wildblue
Well-known member
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It doesn't get much better than a nice fall Sunday, football on the tv, beer in hand, and a pot of chili simmering all day.
If you're making chili from a recipe, you're probably doing it wrong. But you might at least have your standard setup. I ended up winning an office chili cookoff and typed up my cheater recipe for a coworker - thought I'd share it here and see if anyone else had one they wanted to throw on. I call this my cheater because it's really fast and easy. If you have time to cut a bunch of stuff up, go for it.
This is for ~ 1lb of meat. I usually end up throwing in whatever leftovers I might have. Pulled pork and prime rib made it in the pot today. But good 'ol ground beef works just fine. People will give you different answers on the ground beef, but I've been known to throw it in the pot raw if I'm in a hurry. You don't have to brown it, but it gives a little different flavor if you do. I've started smoking it first if I have time - just make a couple real thin 'sheets' of beef and put them on for ~ 30-45 mins or so, then crumble them into the pot. I really like the way smoked meat changes the flavor of chili. Pulled pork and ground beef is probably my favorite combo, but left over steaks, ribs, brisket.... I haven't found anything I don't like.
I'll even throw some bacon in there if there's some in the fridge that needs to get used up.
2 cans of beans - I usually do 1 light red and 1 dark red kidney. The girl doesn't like those, so if she's eating it, I just go with cannellini. Sometimes black beans (I usuallly put some corn in if I used black beans)
2 cans of diced tomatoes (regular, fire roasted, garlic, whatever sounds good)
1 can of tomato sauce (the big 15oz can)
1 can tomato paste (6 oz I think - the little can)
1 can of tomato soup
Now the spices get a little weird - this is my best guess at what I normally do, but it's different almost every time. I put in whatever sounds good, and enough that it tastes good, but normally its:
1/4c chili powder
2T of habanero chili powder (I like it hot... use whatever you like, dark chili powder works well, chipotle does too)
a sprinkle of red pepper flakes
2T chipotle tabasco
1T cayenne (I go heavy on this if it's for me)
2T smoked paprika
1T jalapeno powder
1/3c sliced jalapeno (from a jar works, throw some of the juice in there too if you used jarred)
3T garlic salt (I'll use powder or even fresh garlic instead a lot. You are smoking heads of garlic anyway, right?)
1/4t cinnamon (sorry, that's what we do here)
2T brown sugar (I sometimes use maple syrup instead. I actually used a really sweet shredded dark chocolate before that worked really well)
1T white pepper
1T black pepper
If you like it a little soupy, leave the paste out or add a cup or two of V8. Some people don't like the texture of kidney beans, so I've been known to stick one of those immersion blenders in the can of beans and use the bean 'paste' to thicken it up.
If I have an onion on hand, I'll dice one of those up. Maybe a green pepper too (mexibells work really well if you have them) Mushrooms if that sounds good that day. If I used black beans, I'll dump some corn in there instead - the frozen ones work perfectly fine. Add some cumin if you're doing black beans and corn too.
If you really want to kick it up, put some habaneros in there or cut up some anchos if you have them. I sometimes let a carolina reaper and/or a ghost pepper simmer in there with it. I usually pull it out at the end though - I don't like the bitter those tend to impart if you cut them up. If all else fails, dump some franks red hot and dave's insanity in there. Dave's scorpion works well too.
I just put it all in the slow cooker. Turn it on low for a good 5 hours or so.
Serve with cheese and sour cream. Maybe some fresh onion. Crackers or tortilla chips work. If you're from around here, bonus points for peanut butter sandwiches. The rest of the week you have chili nachos, chili baked potatoes, chili salad (yes, I've done that) or chili over pasta.
It's really one of those 'what sounds good today?' things. Hell, today I even dumped in 2 shots of hot pepper vodka.
What about you? Do you have a plan going in or do you just do what sounds good? Does white chili count? Does chicken have a place in the chili world?
If you're making chili from a recipe, you're probably doing it wrong. But you might at least have your standard setup. I ended up winning an office chili cookoff and typed up my cheater recipe for a coworker - thought I'd share it here and see if anyone else had one they wanted to throw on. I call this my cheater because it's really fast and easy. If you have time to cut a bunch of stuff up, go for it.
This is for ~ 1lb of meat. I usually end up throwing in whatever leftovers I might have. Pulled pork and prime rib made it in the pot today. But good 'ol ground beef works just fine. People will give you different answers on the ground beef, but I've been known to throw it in the pot raw if I'm in a hurry. You don't have to brown it, but it gives a little different flavor if you do. I've started smoking it first if I have time - just make a couple real thin 'sheets' of beef and put them on for ~ 30-45 mins or so, then crumble them into the pot. I really like the way smoked meat changes the flavor of chili. Pulled pork and ground beef is probably my favorite combo, but left over steaks, ribs, brisket.... I haven't found anything I don't like.
I'll even throw some bacon in there if there's some in the fridge that needs to get used up.
2 cans of beans - I usually do 1 light red and 1 dark red kidney. The girl doesn't like those, so if she's eating it, I just go with cannellini. Sometimes black beans (I usuallly put some corn in if I used black beans)
2 cans of diced tomatoes (regular, fire roasted, garlic, whatever sounds good)
1 can of tomato sauce (the big 15oz can)
1 can tomato paste (6 oz I think - the little can)
1 can of tomato soup
Now the spices get a little weird - this is my best guess at what I normally do, but it's different almost every time. I put in whatever sounds good, and enough that it tastes good, but normally its:
1/4c chili powder
2T of habanero chili powder (I like it hot... use whatever you like, dark chili powder works well, chipotle does too)
a sprinkle of red pepper flakes
2T chipotle tabasco
1T cayenne (I go heavy on this if it's for me)
2T smoked paprika
1T jalapeno powder
1/3c sliced jalapeno (from a jar works, throw some of the juice in there too if you used jarred)
3T garlic salt (I'll use powder or even fresh garlic instead a lot. You are smoking heads of garlic anyway, right?)
1/4t cinnamon (sorry, that's what we do here)
2T brown sugar (I sometimes use maple syrup instead. I actually used a really sweet shredded dark chocolate before that worked really well)
1T white pepper
1T black pepper
If you like it a little soupy, leave the paste out or add a cup or two of V8. Some people don't like the texture of kidney beans, so I've been known to stick one of those immersion blenders in the can of beans and use the bean 'paste' to thicken it up.
If I have an onion on hand, I'll dice one of those up. Maybe a green pepper too (mexibells work really well if you have them) Mushrooms if that sounds good that day. If I used black beans, I'll dump some corn in there instead - the frozen ones work perfectly fine. Add some cumin if you're doing black beans and corn too.
If you really want to kick it up, put some habaneros in there or cut up some anchos if you have them. I sometimes let a carolina reaper and/or a ghost pepper simmer in there with it. I usually pull it out at the end though - I don't like the bitter those tend to impart if you cut them up. If all else fails, dump some franks red hot and dave's insanity in there. Dave's scorpion works well too.
I just put it all in the slow cooker. Turn it on low for a good 5 hours or so.
Serve with cheese and sour cream. Maybe some fresh onion. Crackers or tortilla chips work. If you're from around here, bonus points for peanut butter sandwiches. The rest of the week you have chili nachos, chili baked potatoes, chili salad (yes, I've done that) or chili over pasta.
It's really one of those 'what sounds good today?' things. Hell, today I even dumped in 2 shots of hot pepper vodka.
What about you? Do you have a plan going in or do you just do what sounds good? Does white chili count? Does chicken have a place in the chili world?
