Rob's Rants

It's Winter Here in Massachusetts

The other day I watched a show on Food Network about the 2009 World Chili Championships, in Reno, Nevada. Over the course of the hour I learned a lot about what sacrifices people make for “competition chili” versus regular chili. Like having only three hours to get everything cooked and insisting that the finished chili be smooth and absent any chunky tomatoes, onions, or peppers.

Kind of like bar-b-que, there are probably as many chili recipes as there are chili cooks. The International Chili Society, which conducts the World Championships, has an interesting rule: each year’s winner must publish their recipe so the rest of the world’s chili cooks can see what won. No secrets! That’s pretty cool.

I looked over some of the winners and realized that my own personal chili style kind of fit the general championship theme: rich chili pepper base; minimal green peppers and onions; and real beef cut into small cubes rather than ground beef.

But I also realized that many of the winners worked through various rituals and additions of ingredients that simply made no sense to me — they must be based on superstition rather than actual experimentation. So using some of the recipes I found on the Chili Society’s website as inspiration, I decided to adapt my own chili recipe to see if I could come up with something good.

My basic thinking:

• Chili peppers should form a rich base. Chili powder should be home made as much as possible.
• The tomato base should be strong and not watery.
• Meat should have “tooth,” that is, be bite-able and chewable, not mushy like over cooked ground beef.
• There should be a complex heat, but not mouth-burning.

So here’s the recipe I came up with.

Ingredients

• 6 dried ancho chili peppers¹
• 2 dried cascabel chili peppers¹
• 2 dried arbol chili peppers¹
• 2 special dried hot Hungarian peppers²
• 1 T cumin seed
• Kosher salt
• 2 lbs. sirloin, cut into 1/4 to 3/8 in cubes²
• 4 slices smoked bacon
  
• 1 – 2 T Worchestershire sauce
• 2 cans Ro-Tel tomato & chili pepper mix
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 15 oz. can beef broth/stock⁴
• 1 15 oz. can chicken broth/stock⁴
• 4 cloves garlic, minced fine
• 1/2 C green bell pepper, chopped fine
• 1/2 C white or yellow onion, chopped fine
• 1 – 4 T light brown sugar
• 1 -2 T masa harina (fine ground corn meal) or corn starch (to thicken if necessary)

Preperation

Build the Chili Powder Base

1. Heat your oven to 325° F. (Or optionally heat a cast iron skillet on the stove top on medium-high heat.)
2. Spread the chili peppers on a baking sheet.
3. Toast in the oven for 10 minutes, or until dry and fragrant.
4. Remove peppers and let cool. Turn off oven.
5. Spread cumin seed on hot tray, and return to  hot oven for 5 min. (oven is off — residual heat will roast seeds).
6. Remove stems and seeds from peppers.
7. Crumble peppers into spice grinder in two separate batches:
8. In one batch, grind cascabel, arbol, and hot hungarian peppers (this will be HOT chili powder)
9. In other batch, grind ancho chilis
10. Grind toasted cumin seed

Brown the Beef

1. Chop the bacon into small pieces and place in a pot over low heat. Cook until crispy and the fat has rendered.
2. Add the beef, being careful not to crowd the pot. Add a pinch or two of kosher salt and let brown.
3. Remove to a separate bowl.

Sweat the Base

1. Add more oil/bacon fat to the pan if necessary, and dump in the onions and peppers. Add a pinch of salt.
2. Cook until translucent, stirring occasionally (~10 min).
3. Add the garlic and stir for another minute.

Bloom the Chili Powder

1. Add most of the ancho chili powder to the pot and stir (I reserve about 1 T in case I need to adjust the seasoning later).
2. Add the ground cumin (again, reserving some to adjust seasoning later).
3. Add between 1/2 and all of the arbol/cascabel chili powder (to taste — the more the hotter the final chili will be).
4. Keep stirring for a minute or two until the whole mixture is fragrant.

Begin the Simmer

1. Deglaze the pan by adding one can of beef stock and turning the heat up to high.
2. Stir to release all the fond from the bottom of the pan.
3. Return the meat to the pot.
4. Add the Worcestershire sauce, 1 can of Ro-Tel, and tomato paste. Stir.
5. Bring the pot to a simmer, and let cook for 2 hours, stirring occasionally, and adding chicken stock as necessary to keep everything covered and loose in the pot.

Bring it Home

1. After 2 hours, add the second can of Ro-Tel.
2. Adjust the salt as necessary.
3. Simmer for an additional 30 minutes.
4. After 30 minutes, add the brown sugar, one Tablespoon at a time, until the desired sweetness is reached. (I usually use 1 – 2 T total).
5. Let cook for another 30 minutes.
6. After 30 minutes, thicken with either cornstarch dissolved in chicken stock  or straight masa harina.

Notes

¹ I usually get my peppers from Penzey’s Spices, at http://www.penzeys.com.

² I don’t know the actual name of the peppers I use. Many years ago my father and his friends brought seeds for these peppers to the US from Hungary on one of their trips home. My family (I’m actually the only one left) has been growing them ourselves for at least 40 years. They do very well in northern climates. They are about 4″ long maybe as thick as your pinky finger when fully grown, and turn from a dark green to a rich red. When green they are very hot. When red they are nearly unbearable. When dried they put other peppers to shame. The closest thing I can commonly find is a Thai chili. These peppers are legendary among my friends who appreciate hot food.

³ You can use many cuts for this. Competitive chili cooks appear to have nearly universally standardized on tri-tip as the meat of choice, but I tend to go with whatever my butcher or supermarket has on special. I’ve used general sirloin roasts, top sirloin, or whatever. I stay away from any stew meats or chuck roasts for this.

⁴ Lately I seem to be using Swanson “Stock for Cooking,” but any quality broth will do.

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