Chili: Vehemently wrong about something stupid.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Chili: Vehemently wrong about something stupid.

oRenj9: Aug 3, 2004; Who loves oRenj soda?!?; College Slice

wormil posted:

I just wanted to avoid accidentally buying a bunch of similar, very spicy, chilies.

Look for different color chilies then. The bigger and more green/dark they are, the more pronounced and sweeter the flavor is. While the smaller and redder peppers have a more subtle the flavor a bigger the kick.

I'm not sure if this is a hard an fast rule, but I've also discovered that the thicker and more pliable the skin of the dried chili, the sweeter the flavor. The hard, rigid chilies always seem to be hotter.

# ? Feb 22, 2012 10:19

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# ? Apr 19, 2024 10:02

GrAviTy84: Nov 25, 2004

wormil posted:

This is a good idea. I've only found them by the bag but I guess it won't hurt to experiment. I just wanted to avoid accidentally buying a bunch of similar, very spicy, chilies. I already have a big bag of arbols.

May I present:
http://www.foodsubs.com/Chiledry.html

This is a great resource that tells you some of the flavors to expect as well as the heat level from various dried peppers.

Usually when I make a chili I like to have an array of peppers. A few fresh green mild type (Anaheim, Hatch, Fresh Ancho), a few red or orange fresh hot type (Habanero, Fresno, Thai Bird, Ripe Jalepeno), a few jalapenos or serranos that I roast on a burner (usually veined and seeded, but I'll reserve the veins for adding heat later if necessary), a good quantity of dry mild type (Guajillo, California, Dried Ancho, Mulato), and a few dry hot type to taste (Arbol, Japones, Pequin).

# ? Feb 22, 2012 10:30

wormil: Sep 12, 2002; Hulk will smoke you!

GrAviTy84 posted:

May I present:
http://www.foodsubs.com/Chiledry.html

Outstanding.

Question, when I roast dried chilies, should they be charred?

# ? Feb 22, 2012 10:45

Terraplane: Aug 16, 2007; And when I mash down on your little starter, then your spark plug will give me fire.

I finally tried smoking the meat before cooking. In the past I've always just seared it on a skillet, dragging out the charcoal and smoker seemed like so much extra trouble and how much difference can it really make?

It makes all of the difference. Oh my God. It was amazing and I'll never go back.

wormil posted:

Outstanding.

Question, when I roast dried chilies, should they be charred?

I've charred them once. My house filled with something akin to OC spray and I had to go outside for a while. Now I just roast them until they're nice and toasty. If there's a flavor difference between that and charred it's not huge and, at least to me, certainly not worth pepper spraying the entire house.

# ? Feb 22, 2012 16:35

signalnoise: Mar 7, 2008; i was told my old av was distracting

Terraplane posted:

I finally tried smoking the meat before cooking. In the past I've always just seared it on a skillet, dragging out the charcoal and smoker seemed like so much extra trouble and how much difference can it really make?

It makes all of the difference. Oh my God. It was amazing and I'll never go back.

Flavor in, flavor out

# ? Feb 22, 2012 16:39

mindphlux: Jan 8, 2004; by R. Guyovich

wormil posted:

Outstanding.

Question, when I roast dried chilies, should they be charred?

No, just aromatic and slightly more brittle. Nowhere near browned or charred.

Terraplane posted:

I finally tried smoking the meat before cooking.

Hurray, a convert to the One True Method!

# ? Feb 22, 2012 21:50

Jose: Jul 24, 2007; Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster and writer

How does your meat look before smoking it? I'm assuming you're not smoking cubes of beef but when I make chili it tends to just be kind of long strips that I suppose look like steak. No reason I can't smoke this its just reasonably thin and I'm curious

# ? Feb 22, 2012 23:26

Terraplane: Aug 16, 2007; And when I mash down on your little starter, then your spark plug will give me fire.

