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29 Comments:
If I told, it wouldn't be a secret!
homesicktexan at 10:29AM on 01/19/07
What is Negro Modelo?
ThatGirl153 at 10:37AM on 01/19/07
Negro Modelo is a mexican beer.
Erin at 10:55AM on 01/19/07
I have never been much of a chili person. I don't care for the beans. I bet there is a recipe out there that would suit me though.
ThatGirl153 at 11:01AM on 01/19/07
Leave out the beans. My wife's Texas-originated chili never contains beans. I think beans is a Minnesota or Massachusetts thing (yeah, that's a dig). It's ground beef ... and that's pretty much it, not including givens like jalapeno, onion, scallion, fresh cilantro, chili powder, a sour cream dollop on top and whatever else she's got going in there. Plus, you can eat more of it without beans, so who needs beans? For company, she'll substitute in sirloin tips instead of ground beef, but that's less tasty.
Sandro at 11:16AM on 01/19/07
Sandro: Can you get her recipe? Or is she one of those people who doesn't like to share her secrets?
Adam Kuban at 11:19AM on 01/19/07
A can of condensed tomato soup. Seriously.
LindaD at 11:28AM on 01/19/07
Yes! No beans is key. But Sandro, that's interesting you prefer ground beef over the sirloin tips. I love the way the sirloin breaks down afters hours of cooking and makes for a ropey, heartier mass. Does your wife use masa (a well-known secret ingredient)?
homesicktexan at 12:14PM on 01/19/07
Hey! Adam is that a dig at me?! I never said I was going to stop sharing my secrets...just that I was CONSIDERING it! Plus I like it when OTHER people share THEIR recipes with ME! : )
ThatGirl153 at 12:18PM on 01/19/07
Chocolate
jpetersen at 12:24PM on 01/19/07
Well I don't know about all this leave out the beans stuff. What I think makes mine unique and tasty is twofold. First, interestingly, is the beer. I have a bunch of Magic Hat (can't remember the name of the actual brew) that is dark as Guinness, which I don't really like to drink. But including a bottle of it in my chili makes it awesomely rich and smoky tasting. I'd say it's even darker than Negro Modelo, which I actually enjoy. And I won't pour a lager or ale in the chili-- those end up tasting waaay too hoppy or grainy for me.
Second is indeed the beans. Black, red pinto, great northern and sometimes a 4th mystery bean. They all go in. I'm not making hot dog chili after all-- I'm making a meal (or more like ten of them)! Besides, beans ARE the musical fruit.
smalera at 12:35PM on 01/19/07
Yep, chocolate.
Acme Instant Food at 1:25PM on 01/19/07
Tri tip Sirloin
nelson5757 at 2:12PM on 01/19/07
Oh! ThatGirl. No! No, no, no. A million times no. No dig intended.
No. Making a dig at anyone here would violate the Serious Eats Prime Directive handed down by Ed Levine: "Serious Eats is passionate, discerning, and welcoming."
So apologies if you read it as a dig. Looking back now, I can see I should have phrased it better.
Adam Kuban at 2:27PM on 01/19/07
Hand-chopped chuck beef. Roma beans (not pinto or kidney). Five types of chile: dried ancho, chipotle, pequin, habanero, and fresh jalapenos. Blue Point Toasted Lager. A TINY bit of unsweetened Scharffenberger chocolate. Lots of fresh scallions, cilantro, and lime juice.
FosterSJC at 3:01PM on 01/19/07
Adam...I figured...I was just having some playful fun!
ThatGirl153 at 3:19PM on 01/19/07
guinness and V-8. no joke!
ruiniste at 3:35PM on 01/19/07
Negra Modelo, a mix of chiles (especially my friend Rancho Gordo's anchos), a bit of unsweetened chocolate and a can of crushed totmatoes.
Cathy at 4:41PM on 01/19/07
Dark beer, chipotle peppers, and hominy.
