When the mercury dips into the 50s and football season is in full swing I start to get a hankering. Nothing says fall like a good pot of chili con carne. My wife made the suggestion on the way home today and I was happy to obliged. There are a thousand ways to skin a cat and make a pot of chili. I in no way claim to have a blue ribbon recipe or am an authority but I have learned a few things from trial and error. Here is my contribution which come with the usual disclaimer of; I rarely measure and scarcely use scripted recipes.
The meat is the most important thing. Today I used beef chuck, pork shoulder (boston butt), and some ground buffalo. In the past I have included venison, antelope, goat, turkey, lamb, moose, or any other flesh that can be obtained. They all add their own interesting characteristics and flavors that can add depth and character to your creation. You can buy chili meat from you local grocery store which is little more than ground beef scraps pushed through a different die. I choose to make my own so that I can control the composition and texture.
There is a requisite amount of fat required, since after all fat is flavor. The good thing about making your own chili meat is that you can control this like an OCD kid sorting legos. I am a big fan of beef chuck for the base. It is easy to find and usually has an 80/20 lean to fat composition. I like to add some pork shoulder for lightness and texture, and the buffalo just happened to be available. Stick with the beef if you want to keep it simple.
3/4 pound of beef chuck and pork shoulder and 1/2 pound of Buffalo.
First cut up your meat into 1" cubes. Don't be too fussy since it is all gonna be chopped up next.
Drop a few pieces at a time into your food processor with the standard chopping blade. Pulse 8-10 times to get the desired consistency. Remove and start another batch.
This is what you are looking for. Not completely ground. Texture is good.
Brown the meat in small batches in a heavy bottomed pot or enameled dutch oven with some canola oil, salt, and pepper. Notice all the yummy brown goodness on the bottom. That is called fond. It makes everything taste better. We will deal with that later. Remove and let the meat drain on a plate lined with paper towels.
Add your aromatics. This is 1 large white onion, 1 large shallot, and 5-6 cloves of fresh garlic. a rough chop or dice is fine. Add salt and pepper and cook until translucent which should be 8-10 minutes.
Once your onions and such are cooked down add at least 1/2 bottle of red wine. The majority of my cooking liquid is wine or beer since water really adds no flavor and instead becomes a simple medium to cook in. Make sure and scrape all of the browned bits off the bottom of the pan with a flat head wooden spoon or spatula.
This is where you start adding your spices and such. I have previously blogged about my favorite, but that is certainly left to your own personal interpretation. Yeah, most purists would go and hunt and gather their own ingredients but I leave that to food anthropologists and budding sociopaths. My personal fav asks for some crushed tomatoes and water but of course I deviate. A can or two of crushed tomatoes is great but remember to drain the juice. I also add a can of tomato sauce, a can of tomato paste, 2 bay leaves, the zest of 1/2 lemon and the juice of a whole lemon. A splash of apple cider vinegar and a spoon full of brown sugar is always appreciated. Return the meat to the pot and add enough wine or water to ensure that all the goodies are floating.
Bring this whole mess to a simmer and the cover and turn down the heat to LOW. Grab half of your six pack or another bottle of wine and go catch at least 2 hours of a game or some home improvement shows. Come back later and check your creation. If it is a little thin leave the lid off for a few. If you insist on thickening it with assistance I recommend using Guar Gum. It has 8x the thickening power of corn starch and is very flavor neutral.
Remove from the heat and get your fixings ready. I am a fan of Fritos, corn bread, sharp cheddar cheese, diced onion, cilantro, and sour cream.
Pick your poison and you are good to go.
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