Jose posted:

How does your meat look before smoking it? I'm assuming you're not smoking cubes of beef but when I make chili it tends to just be kind of long strips that I suppose look like steak. No reason I can't smoke this its just reasonably thin and I'm curious

I used chuck roast and cut it into thick strips, after it was done smoking I cut it into bite sized bits and cooked it like I normally would.

# ? Feb 23, 2012 02:56

Mr. Vile: Nov 25, 2009; And, where there is treasure, there will be Air Pirates.

I've never really been much of a chef, although I do quite enjoy cooking. Since I started trying my hand at it seriously chilli has become my go-to dish, not least because of the fantastic recipes posted in this forum. Trouble is, living in England makes it borderline impossible to get any kind of decent spices (You wouldn't believe my surprise and delight when I actually found a packet of chipotles in the supermarket!).

So, I figured, how hard can it be?

Even getting the seeds for these was an exercise in frustration, but I got there in the end. See also: terrible handwriting.

Oh, and never let it be said that I do anything by halves.

(Habanero, cayenne, jalapeno, poblano, chilaca, mulato, anaheim and some variety called ring of fire that they gave me for free. Google tells me it's a variety of cayenne.)

Assuming they survive my dead and blackened thumb for the six months or so it'll take them to grow and fruit, I'll try posting some cooking logs using them.

# ? Feb 29, 2012 17:20

Jose: Jul 24, 2007; Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster and writer

Where in England are you? Newcastle at least has a fantastic shop for anything related to mexican cooking you will need. All of it is available online but its nice to buy from a proper shop

# ? Feb 29, 2012 17:27

Mr. Vile: Nov 25, 2009; And, where there is treasure, there will be Air Pirates.

Jose posted:

Where in England are you? Newcastle at least has a fantastic shop for anything related to mexican cooking you will need. All of it is available online but its nice to buy from a proper shop

Just outside Bristol, so pretty much at the other end of the country

. There's probably one or two speciality shops around here somewhere, but after a while of searching I decided it was easier to just order them online. The chillies themselves are the only really hard part to find anyway, unless you want to insist on using things like that Mexican cooking chocolate I forget the name of instead of plain chocolate.

# ? Feb 29, 2012 17:47

poverty goat: Feb 15, 2004

I made chili today. MY RECIPE has been gradually evolving over the last few years. This was also my first time using a pressure cooker, rather than simmering for 4+ hours on the stovetop. Crossposting from the weed thread :420:

gggiiimmmppp posted:

MEAT! This is like 7 pounds of stew beef and 1.5 of cubed pork sirloin, mixed with a whole bunch of Chili Powder made fresh this morning from Pasilla and New Mexico peppers:

Raw materials. One white and one yellow onion are in the pan; de-seeded peppers in two bowls (I keep the flavor/heat peppers separate and add the hot ones to taste so I don't go too far); garlic in the ninja processor thing in the top right since I'm loving lazy, and bell/pimento peppers in the bowl toward the bottom left:

Cooked the onions, added peppers and garlic after a bit, then deglazed the pan with the obligatory beer, and added the mess to the pot:

Not pictured are some spices, beef stock, and a single big can of tomatoes. I like a little tomato in the broth but for a batch this big 1 big can is a pretty minor constituent. I know it doesn't look terribly appetizing yet, just bear with me ok?

It's pressure cookering now. In the mean time,

...

I add the bell/pimento peppers toward the end for flavor/texture/color. I historically just cut them up and add them ~20 minutes before it's done but if I go too far the skins separate and float around the chili and are annoying, so this time I tried roasting/peeling them first:

Also 25 minutes wasn't quite enough, so I closed it back up and pressure cooked for another 10. The meat is just about where I'd expect it to be after 4 hours simmering, but oddly the peppers/tomatoes are still very intact when they're typically totally disintegrated by that point (due to the reduced simmering time and lack of stirring I guess). I added a couple of cans of drained kidney beans, simmered a bit, added the roasted peppers, simmered another 5 minutes and FINISHED. Behold, assembled chili:

It is delicious. I'm not gonna plate it for you because I suck at presentation and I'm not eating it yet anyway, so you'll just have to deal.

