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Okay, so here is my entry! My first ICSA entry, and my first thread ever posted on SA. Allez chili! So day one is going to be spent making a homemade beef stock. Here are our ingredients, the basic mire poix, marrow bones, tomato paste, bay leaf, and peppercorns. The wine is to get slowly wine drunk while this simmers for 12 hours.  Mirepoix chopped up.    And here we have the mirepoix and bones going into the oven to roast. The browning is flavor!  And now we can finally put the stock on to simmer!  I also am reserving the beef fat rendered from the roasting bones. It will come in handy later. What follows is the stock and I slowly simmering away. Also skimming.      The stock is done, and now we strain it and leave it in the fridge. Good night, day one!   The next day, I pull the fat off of the stock and reserve it along with my other beef fat. And my sous-chef decided to show up for work.   So here we see all the ingredients for chili. The beef stock, 4 pounds chuck roast, 1 pound short ribs, 1 pound chorizo, white onion, garlic, ALL the fresh peppers, dried fruity, spicy, and fresh peppers, chipotles in adobo, mexican oregano, all spice, cumin, cinnamon, masa corn flour, fish sauce, black strap molasses, a chocolate stout, MSG, reserved beef fat, and apple cider vinegar. Phew!  And here it is all nicely chopped up, trimmed, and prepared.  This is the result of reconstituting the dried chilis. I microwaved them a bit, then simmered them in the beef stock with the chipotles in adobo. I set it aside to heat the peppers through.  Here I have the beef seasoned. I cut the chuck into "steaks" so that I can brown a few of them really well rather than winding up steaming a bunch of beef cubes crowding a pot.   I brown up the short ribs. Not pictured is me panicking about the fond burning and discarding all of it. One time I made a short rib chili and I burnt the ribs, leading to a chili that tasted strongly of cigarettes. Not fun.   I brown a few of the steaks, but not all of them. This is get the browned flavor in the chili without toughening all of the meat. I cube everything up.  I also have to pay my sous-chef.     I start to brown the onions in the beef fond. This helps to deglaze the pan as the onions release liquid. Not seen is me adding the garlic and spices. I take the reconstituted chilis and beef stock and blend them into a puree, finally pouring the puree and meat into the pot. It is at this point that I realize this chili is going to go past the fill line of my pressure cooker. Cursing, I pour everything into a stock pot, instead.    I put the chorizo in another pan to brown. I've found with ground meats that a great way to get a good browning rather than steaming is to drop them into the pan like a patty, then break it up afterward. I add the fresh peppers to this mix, and deglaze with the chocolate stout.  The peppers and chorizo mix are added to the pot, along with a shot of blackstrap, fish sauce, and some MSG (for flavor!).  The chili has been simmering for a few hours at this point, so it's time to see an old friend.     So I use the reserved beef fat to make a roux with the masa corn flour. It smells AMAZING, like beefy corn bread. I also add some apple cider vinegar and salt to the chili. Once I get the roux approximately the color of the chili, it's ready to add.  The chili darkens significantly, and after a bit more simmering...  It's done! Now to let it rest overnight in the fridge. Good night, day two...   It's day three and the smell from yesterday has convinced me to make a cornbread. It's a recipe from Chef John that I've never tried before. Pretty basic mixing up baking ingredients and baking the oven for a while. Looks good!  So let's talk accompaniments to chili. All of the above are things I like to add. Not pictured is a fried egg. However, for this chili I've decided to go traditional, and just do minced white onion and grated cheddar.  So I like to try out new cheddar cheeses when I make chili. I was trying to decide what cheese to get when I picked this one up at the store. Hmm, maybe this will work?  Yep, this is the one. Hail Satan.  And the final product! I also poured out some valentina hot sauce on it, which is delicious. The meat is tender, there's a rich fruity undertone, and there's just a hint of spiciness. This is a good chili. So why is this the best chili? Well, because it's my best chili. Chili has been my favorite food since I was a little kid. Back in elementary school on chili day, I used to pour a bunch of pepper packets on the chili (because I thought that was how to make it spicier) and challenge people to eating contests. I also called myself "the fastest chili eater in the west" even though I lived in Kentucky because I was a dumb kid who didn't know what west meant. I also used to be an extremely picky eater, not eating any kind of vegetable. The first time I really branched out was getting fresh onions on chili. That was like the dam bursting for my pickiness, and now I eat anything. This chili let me try out a bunch of techniques: knife work, browning, simmering, roux-making, and baking. It's a lot of fun to make, and is basically an annual event for me in the fall. This chili comes from Kenji Lopez-Alt's recipe for chili con carne, with some additions of my own. The beef stock and cornbread are from chef john from Food Wishes. I'm super thankful for the chance to make this chili and for all that I've learned about cooking in the last 8 years. Thanks to this forum, too! You're all great.
