I may use less cumin, though--my ratio of it to chili powder is 1/3. In part this is because I prefer that for taste, but I'll admit to being a little light on cumin because of its cost--it's a pricey spice.
 
Who doesn't love corn in their chili? Another corn related option is to take kernels, roasted if you like, and blitz them into a paste, which acts a decent thickener. I'd probably want to make sure it gets some direct heat if you aren't used roasted corn, but that's a taste thing, it'll thicken either way. I use pureed and sautéed onion and garlic in a very similar way to thicken my curries.
 
That's a good point. One thing I like about masa is the corn flavor it gives--I really like that in combination with chili spices. I normally eat chili either with cornbread or tortilla chips, to get that corny goodness.

By chance, I made chili last night. Since I didn't have any masa or cornmeal, I put some corn kernels into the chili, and ate it with cornbread from a local market. Looking over the thread, I realized that I use more spice than many people: about 2.5 tablespoons of chili powder for 1 pound of meat + 1 can of black beans and 1 can of diced tomatoes. I think I may use less cumin, though--my ratio of it to chili powder is 1/3. In part this is because I prefer that for taste, but I'll admit to being a little light on cumin because of its cost--it's a pricey spice.
Do you put chocolate in your chili?
 
I don't. I'd be interested to try it for myself, but my wife (despite liking chocolate a lot) does not enjoy it in savory foods.
Chili (and barbecue) is something of an obsession in TX and a lot of people here use chocolate. It solves the consistency issue I think.
 
I know there's a great debate about whether or not chili has beans. What about tomatoes? The chili I'll be coming home to tonight has no tomatoes. It wasn't deliberate- I just didn't realize I was out of tomatoes until after I'd already dumped everything else in the slow cooker, and at that point I needed to leave for work so had no time to go get tomatoes.
 
There's a very traditional approach to chili that holds that it does not contain beans. Personally, I always add beans and don't care about a bunch of grumpy gate keepers from texas.

On the tomato thing, I always keep a couple of cans of bakes beans in tomato sauce in reserve for exactly that kind of chili related emergency.
 
I know there's a great debate about whether or not chili has beans. What about tomatoes? The chili I'll be coming home to tonight has no tomatoes. It wasn't deliberate- I just didn't realize I was out of tomatoes until after I'd already dumped everything else in the slow cooker, and at that point I needed to leave for work so had no time to go get tomatoes.
Well, Classic Texan Chili doesn’t have beans, I guess. But then Classic Texan Fajitas are the diaphragm muscle of a freshly butchered cow tossed on coals still inside the fascia so it doesn’t burn by a Mexican Vaquero, eaten with onions, peppers and spices using a corn tortilla to grab the food instead of utensils.

As far as tomatoes go, while raw tomatoes can be a gift from god, cooked tomatoes are a desecration by the devil. You do need a small can of tomato paste though.
 
Well, Classic Texan Chili doesn’t have beans, I guess. But then Classic Texan Fajitas are the diaphragm muscle of a freshly butchered cow tossed on coals still inside the fascia so it doesn’t burn by a Mexican Vaquero, eaten with onions, peppers and spices using a corn tortilla to grab the food instead of utensils.

As far as tomatoes go, while raw tomatoes can be a gift from god, cooked tomatoes are a desecration by the devil. You do need a small can of tomato paste though.
I very much trend toward using tomato paste over cans of dice tomato in chili. That said, the finely minced version of canned tomatoes (usually called Crushed) is fine if you have to make a compromise.
 
For her to bake into a cake?
No, just to give her different chilli variants:grin:!
"The diaphragm muscle of a freshly butchered cow burned while still inside the fascia, eaten with onions, peppers and spices using a corn tortilla to grab the food" might be a bit hard to make though. There's no place to burn coals in the kitchen, alas!
 
No, just buy something fireproof. Manly men can burn shit anywhere.
Sure, if I really considered it important enough, I would. But to me that seems like too much hassle for a recipe, when there are others in this thread as well:thumbsup:!

Besides, I can still use the important part, which is to use the tortilla instead of the ustensils:grin:!
 
So, my no-tomatoes "chili," or whatever it was, came out pretty decently. Not my best, but definitely edible. What I really missed when eating it was the fresh jalapenos. Normally I dice a couple of fresh jalapenos and put them in my chili but I didn't have any this time.
 
There are times at the moment, with only one teenage son and no spouse in residence (everyone else is in Europe) where Jalapenos are the only fresh vegetable in my fridge. Priorities.
 
Ah, chili. One of my favorite dishes.

When I have everything I want to make it, I start with Hamby's Cajun 15 bean soup as the base, soaking the beans overnight. The beans need to cook about an hour and a half. I add Adobo seasoning with pepper at the end.

Then I brown some breakfast sausage, preferably hot.

After I set the crumbles aside, I take my veggies and saute them in the sausage grease. I am thinking of using some bacon and bacon grease the next time I make this, though I will still use sausage, too. I prefer to use Del Monte fire roasted tomatoes and some Rotel Chili Fixins or a jar of preferred salsa. I like a white corn & black bean salsa for this. Sometimes I add a can of corn if I don't use the salsa. I usually add whatever veggies I feel like adding. I have found carrots and cauliflower to be fantastic.

I make a cup of rice with some chicken stock and then throw everything into the pot with the beans. I bring everything to a boil and simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour. This recipe takes some time.

Note that if you left the meat out and substitute some kind of oil you could make this vegetarian pretty easily.