This might be my first time posting my own food in GWS, so this is the part where I get eviscerated :shobon:

. I know the pictures are terrible. The best digital camera in the house is an ipad.

Also I've gotta say, thanks GWS, because without this forum I'd still be using store-bought chili powder. Ever since I started making my own a year or two ago, every other chili just tastes like store-bought chili powder to me. Making it fresh really raises things to a whole new level.

poverty goat fucked around with this message at 20:16 on Feb 29, 2012

# ? Feb 29, 2012 20:01

YEAH DOG: Sep 24, 2009; you wanna join my
primitive noise band?

Good job on the chili, welcome to our hipster poor people food dance battle gang

# ? Mar 1, 2012 01:13

Vlex: Aug 4, 2006; I'd rather be a climbing ape than a big titty angel.

SYFY HYPHY posted:

Good job on the chili, welcome to our hipster poor people food dance battle gang

That's hypnotic with your avatar.

# ? Mar 1, 2012 11:00

GrAviTy84: Nov 25, 2004

Mr. Vile posted:

I've never really been much of a chef, although I do quite enjoy cooking. Since I started trying my hand at it seriously chilli has become my go-to dish, not least because of the fantastic recipes posted in this forum. Trouble is, living in England makes it borderline impossible to get any kind of decent spices (You wouldn't believe my surprise and delight when I actually found a packet of chipotles in the supermarket!).

So, I figured, how hard can it be?

Even getting the seeds for these was an exercise in frustration, but I got there in the end. See also: terrible handwriting.

Oh, and never let it be said that I do anything by halves.

(Habanero, cayenne, jalapeno, poblano, chilaca, mulato, anaheim and some variety called ring of fire that they gave me for free. Google tells me it's a variety of cayenne.)

Assuming they survive my dead and blackened thumb for the six months or so it'll take them to grow and fruit, I'll try posting some cooking logs using them.

Some of those need a steady temperature above 75 or so to germinate, namely the habs. Some people get heating pads or hot lamps. Just a thought.

# ? Mar 1, 2012 11:12

Mr. Vile: Nov 25, 2009; And, where there is treasure, there will be Air Pirates.

GrAviTy84 posted:

Some of those need a steady temperature above 75 or so to germinate, namely the habs. Some people get heating pads or hot lamps. Just a thought.

Handily, I'm keeping them in the same room as my tropical spider which also needs to stay above 75 or so. The habs have germinated and started putting down little feathery roots! :neckbeard:

# ? Mar 1, 2012 15:35

SpaceRangerJoe: Dec 24, 2003; The little hand says it's time to rock and roll.

This is my first time making real chili and it turned out pretty well I think. I followed Iron Leg's recipe, more or less. It's pretty mild, especially after adding sour cream and some cheddar when serving. Next time I'll certainly go a little hotter. I brought it work for lunch and had some positive comments as well.

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# ? Mar 2, 2012 20:49

rigeek: Jun 12, 2006

SpaceRangerJoe posted:

This is my first time making real chili and it turned out pretty well I think. I followed Iron Leg's recipe, more or less. It's pretty mild, especially after adding sour cream and some cheddar when serving. Next time I'll certainly go a little hotter. I brought it work for lunch and had some positive comments as well.

You accidentally put beans in your chili dude

# ? Mar 3, 2012 02:18

Elizabethan Error: May 18, 2006

rigeek posted:

You accidentally put beans in your chili dude

let's not turn the thread into a shitfest on the 6th page.

# ? Mar 3, 2012 02:36

Ra-amun: Feb 25, 2011

Does anyone have the recipe from the OP of the last chili thread? I have all the ingredients written down but I never saved the directions.

# ? Mar 13, 2012 12:13

Terraplane: Aug 16, 2007; And when I mash down on your little starter, then your spark plug will give me fire.

Ra-amun posted:

Does anyone have the recipe from the OP of the last chili thread? I have all the ingredients written down but I never saved the directions.

