Grilled cheese sequel: Your chili recipes...

My simple request for the best way to make a grilled cheese sandwich turned into a really popular thread, and probably influenced dinner selections that evening for at least a few of us.

I realized my crock pot has been idle for way too long (new SWMBO gave it to me for Xmas last year & probably only used it a few times during the winter). I was told a simple chili recipe back then and obviously have forgotten it now. So I'm curious, what YOU guys make? I like it spicy but I'm not infallible. No ghost peppers or anything that makes it impossible to eat more than one spoonful.

Lay it on me (well, us). What's your version?

Chili is such a weird one. I follow no recipe but go with a very organic/zen like "what looks chili-esque in the pantry and fridge?

Basics: a couple of pounds of ground meat, couple of cans of dark red kidney beans. Maybe some black beans if they are around. Couple of cans of diced tomatoes and a can of tomato paste. An onion diced small. Some BBQ sauce. Some mustard. Some vinegar. Spices, lots of spices. A bit of brown sugar to ease the bite and bring balance.

It's never exactly the same twice but it's always delicious.

No noodles. Noodles do NOT belong in chili.

My chili is pretty straightforward. In fact, I'm going to make a pot of it tonight.

I use a large can or two of fire roasted tomatoes, a large can of kidney beans, some minced garlic, and a chopped onion. Maybe a little sauteed green pepper if I have one; that's optional. A bunch of ground chili powder and some smoked paprika; a little salt and black pepper. Some diced jalapenos for heat to taste.

For meat, I tend to use whatever I have as leftovers. Chop it up into 1/4" chunks if necessary and throw it in the pot. Tonight I'm using some leftover pork chops and a little smoked ham. Then you just simmer until it tastes good.

The secret is bacon. Seriously. Get a pound or two of thick cut smoky bacon. Crisp. Chop fine. The saltiness and smoke add another dimension to the flavor. I generally use chicken as my Main protein, and marinate it in a blend of spices for a good day or.so before cooking, sear it off in a pan to get some smoke into it, and into the pot.

The rest, I couldn't tell you. It's not that I'm all that protective, I just don't know. I make it by taste and have never writhen anything down.

Try throwing in some chorizo, bratwurst, or Italian sausage ground up in there. Don't make it your base meat though.

I like to throw some rice in as well to thicken it up.

Add the beans late, like less than an hour before serving (you ARE cooking it for at least 3 hours, right?). This keeps them from turning into mush. And if you need to liquefy it a bit, a bottle of good beer is a great way to do it.

roasted hatch and polblano peppers, neither is overly hot, both bring great flavor notes. Meat, sirloin (it's about all it's good for) cubed into uniform chunks, bacon or better yet rendered cubed pork belly and put some of the rendered fat into the pot. The beef/pork blend, much like a good meatball, is critical. Even if you do a version that isn't sirloin/pork belly be sure to incorporate both elements. Freshly chopped spanish and vadilla onion in a 2:1 ratio. and when seasoning be sure that cinnamon and brown sugar are involved, cumin and even a dash of nutmeg (used very sparingly) is helpful. The sweet seasonings will play off of the spice notes of the traditional spicy seasonings, heightening the flavor notes in the process.

KyAllroad wrote: No noodles. Noodles do NOT belong in chili.

They belong UNDER chili. Sometimes. (I love my Skyline, but regular chili gets no noodles.)

All I know is I need cornbread to dip into it. Chilli is the only thing I eat cornbread with, but it is a must.

Mine is essentially Carrol Shelby's recipe:

4 servings

• 2 pounds extra lean ground beef
• 2 large can Tomato sauce
• 1 can Beer(12oz ea)
• 1 can kidney beans
• 1 green pepper
• 1/4 cup Crushed Red chile, hot
• 2 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 Onion, small, finely chopped
• 1 1/4 teaspoons Oregano, dried, pref. Mexican
• 1/2 teaspoon Paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Cumin, ground
• 1 1/4 teaspoons Salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Cayenne pepper

• 3/4 pound Monterey Jack cheese, grated

• Brown the meat evenly.

• Add the tomato sauce, beer, pepper, beans, ground chile, garlic, onion, oregano, paprika, 1 teaspoon of the cumin, and the salt. Stir to blend. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour. Stir occasionally.

• Taste and adjust seasonings, adding the cayenne pepper. Simmer, uncovered, 1 hour longer.

• Stir in the cheese and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of the cumin. Simmer 1/2 hour longer, stirring often to keep the cheese from burning.

I also have a really good white chicken chili recipe that uses canelloni beans and a boatload of sauteed peppers that you puree. It's really good with fresh cilantro and green onions on top. I'll try to find it and post the recipe.

For quick chili, I often use ground meat. I know the purists will scoff at ground meat, but sometimes it's what needs to be done.

If I do use ground meat, I use beef, pork and chorizo in a 2:2:1 ratio.