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Oct 17, 2017 02:54
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| # ? May 5, 2024 10:50 |
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Okay, here's a psychological report on my chili. PSYCHOLOGICAL CULINARY REPORT NAME: A Play on Kenji Lopez-Alt’s Real Texas Chili Con Carne SEX: Unnecessary with Chili AGE: 6 Years of Tweaks DOB: 6/6/6 PRICE: Like 100 bucks for everything, I think? DATES OF CREATION: 10/14/2017-10/16/2017 TECHNIQUES: Stock-making Knifework Rehydration Blending Searing Pressure Cooking Long simmer Roux-making CHEF: Fr0id, M.S. Clinical Psychology, Amateur Cook REFERRAL INFORMATION: This chili is a recipe that has been tweaked and modified over the course of 6 years, and was referred by the Iron Chef Something Awful 67 Chili contest. The specific referral question is “As your Chairman, I have long pondered a dangerous question. What is chili? Are beans required, or verboten? Must there be meat? What spice is sublime? As the weather here turns cold, and the tailgating begins, this question demands an answer.” FAMILY HISTORY: The chef reports that as a child he lived in Kentucky, and would claim he was “the fastest chili eater in the west.” Chef was raised on midwestern-style chili prepared by his mother, but also experienced Cincinnati-style chili upon moving to northern Kentucky. Chef’s nutritional needs were met by the chili he ate as a child, although he lacked for spice and for a time mistakenly believed that the peppers in chili came from ground black pepper. Chef began cooking for himself at the age or 20, and tried making his own chili at the age of 21, using a recipe from a cookbook based on a webcomic. Chef has never eaten a Texas-style chili that he has not prepared himself. Chef reports that his family does not like chili to be too spicy. Chef was single and not dating at the time of creating this chili. Chef reports that he has not been dating while trying to get in better physical shape. Chef does report fond memories of cooking chili with a former romantic partner. EDUCATIONAL HISTORY: Chef is a self-taught cook, taking inspiration from the aforementioned webcomic cookbook, googling “best ____ recipe,” and Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. Chef reports that his primary sources for recipes currently are the Serious Eats website, Goons with Spoons, and Chef John with Foodwishes. Chef also has a graduate degree in psychology, which he reports has not proven to be very effective in improving quality of his chili. LEGAL HISTORY/COMMUNITY PROBLEMS: Chef reports no arrests as a juvenile or adult. Chef reports that his chilis have met with mixed reactions, mostly focusing on it being “too spicy” or “being more like barbecue than [midwestern] chili.” HEALTH HISTORY AND MEDICATION: Chef is currently overweight and working to get in better shape. Chef reports that he could only eat small servings of his chili at a time, due to being on a calorie-restricted diet. Chef reports that he currently has no issues with blood pressure or heart issues, and that being place on a salt-restricted diet would likely kill him. BEHAVIORAL HEALTH HISTORY: Chef reports that he has been a graduate student in psychology and “that should tell you all you need to know about my mental health.” SUBSTANCE USE HISTORY: During making of chili, chef drank a bottle of shiraz on day 1, 5 chocolate porters on day 2, and a double old fashioned on day 3. Chef denies drug or alcohol abuse. WORK HISTORY: Chef works as a psychotherapist for clients with serious mental illnesses. Chef has expressed no desire to pursue a culinary career. Chef reports that one of his current coworkers makes a chili that is comprised of “ground beef, canned chili beans, and spices” with no other ingredients. Chef reports being highly disturbed by this. CHILI STATUS: Appearance and Behavior Chili was completed on schedule during weekend. Chili had reddish-brown color, and a thickness allowing a spoon to stand up in it. Meat in chili had fallen apart into strands rather than maintaining cube shape. Some pieces of peppers are visible in chili. Chili did not appear intoxicated. Flow of Conversation and Thought Chili provided no response to conversation other than a slight bubbling sound during cooking. Affect and Mood Chili had flat affect during cooking. Chili’s cooking process was blunted, remaining at a light simmer rather than full boil. Upon adding roux, chili became briefly aggressive and splattered some, but quickly calmed down. Anxiety Chili displayed no anxiety during interview. Chef reported some trepidation during roux-making process. Mental Content Chili did not report any current hallucinations. Consumption of chili did not lead to “chili sweats” or any spirit journeys based on insanity peppers. ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING: Chili was left to rest in refrigerator after cooking, and was later transferred to individual serving containers to be frozen. Chili provided approximately 14 servings. COOKING RESULTS: The abandoning of the pressure cooker possibly resulted in the chili meat falling apart rather than maintaining shape. Simmering process may have extended too long. Chili had a surprisingly mild level of spice, possibly due to addition of fat-heavy roux. Flavor of chili was rich and beefy, with hints of fruitiness. Chili contains primary ingredients of beef and chili peppers. Chili status has not been ruled out by inclusion of beans and/or tomatoes. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS: Chili is from a Kenji recipe that has been tweaked over the past 6 years. Chili has a long history of being much less thick, with most recent cooking adding a thickening roux. Current information suggests that chili has characteristics of an authentic chili, albeit one with improvisational features. RECOMMENDATIONS: Based on the information from cooking, the following recommendations are offered: 1. Buy a larger pressure cooker. 2. Future chilis should reduce the amount of roux added, and pay careful attention to meat integrity. MSG could likely be omitted due to umami flavors already present from fish sauce and homemade beef stock.
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Nov 16, 2017 03:07
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