Here you go.

dunkman posted:

So without further ado, dunkman's chili recipe (stolen directly from Bluesnews 10 years ago):

5 or so pounds of beef, your choice. I got some pre-cut stew sirloin, since I didn't want to cut it up myself, but really anything works. You can even do ground beef if you really, really want to.
6 cups of Beef Stock
1/2 cup Olive Oil
12 minced up cloves of Garlic
Most of a bottle of beer
2 shots of Tequila
2 shots of Blackstrap molasses
Half a pound of Jalapenos
Optional: Habaneros, anywhere from 2-6 oz depending on how ridiculously spicy you want

Spices:
1 tbsp Oregano
1 tsp Cayenne
2 tbsp cumin
1/3 - 1/2 cup of chili powders, I mix Ancho, Chipotle, New Mexico, Santa Fe, and whatever else they have at the store until I get about the right amount.
1/2 Cup of White Flour.

Once you have that, let's get started:

Gotta make your miz.

I, like most people, am a man. And Men like beef. Regular Beef Broth isn't terribly beefy, so to enhance the beef flavor, use beef brother instead of water and try to make super beef broth using marrow bones and herbs and spices and maybe a few pieces of beef.

Slice up those peppers, you can do them big or small, they'll reduce away anyways.

While that's going, don't crowd your pot, and brown your beef, thrown in your tequila towards the end.

Once it is browned, go ahead and add in the garlic, and then the Flour and Chili Powders (add these all to a small bowl and mix them up), and beer and molasses and everything else. Constantly stirring.

Dump in your peppers! (note: this picture is about half of the peppers total) and keep stirring.

And add in your broth, constantly stirring. It should look something like this.

Let it simmer for a few (like 5-6) hours and it should look something like this. I stirred about every half hour to get the sticky bits off the bottom.

I serve mine over Rice with some Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese. It's delicious.

# ? Mar 13, 2012 14:27

Dangphat: Nov 15, 2011

Although I am sure it does not follow a traditional route I like to add a silky quality to the sauce. After browning the onions and the mince I add dark chocolate and cheap burbon and flambe then add red wine and reduce then add my tomato and chili mix.

I make the tomato and chili mix a cheat way which works for me, which is adding a few buffalo tomatoes to a blender adding my chilis (normally a mix of the standard supermarket ones) and add squid in ink (http://www.britishsupermarketworldwide.com/acatalog/info_35538.html) this gives it a lovely richness. Blend it for five minutes on the maximum setting then add it to the pot as the wine is reduced by half at the same time as adding some stock and dry herbs and spices.

Cook this at a low simmer for a few hours then add fresh oregano and basil then let it cool. The next day reheat it and the flavours will have intensified.

Its not flash or anything but drat tasty will chuck photos up when I next make it.

# ? Mar 13, 2012 16:03

davey4283: Aug 14, 2006; Fallen Rib

I'm glad there's a lot of love for iron legs recipe itt. I looked on the first page before i went to the grocery store and randomly picked it. It's 2 hours into cooking and it smells amazing.

edit

After it cooked for a couple hours it reduced enough where it fit into my crockpot. I let cook for like 8 hours. Its probably the best chili I've made. All in all im pretty happy about it.

davey4283 fucked around with this message at 04:52 on Apr 15, 2012

# ? Apr 14, 2012 22:00

adorai: Nov 2, 2002; 10/27/04 Never forget; Grimey Drawer

I don't remember where I got this recipe, but I make it all the time because it's quite easy and doesn't take very long given the amount of leftovers you will have.