SkinnyG wrote: Mine is essentially Carrol Shelby's recipe:

pretty close to mine, with a few minor differences...

2 pounds beef round, cut to 1/2" cubes (sometimes I go with 1 pound round and 1 pound coarse ground beef)

1 pound chorizo

1 chipotle pepper, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 large yellow onion, chopped

3-4 large jalapenos, chopped

3-4 cloves garlic, chopped fine

2 large cans diced tomatoes w/ green chilis

1 can tomato sauce

1 can chili beans in medium sauce (or just pintos)

1 can beer

4 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1.5 teaspoon Mexican oregano

1 tablespoon masa flour (white cornmeal will do) to thicken

cayenne pepper to taste

salt to taste

brown steak and then add tomatoes, beer, and sauce, lower heat, cover and cook for 2-3 hours. In separate pan, brown beef and drain, add chorizo, bell pepper, onions, and garlic, cook until onions are soft. Add to main pot with steak and tomatoes, add beans, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, salt, and oregano. Cover and reduce heat, simmer another hour or two. if you want to thicken, mix masa in a couple spoons of cool water, then stir in. taste and add salt and/or heat as required.

since ya'll said cornbread, this get destroyed at our house, sometimes way faster than the chili its served with:

Bad-MOFO cornbread

jiffy corn bread mix but use Mexican heavy table cream instead of milk, mix and pour half of batter into a hot oven-safe pan (I have a stainless 9-inch sautee pan I use) with a spoon of melted butter. On top of the cornbread mix, scatter 1 small can of corn (or about 1/2 cup of fresh corn), a fresh diced large jalapeno (every now and then I'll chop up a chipotle chili in adobo sauce and add that too if I want it to have more kick), and a generous layer of shredded mexican blend and pepperjeck cheese. Cover good bits with the rest of the cornbread mix, dust on top with a little chili powder or Emeril's Southwest Essence, and bake at 400 (iirc, whatever it says on the box) for about 30-35 minutes until a toothpick pulls out of the center clean.

Cut into wedges, serve with chili and shredded cheese.

Mine is something like this:

• 1 cup of dried pinto beans
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 can tomatoes
• 1 can tomato paste (makes for a thicker chili)
• 1 onion
• One or more fresh chili peppers
• Cumin
• Oregano
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

If you're bothered by gas, bring the beans to a boil the night before, then shut off the heat, let sit overnight, and pour off the water before you get started.

Put about two or three cups of water on the beans and boil for about an hour.

Brown the meat in a skillet.

Chop the onion and the pepper(s).

Once the beans have boiled an hour, put everything in the pot except the cheese and cook another hour. Throw the cheese in, let it melt, and serve.

we usually do something along these lines

http://beerandpig.com/2012/06/spicy-beer-bratwurst-chili/

mmm....bratwurst.

My chili is pretty standard midwestern/mom chili, with just a couple of variations: I like cannellini beans, because I think red kidney beans have tough skins and don't like that, I add a generous amount of smoked spicy-hot paprika, and I add a touch of cinnamon--not full Skyline amounts, but a half-teaspoonful adds a tasty backnote of flavor.

Now, cornbread... Jiffy is okay if you're a communist and like that sweet crap, but I really like Martha White's Cotton Pickin' cornbread. Make the southern egg bread version of the recipe, and make a double batch. Preheat the oven to recipe temp, pour a generous slug of corn or canola oil into a cast-iron frypan, heat it in the oven until it's hot but not smoking, pour in the cornbread mix and bake until it passes the toothpick test. Cut into wedges, slather generously with butter. Eat a lot.

Margie

edit: Gotta say, though, Floyd's bad MOFO cornbread could make me love Jiffy. That looks tasty.

No Commie, I only like the Jiffy being sweet because it seems to complement the heat from the peppers in there. I have made the recipe with regular corn meal and it rocks also. And be generous with the peppers, corn and cheese..... I haven't managed to put "too much" in there yet.

We have an annual Chili competition at work. My thought was that chili should taste like it came off an open fire and that the only good soup (chili) is made with fresh ingredients. I smoked a pork roast in slabs then rough ground it with a processor. I used the processor to liquefy fresh tomatoes and smoked some chopped/sliced onions/peppers/jalapenos (unseeded). Basically it was one red onion, one yellow onion, one red/green/yellow pepper (each)and three pounds of jalapenos plus the ground smoked roast. IIRC it was about five lb tomatoes. Simmer the hell out of it in a crock pot because the tomatoes will have a lot of water. I like the smokey flavor but a lot of folks don't.

I can't formulate a recipe but I like to include good paprika, garlic powder, cumin, coriander, oregano,cayenne, chili powder,bay leaf, salt of your choice, plenty of bell peppers red and green, onion, lots of garlic, halopenis peppers(seeded or taste them). I like using a mixture of whole tomatoes(28) and tomatoe paste for the base. You basically cook your beef meats, I use cut up shoulder beef then saute the hell out of it in a stock pot, then toss the mixed spice stuff into the beef to brown it. Toss the tomatoes in and cook it on the lowdown, dont burn the bastard. I put red kidney beans in mine. Add water after adding tomatoes but before beans. time it and dont be a wuss.

