Chili: Evolutionary Road

In honor of the Oscar's today, I will show my own Evolutionary Road on the way to evolving a recipe for chili con carne. Aware that I had clipped some articles years ago for chili, I tracked down my yellowed clippings of some winners of the  World Championship Chili Cookoffs (Rudy Valdez, Joe Stewart, and Bill Pfeiffer ). Also the recipe of Bob Coats in the Terlinga International Chili Championships. On these sites you can find the winners for the past 30+ years.

I then turned to some of my favorite books where I might find chili: Silver Palette Cookbook, Chili for a Crowd, page 130...., Bernard Clayton's great  Compete Book of Soups and Stews, where he has a whole chapter including 5 Chili recipes including the one from Lady Bird Johnson and the LBJ Library, and finally Clifford Wright's, Real Stew, a food scholar and great cook, including this   Wright's very good chili recipe as well.

After sifting through different ideas from these sources (don't go too crazy though or you will be like a dog chasing it's tail-or some equivalent Texas saying), I worked out what I wanted in my chili.  

I like richness, layering, complexity, umami, and medium heat.  For the meats I went to the relatively local Mexican market and had them grind pork shoulder and beef chucksteak coarsely.  For the chili's I used both fresh and dried powdered: ancho, guajillo, jalepeno, or anything else you may have around.  I used canned tomatoes (drained and squeezed through your fingers) and large cans of black beans (also drained).  I also like the sweetness added by ground cinnamon and allspice.  A square of baker's chocolate adds another element of depth.

Howard's Evolutionary Road Chili(A Synthesis):

Quantities are approximate, use your intuition, and taste early and often ( a Chicago tradition)

2 lbs  coarsely ground pork shoulder

2 lbs  coarsely ground beef chuck steak

6 cloves of garlic

4 jalepeno's

4 large white or Spanish onions diced

2 cups chili powder (mixture of ancho, guajillo, paprika, regular chili powder, smoked Spanish      chili powder-not too much, etc)

1/2 cup ground toasted cumin (can be toasted whole then ground in spice mill, or not)

1/4 cup ground toasted black pepper (or just from store ground is fine)

1/4 cup garlic powder

1/4 cup onion powder

2 T ground cinnamon

2 T ground allspice

4 T dried oregano (can use the Mexican oregano)

2 T dried thyme

2 T MSG (or not, but I like the flavors that it brings out)

2 28oz cans of tomatoes

2 large or 4 smaller cans of black beans

1 bottle good bodied beer like Sam Adams, or your favorite local microbeer

4 bay leaves

2 T or to taste sherry vinegar

1/2 cup dry vermouth

1/2 orange peel (1/2 orange)

4 dashes angostora bitters

1 piece baking or mexican chocolate (1/4 of the round discs you get of the mexican type)

4 T rendered lard from Chicharron in Mexican grocery store (comes in 2 quart tubs)

1/2 cup Masa Harina (Mexican corn flour)

1.In large Dutch oven (Le Creuset is great, or heavy bottomed stainlessd) over moderate + heat, melt 3 T of the lard and slowly carmelize the diced onions; after they begin to color lightly add 4 cloves of diced garlic and saute another 5 minutes.  Remove the onion, garlic saute from the pot.

2. Add 1 T of lard and the ground pork and beef.  Add about 1 T of salt and the black pepper.  Stir occasionaly as the meat browns.  After the meat is browned, with some spots a little crisped but not burned, spash some light vermouth in  to deglaze the bottom of the pot.  This can be done a couple of times, each time letting it all evaporate.

3. Mix together the dried chili powders, the cumin, oregano,thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, cinnamon, and allspice.  Mix into to the meat and cook the dried spices briefly.  Add back the onion and garlic mixture, and mix well.

4. Drain the beans and the tomatoes, break the tomatoes up by squeezing them through your hands (or can used diced tomatoes).  Add to the rest of the ingredients in the dutch oven.  Add the bottle of beer.

5. Add about 3 cups of water and a one large or two small beef bouillon cubes (or beef, vegetable, or chicken stock)  Add several bay leaves, 3 dashes Angostora Bitters, sherry vinegar to taste, and a few dashes of Kecap Manis. Add the masa harina and the piece of chocolate. Simmer for 2 hours, making sure the beans don't stick and burn on the bottom of the Dutch oven. Add more stock as needed.

6. Note: now is the time to balance out the flavors: sweet, acid, umani, salt.  The salt should be just below the level of noticing it.  The umani comes from the Kecap Manis, a thick soy product at oriental grocery stores.  Can also come from dried porcini's, Marmite, Maggi, one anchovy, etc.  The sweet and sour balance comes from the sherry or red wine vinegar.  Looking for the high notes, without being like salad dressing.  Play around!

7.  Serve with steamed or toasted flour tortillas and the following condiments:  sharp chedder cheese, grated,  mexican crema rancherito or sour cream, 1" sliced green scallions, cilantro leaves, pickled red onions (Escabeche de Cebolla). 

8. Escabeche de Cebolla (from Rick Bayless's Authentic Mexican, page 50):

2 red onions  cut in half vertically, then cut into 1/4 " slices

1/2 tsp black peppercorns

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

4 cloves garlic peeled and halved

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup cider vinegar

parboil the sliced onion in a saucepan with salted water. Bring to boil, time for

one minute, remove and drain

coarsely gring the peppercorens and cumin, then add to the saucepan, along with the remaining ingredients.  Pour in just enough water to barely cover onions, bring to boil for 3 minutes, remove from heat and pour into a small, non corrosive bowl. Let cool. 

8. Ladle chili into a large soup bowl, invite guests to put on the condiments they want, and serve with the warm flour tortilla, and good local beer.  I served this with guacamole and chips, and my roasted tomatillo sausa as starters.  Goes well with limonada or margarita's.

9 Enjoy!!!