2 lbs ground turkey
30 oz kidney beans, drained and rinsed
10 oz whole kernel sweet corn, drained
15 oz tomato sauce
6oz tomato paste
16 oz water
2-3 hot peppers (jalepenos, habeneros, whatever you like)
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 small red onion
3 tablespoons masa harina (mexican corn) flour
4 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1.5 teaspoons table salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Brown turkey. Combine turkey, beans, corn, tomato sauce and paste and water in large pot. chop onion, peppers, and garlic, put in food processor to finely chop. Add to pot. Combine spices into a bowl, slowly stir into pot. Bring mixture to a slow boil, reduce heat to just under boil and stir occasionally for an hour or so. Flavor improves dramatically after freezing (so make a pot and freeze some for lunches). I also make this for tailgating, and add beer if it starts to dry out on the burner.

prep time: 30 minutes
cook time: 1 hour

# ? Apr 29, 2012 04:45

YEAH DOG: Sep 24, 2009; you wanna join my
primitive noise band?

That's adorable.

# ? Apr 29, 2012 05:41

mindphlux: Jan 8, 2004; by R. Guyovich

adorai posted:

16 oz water

chili has, at its core, three main, essential ingredients. meat, dehydrated ground chilies, and stock or broth. your recipe is failing pretty hard at two of them...

mindphlux fucked around with this message at 04:53 on Apr 30, 2012

# ? Apr 30, 2012 04:50

signalnoise: Mar 7, 2008; i was told my old av was distracting

I've made the argument before that chili is little more than enchilada sauce with meat in it. You can at least aim for that.

# ? Apr 30, 2012 05:33

Jonny 290: May 5, 2005; [ASK] me about OS/2 Warp

My turkey chili gets destroyed by anybody who tries it, but I do throw in almost a pound of pork chorizo, the fat and flavor of which helps out the ground turkey a lot.

# ? May 1, 2012 10:56

GrAviTy84: Nov 25, 2004

Jonny 290 posted:

My turkey chili gets destroyed by anybody who tries it, but I do throw in almost a pound of pork chorizo, the fat and flavor of which helps out the ground turkey a lot.

If you're going to add pork anyway for fat and flavor why don't you just use pork and stop with the ground cardboard?

# ? May 1, 2012 17:51

Schwack: Jan 31, 2003; Someone needs to stop this! Sherman has lost his mind! Peyton is completely unable to defend himself out there!

Agh, I can't seem to figure out my chili powder recipe. This time I went with a few Ancho, a few more New Mexico and 7-8 little Arbols. Last time I did it I substituted Guajillos for the Anchos and it tasted great, this time it has a bitter aftertaste that really bugs me.

Anybody have a really killer chili powder recipe? I'm going crazy coming up with my own.

# ? May 2, 2012 05:49

Jose: Jul 24, 2007; Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster and writer

Are you toasting them? Toasting them for too long? Use a load of cumin as well

# ? May 2, 2012 06:52

mindphlux: Jan 8, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Scott Bakula posted:

Are you toasting them? Toasting them for too long? Use a load of cumin as well

I don't know, I'd disagree with the cumin comment actually. The times where I've used a lot of cumin in my chili powder, it comes out tasting completely unremarkable, and basically like store bought. When I focus more on the chilies, I get a lot more sweetness and chili flavor - I think cumin just overpowers everything if you aren't careful. So, if I'm making like a cup of finished homemade 'chili powder', I think the most cumin I'd put in is a tablespoon ground.

But yeah toasting too long can accentuate the bitterness of chilies - getting even a bit of burnt spices in there is a dealbreaker.

As far as recipes, I always just buy whatever chilies look good at the store and use a random combination. Obviously using a lot less of the more powerful ones like chipolte or whatever, and more of the milder ones.

# ? May 2, 2012 07:36

Schwack: Jan 31, 2003; Someone needs to stop this! Sherman has lost his mind! Peyton is completely unable to defend himself out there!

Maybe it is during the toasting. I toast them for 2-5 minutes, depending on thickness and moisture. When I took them out of the oven they were still pliable and certainly didnt smell burnt.

# ? May 2, 2012 20:17

mindphlux: Jan 8, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Schwack posted:

Maybe it is during the toasting. I toast them for 2-5 minutes, depending on thickness and moisture. When I took them out of the oven they were still pliable and certainly didnt smell burnt.

hmm, well nothing sounds wrong with that - 2-5 minutes shouldn't be a problem even at like 350 or 400.