EatWisconsin at 4:42PM on 01/19/07
My recipe with the aforementioned items in the comment above can be found here http://gastrologica.com/2006/06/contratulations-chili-cookoff-winner.html
EatWisconsin at 4:45PM on 01/19/07
A couple of squares of baker's chocolate and half a cup of strong black coffee!
misssbhavens at 5:39PM on 01/19/07
double smoked slab bacon chopped super fine and sauteed with the onions.
Dish at 11:15PM on 01/19/07
Ground chuck, penzeys chipolte and ancho ground chili powders, fresh chopped chilis, a beer (one of any kind) celery young parts (small and chopped very fine and one bay leaf.
If I do not have chili powders I take dried guajillo, ancho peppers pour hot water over them and when they are enlivened I give them a few pulses in the food processor and make a mole.
JerzeeTomato at 2:25AM on 01/20/07
Chocolate, chiles, beer, masa...we're approaching mole, here, sisters and brothers.
Chili is Tex-Mex, not Mexican, I hear tell here in South Texas. Chili is probably the gift of the San Antonio Chili Queens, who sold their hearty and filling "stew", in front of the Alamo. It probably contained whatever meat was available, and lots of onions and a variety of chiles, salt and pepper. Beans were probably available on the side, but not cooked with the meat. And there are some that think the dish originated on the trail, "invented" by Mexican cowboy cooks to feed hungry cattle drovers. But the point was to feed cheaply a lot of hungry guys who lived in the cultural stew that was South Texas in the last half of the 19th century.
dksbook at 12:15PM on 01/20/07
Adam, my wife's chili is a varient of a recipe by a Ray Calhoun from a book we have called 'Southwest Tastes'. Here's his recipe directly off the web:
Grand prize chili
Categories: Meat
Yield: 6 Servings
ΒΌ cup Vegetable oil
3 pounds Coarsely ground beef
1 Onion; peeled & chopped
1 tablespoon Hungarian paprika
4 Cloves garlic; finely chopped
6 tablespoon Chili powder
1 teaspoon Dried oregano
1 tablespoon Cumin
8 ounce Tomato sauce
1 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Water or more as needed
1 Habenero pepper or as many as you wish to add
In a covered saucepan or dutchoven, heat the oil over med-high heat and cook the beef until it is evenly browned and no pink shows. Add the onion and the garlic and saute until onion is translucent,about 5 minutes. Add the paprika, chili powder, cumin and oregeno and stir for 3 minutes to cook the spices. Add the tomato sauce, salt and water and stir to combine. Add the Habenero if you want HOT chili(or you could just add a little cayenne powder). Bring to a boil and simmer, covered over low heat for 2 hours, stirring occasionally and adding more water as needed, up to 1 cup depending on the rate of simmer. Serve over pinto beans with cheese and onion to garnish.
My wife makes a few changes. First, she sweats the onions and garlic, as though you were starting out a pasta sauce. Then, she adds the spices (adding 1-2 teaspoons cinnamon) which are cooked until they're aromatic. (She's not that careful about measuring the spices, and will sometimes use more chili powder than the recipe.) THEN, she adds the meat, cooks it until it's no longer pink, then adds the water or beef stock (for more flavor), 1 16oz. can tomatos crushed by hand instead of ready-made tomato sauce, more salt than Calhoun calls for (taste it), and 2 or more diced but not seeded jalapeno chiles (not habaneros). Finally, as I said above, I skip the beans, but if you did do beans, you'd do pintos and only add the finished chili over the cooked pintos (no beans in the chili itself). She plates it with shredded jack or queso blanco, scallion, and sour cream. It's a beautiful thing, and the day it's made, it's not a stretch to put three bowls down - EASY!
Sandro at 1:36PM on 01/20/07
Thanks, Sandro! I'm going to try it soon.
Adam Kuban at 4:31PM on 01/20/07
coffee
kenneth at 5:50PM on 01/20/07
Beer and chipotle powder. Mmmm. I'd like a bowl of chili now!
jbrach at 2:58PM on 01/22/07
A tablespoon of semisweet chocolate chips and 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon.
droman at 5:43PM on 08/18/07