Garnish with fresh cilantro, sour cream, jalapenos, chedder cheese.

If you are a daredevil serve it with cornbread and pepto bismol.

Its not really chili, but I'm not really sure what category it would fall under and it was really good so I'd like to share.

1lb spicy Sausage, pick your favorite mine was AK reindeer, pork, and beef. Chopped.

1 whole yellow onion, diced.

Minced garlic

1 can tomatoes, corn, and okra

2 can Rotel tomatoes & green chili

1 cup quinoa

Sear the sausage in a pan with the onions and garlic and then throw them in the crock pot. Deglaze the pan with the stock or water, then pour the juices in the crock pot. Pour in the cans of tomatoes, corn, okra, and Rotel, set the pot on low, and leave it to cook all day.

About a half hour before you're ready to eat, wash the quinoa and then brown in a saucepan with a little bit of oil. When it starts to turn color, add a total of 2 cups of water/stock/liquid from the crock pot, bring to a boil, then simmer for about 30min or till the water is absorbed.

Serve together in a bowl, and hopefully enjoy.

I wing it. Cooking is one of few things I don't bother reducing to a science. Brown a lb or two of whatever ground meat is in the freezer, cut up an onion or three and throw in, throw in a few cans of tomato products (omehting like 2 sauce, 1 soup, 1 diced), couple cans of beans(whatever you like) maybe three, bring to boil, initial season(lawrys, black pepper, brown sugar, cayenne, garlic powder), reduce to simmer, wait a while (maybe half an hour), adjust seasoning, simmer a while longer, eat. Always better the next day, slow cooker adaptation would probably solve that.

I'm also in the "whatever I have laying around" camp, but I am a big fan of using venison sausage for my meat. I usually brown it first, then do a basic mirepoix, add my peppers and garlic, and brown the tomato paste. Then I throw the meat back in, add beans, couple cans of diced tomatoes (or fresh, if it happens to be summer and we have a ton of them from the garden), and whatever spices and other random additions feel right at the time. Simmer, and you're done.

First, you gotta answer the New Mexico State Question (really, I'm not making this up): Red or Green? Actually the best answer is the State Answer: Christmas (both).

Here's how we do green:

not exact amounts, just experiment:

Meat - I like to cut some Beef chuck into 1-inch or so cubes, and some pork into similar cubes, then brown them well and dump them in the crock pot. No chorizo, save it for red chile.

Cut up some onion and garlic (can't use too much garlic), toss 'em in the pot.

Add chicken broth, a couple diced jalapenos, half a bottle of Herdez green tomatillo sauce (important), let 'er cook in a crock pot for most of the day. Never hurts to toss in a little Tony Cachere's Creole seasoning (like the label says, good on everything)

About an hour before dinner, add around 4 or 5 diced, roasted and peeled fresh chiles (big Jim, Anaheim, whatever). If you want a bit more complex flavor, also add a roasted, peeled, diced poblano and maybe a couple of serranos. If you add the chiles too early they turn to mush. If you like beans in your chile, add a can of Bush's pintos (please, not kidneys!). If you like potatoes, probably should dice them and add them pretty early, they take a long time to cook (at least at my elevation, 9000 feet! You folks in the lowlands know how long to cook your potatoes. We have to pressure cook ours!).

Grate up some Monterrey Jack or sharp cheddar, heat up a couple of buttered flour tortillas, and dig in.

Red ideas in a little while.

On to red: One rule: if it's gonna be called chile, it's gotta have chile in it.

This is an easy version we make for breakfast or lunch, there are lots of ways to do red chile: thick with chunks, thin with tomatoes, etc.

Meat: sautee some onion and garlic, add in some decent ground beef, along with some chorizo - don't need a big percentage of chorizo, we find it a bit too acidic if you use too much. If you want to be healthy (ish), when the meat's done, add some water and boil a bit, then put everything through a colander. Put the meat back in the pot, let the broth stand, remove the fat, then add the broth back to the meat.

Add a can of diced tomatoes, if you like beans (I do), add a can of Bush's pintos, some beef broth if needed, and red chile powder to taste, how much depends on how hot your chile powder is. The stuff we get is medium (we buy it 5 pounds at a time), so we use maybe three heaping tablespoons. For more interest, toss in a couple of chopped chipotles with some of the adobo sauce they come packed in, and maybe a jalapeno. Sometimes I sautee some diced red bell pepper in with the onions and garlic, I don't use green bell pepper, I think it's too bitter for my taste.

Let simmer, and as with the green (above), warm up some flour tortillas and add some grated jack or cheddar cheese. Out here, lots of people like to add a fried egg on top, over easy, if it's breakfast.

Maybe I'll get my wife to write down her recipe for carne adovada -it's super.