That picture right there? My chili looks better than that, but my photography skills are lesser than that, so that’s what you get. And for the record, you don’t put effing guacamole on MY chili!
Now that that’s out of the way – It’s getting to be perfect weather for chili, and I make a pretty damn good one from scratch (more or less). I told Megan I wanted to make it this past weekend, and she thought that sounded like a great idea. Now, being a Food Network junkie and having fallen under their gastronomic spell, I decided to make this one a bit differently. Same basic ingredients, just change up HOW I put it together. Here’s my original recipe:
J’s Chili
2 cans chili beans (in sauce, if you like)
2 cans black beans
2 cans kidney beans
2 cans pinto beans
2 cans diced tomatoes (seasoned, if you like)
1 can (12 oz) V8 Spicy
4 lb chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 1-inch chunks
5 T sugar
5 T chili powder
4 T ground Cumin
4 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed
1 T salt
1 C beef stock
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 white onion, diced
Put everything but the peppers and onion in a 5 quart crock pot. Don’t drain the beans. It should all barely fit. Cook on low for 8 hours. 90 minutes before cook time is through, add the peppers and onions. Tada.
It makes a ton for our little family, so we usually end up eating it for a few days afterwards, and it’s a yummy chili that warms the bones and sticks to the ribs.
Yesterday, I added two ingredients – lime juice and bacon, as well as quite a bit more work, and I omitted the V8. Here’s how I made it:
Put the meat in a 1-Gallon Ziploc bag with the juice from 2 limes, 1 clove of garlic (minced or pressed), and 1 T chili powder. Add ½ cup water for moisture, mix it all around and let marinate at least 6 hours.
You need enough bacon to give you a substantial amount of bacon grease. I prefer thick cut bacon from the local deli, and about a pound should do. Cook it all and reserve the grease. Dice up about 1 cup of the cooked bacon to add to the chili later.
Put all the beans and the tomatoes in a big-ass crock pot or stock pot on low (this makes about 7 quarts, so a 5 quart crock pot just won’t cut it.
When the meat is done marinating, put about half of it into a shallow dish and toss gently with about ½ c of flour. Heat the bacon grease until it’s rippling, then cook all of the meat several pieces at a time, just searing the outside. I found that about 2-3 minutes per side worked well. The goal here is to sear the meat and add a little char, not cook it completely. Add to the chili mixture in the pot, don’t worry about draining excess bacon grease – it’s all good.
Keeping the bacon fat hot, add the peppers and onion, and sauté lightly until the onions are translucent. Add 1 C beef stock to deglaze the pan (which should be good and glazed by this point), then add the whole thing to the chili mixture.
Add the 1C of diced bacon to the chili mixture.
Simmer on low for an hour or two until the meat is tender.
Tada.
Now, I’ll let Megan write her own review of last nights chili. I like the second preparation a lot more. The bacon adds a slight smoky flavor, and sautéing the vegetables and searing the meat adds a nice depth to it. It has a richer flavor, which I really enjoyed. That said, I think I’ll find an alternative to the lime juice, that flavor didn’t blend as well as I would have liked. The truth is, they’re both delicious recipes. You should give ‘em a try. You really can’t screw this one up. OK, you can, but you’d have to be a damn moron, and if you’re reading this, you probably aren’t.
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