Edited to add that I don't often use a thicker, but if the chili is a little soupy for whatever reason, I add some instant potato flakes since it will tend to take the flavors of whatever you put them in.
 
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Apologies for the double post.

I had a minor windfall and wanted to share with my friends. So, I'm making a beanless chili, because our GM could go to the hospital if he eats them. Texas style it is, then!

The plan is to start with bacon; a full pound of bacon. The grease will see two uses - to saute the onions & garlic together and for the breakfast sausage & ground beef, in separate groups.

The bacon will be set aside to be crumbled in prior to serving.

Going to cut up some mini-bell peppers into strips and lightly sear for flavor. Set aside.

Going to cut some stew meat, a chuck roast, into smaller pieces then sear with some carne asada seasoning while making some beef-fried rice to throw in later.

I'm then going to take all of that and throw it in a pot with a little tomato paste, fire-roasted tomatoes, Rotel Chili Fixens, a touch of cinnamon, and some ancho chili sauce, then throw on the lid. Simmer for an hour.

Then it gets to sit overnight in the fridge, compounding. I'll toss it into the crock pot on low the next mourning before the game to warm it back up.

Gonna serve it with slices of pepper jack cheese and tortilla chips after tossing the bacon in.

I'm excited to see how this goes. I've never done a beanless chili before. Will report back!
 
Apologies for the double post.

I had a minor windfall and wanted to share with my friends. So, I'm making a beanless chili, because our GM could go to the hospital if he eats them. Texas style it is, then!

The plan is to start with bacon; a full pound of bacon. The grease will see two uses - to saute the onions & garlic together and for the breakfast sausage & ground beef, in separate groups.

The bacon will be set aside to be crumbled in prior to serving.

Going to cut up some mini-bell peppers into strips and lightly sear for flavor. Set aside.

Going to cut some stew meat, a chuck roast, into smaller pieces then sear with some carne asada seasoning while making some beef-fried rice to throw in later.

I'm then going to take all of that and throw it in a pot with a little tomato paste, fire-roasted tomatoes, Rotel Chili Fixens, a touch of cinnamon, and some ancho chili sauce, then throw on the lid. Simmer for an hour.

Then it gets to sit overnight in the fridge, compounding. I'll toss it into the crock pot on low the next mourning before the game to warm it back up.

Gonna serve it with slices of pepper jack cheese and tortilla chips after tossing the bacon in.

I'm excited to see how this goes. I've never done a beanless chili before. Will report back!
One suggestion - since you seem to be ok with prep, you could consider roasting the bell peppers instead of just searing them. Otherwise, it sounds grand.
 
One suggestion - since you seem to be ok with prep, you could consider roasting the bell peppers instead of just searing them. Otherwise, it sounds grand.
My only issue with roasting them is that they are going to cook more during the simmering process, too. I fear if they're too soft they might fall apart.

My thinking was I if I seared them, they would still have some crunch when they went into the pot.

I want the flavor of a roasted pepper without them getting too soft.
 
My only issue with roasting them is that they are going to cook more during the simmering process, too. I fear if they're too soft they might fall apart.

My thinking was I if I seared them, they would still have some crunch when they went into the pot.

I want the flavor of a roasted pepper without them getting too soft.
That's fair. Bell peppers can also get bitter if they cook too long. One possible solution is to take some portion of the roasted peppers (a third maybe) and blitz them and add them to the chili earlier, that'll get you the flavor you want. Then the rest can be sliced and added close to the end so they done get too soggy.

Searing them is a fine solution as well. Even if you add them closer to the end you'll still get some decent flavour.
 
Update!

A few changes occured from the plan due to my co-conspiriter. The peppers got added at the tail end when he sauteed the onion and garlic; they turned out perfect!

Immediately after, we browned the breakfast sausage & ground angus together in the leavings and tossed in some chipotle taco seasoning.

My buddy deglazed the pan with a local beer maker's coffee stout - Mother's Winter Grind, cooking it down, then we cooked the carne asada chuck steak in that.

We ended up taking the rice and using it to soak up all that flavor, adding some more Winter Grind and water as needed to make Spanish rice that got added to the crock pot with the other ingredients, plus Rotel Chili Fixins, crushed tomatoes, fire roasted tomatoes, two table spoons of ancho chili sauce, some cumin, a little less than a teaspoon of cinnamon, and simmered for an hour and a half!

Then, into a bowl with the crumbled bacon, a dollop of sour cream, and some tortilla chips. The flavors were subtle & complex, the heat was good; it was pretty fantastic.

I feel it could have been better.

Three things I would change. Since I was making this for a gathering, I dialed back on all of the seasonings so people can adjust to taste; I dialed the cumin back too much. For my personal palette, I would have added cayenne pepper, as the heat was subtler than I like. I feel like I should have added one 8 oz. can of tomato paste.

Lastly, we may need to add a teaspoon of honey to the pot. My budd's wife said the mix was too bland, until the heat kicked then, then her mouth went numb. The ancho chili sauce is a bit potent for more sensitive palettes. I also backed the salt content down, meaning for people to garnish with bacon & tortilla chips, so those forgoing the garnish will want a dash of salt.

The crock pot will come out of the fridge and get plugged in to warm everything up an hour or so before game time. I'm excited to experience how the flavors compounded overnight.

I was going to upload a pic of the finished product, but apparently the file is too large. Oh, well. Later.
 
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