I did my chilies at like 200 or 250 or something for like 30-45 minutes last time to help dehydrate them if I am remembering correctly, and they only tasted as bitter as they should...

# ? May 2, 2012 23:59

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

All this talk about not making chili with ground beef is just wrong. Is some cubed brisket/chuck better? Maybe. Is ground chuck bad? Hell no. :colbert:

This is how I make my chili, and it's fairly popular at work and home:

5lb ground chuck
32oz petite diced tomatoes
6oz tomato paste
~10 roasted, partially seeded poblanos, small dice
3T minced garlic
2 medium yellow onions, small dice
36oz Shiner Bock
Chili Powder(whatever blend you like) to taste
S&P to taste

I do this in a 12qt stock pot.

Brown chuck, drain. Retain 2T fat in pan for onions. Sweat Onions, add garlic, cook until aromatic. Add tomato paste, form carpet on bottom of pan. Add Shiner and stir, reduce by half. Add petite tomatoes, poblanos and beef. Add in your chili powder and S&P. Mix well and allow to simmer for ~30min to an hour.

I don't personally do cumin in my chili, it should just be meat, chiles, tomatoes, and onions imo.

This is a variation of the chili recipe I was using at 24 Diner. Big differences are small diced brisket and chuck insread of ground, Fireman's #4 instead of Shiner, and 1hr of stew time as opposed to 8.

# ? May 3, 2012 01:07

signalnoise: Mar 7, 2008; i was told my old av was distracting

Ground beef chili is hot dog chili. Not saying that's a terrible thing, cause chili dogs are great when you're drunk or something, but it's bad enough.

Also if you're stewing it why bother with a higher fat grind?

# ? May 3, 2012 02:00

paraquat: Nov 25, 2006; Burp

Hmmm, I love chili, and I've been vaguely aware of chili-disagreements on meat type and bean things and all.

My chili thus far has been ground beef, lots of peppers, lots of herbs and spices, fresh red chili peppers, tomatoes, and beans (kidney beans, chili beans, sometimes chick peas, sometimes corn)
...so kill me, but I liked it!

Today I'm using beef stew meat, and black beans with kidney beans. Also bayleafs and chickenstock to let my stew meat stew...
Oh, and a dash of balsamico vinegar and honey, for tenderizing, and flavor.

The stew meat and stewing are new, as are the black beans.
I'm not too scared, because i will definitely blame this thread if anything goes wrong ;-)

it's tasting nice so far, and I WILL let you know how it turns out!

Anyway, fun thread
chili FTW!

paraquat fucked around with this message at 18:43 on May 3, 2012

# ? May 3, 2012 18:36

paraquat: Nov 25, 2006; Burp

Hmmm, I'm not going to post a chili picture, as they're not what's important (but think dark brown ;-) )

BUT, stew meat is definitely the way to go, apparently!
what a grweat surprise, and I'm going to take back anything I said about it taking time to cut the stew meat into smsmall pieces...it's worth it, seriously!!!

the black beans were fine...the real addition was using bay leafs during the stewing process, I can taste them still! (yes, I did take them out, lol)

anyway:
-small diced up stew meat
-diced up onions
-little diced pepper
-diced tomatoes
-freshv diced up red chillies
-fresh herbs
-honey and brown sugar, to counteract:
-a dash of balsamico vinegar
-time and tortilla chips AND toasted white bread

Loved it, and will definitely use the stew meat again next time!

# ? May 3, 2012 19:46

Jose: Jul 24, 2007; Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster and writer

Use some beer to add liquid for stewing next time as well

# ? May 3, 2012 20:13

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# ? Apr 19, 2024 10:02

paraquat: Nov 25, 2006; Burp

Scott Bakula posted:

Use some beer to add liquid for stewing next time as well

amen ;-)

# ? May 3, 2012 20:17

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