My mouth is watering. (ofcourse, I'm loaded, we just said farewell to an 8 year employee, but nonetheless.)

I'm going to show this to my wife and get the consensus go ahead for labor day.

This sounds like it's begging for a good pilsner. Ice cold, ofcourse.

Where's the garlic?

It's nice to see someone who knows that there are no beans in true chili.

You put chocolate in your chili. (As do we.) My respect for you just went up tremendously.

People do not get nearly enough credit for mixing sweet and savory. Good on ya!

You should try making a savory cheesecake sometime - simply outstanding with a riesling.

Aah, must be fall. I would use the dutch oven for everything, including sweating the onions and browning the meat, since I hate doing dishes. I would also drink about 15 Negra Modelos during the cooking process, but hey, it's better the next day anyway.

Looks good, although I alway put beans in my chilli (den Beste can't be right about everything!).

One suggestion; consider adding some chorizo for a little twist.

TO: Stephen Green
RE: Bring Em On!

"2 pounds ground beef." -- Stephen Green's Labor Day Chili

Bring on the madly dancing ground cows!

Personally. I'm going with barbequed pork ribs. Came up with a very interesting sauce; a variation of my Father's favorite.

Marinade the meat for two days. Then rotiss, with SMOK'N hickory chips for six hours, basting ever 10 minutes.

Cooked on the grill off the back deck amidst multiple bourbons and fine cigars while wifi'ng the web.

Regards,

Chuck(le)

Please clarify: For the chocolate, do you use the semi-sweet, german, unsweetened, or dark?

Possibly an expiriment is in order...

Chocolate, sweet??? If you want sweet, add a little sorghum molasses !

One question, Stephen: am I invited?

You can use a tablespoon of cocoa powder instead of baker's chocolate if you wish. (Oh, and it's Serrano, not Cerano. A tiny point. I have a serrano bush in my garden and I use everything it produces. Delicious in omeletes.)

Where's the stout beer? I always add at least one good, rich beer to the mix, adds to the flavor, and gives you an excuse to have one while your cooking. Great recipe!

You can halve everything (except the red chilis). Take a 16oz can of chopped tomatoes, puree half.

Hey,

Pardon this newby, but I thought I would post my chili receipe (well, it was my Gramps to start with).

PaPa Ray's Chile
West Texas
USA

The Ingredients

1st step ingredients

1 1/2 lbs. (or so) Lean hamburger meat
1 1/2 lbs (or so) course ground chile meat
1/4 cup Flour (or more, for thicking mixture)
4 or 5 tblsp vegetable oil (or bacon drippins, if you prefer)
1 very large chopped onion or 2 medium
1 - 12 oz can Beef Stock (or several of them funny little cubes)
2 - 12 oz cans water (or beer, remember beer is better)
24 oz. can crushed or diced tomatoes (my Dad left these out)
2 tblsp. Cumin
2 - 4 oz. cans chopped mild green chilies
4 (heaping)tblsp. Chili Powder
2 cloves Garlic (minced)
2-7oz cans of Chilpotle Sauce

2nd step ingredients

4 oz. Tomato Sauce
4 tblsp. Fresh Chili Powder
2 tblsp Cayenne Pepper.
2 tblsp. Cumin
1 clove Minced Garlic
4 tblsp. Brown Sugar (don't use regular white sugar)
6 oz Tomitillo green sauce (good stuff)
2- heaping tablespoons of creamy Peanut Butter

The Way I cook it

First - saute ( till half done ) meat well in oil and flour, add to a 6 quart cooking pot
( I prefer Cast Iron ).Add all ( 1st Part ) ingredients and low simmer ( covered )
at least for 2 hours, stirring often to keep from burning on bottom of pot.

Second - Uncover, add all ingredients in ( 2nd Part ) and simmer for at least another
Couple of hours. Watch how thick it is, add more beer or water if needed. Thick is good
but while cooking it needs to be watched. Scrape that bottom!

For an extra treat, grate some of your favorite cheese on hot Chile..

More Chile powder or even your favorite hot sauce can be added, according to your
taste (or lack of taste). Try and adjust the recipe for those who will be eating it.

I recommend not adding salt or black pepper, let them add what they want and you can add what YOU want.

Serve with Crackers or tortilla chips (or plain)

Papa Ray, try substituting some Masa Harina (corn tortilla mix) for the flour in your recipe.

It just doesn't seem hot enough to me. Want my "I Believe in Jesus" Salsa recipe?

Chili recipes all have some useful hints for when I run up a batch next time. Since my wife doesn't like overly spicy food, I use chili powder, cayenne pepper powder, and crushed red pepper seeds as the "spicy" ingredients.

Recommend including some green and red bell peppers, chopped into 1'2" on-a-side bits though. Adding some kernel corn is good also. I'm one of those who believes that kidney beans are a requirement as well...

:)

BTW, I also never learned to cook "small", so a 20-quart pot is involved. When it's full, I stop adding ingredients.

:)

I'd need to add salt to this recipe.
Probably not good for me, but otherwise, it would be too sweet for my taste. Maybe just more garlic!

Shoot,
I didn't read carefully enough.
Nevermind...

Stephen,
The addition of tomatoes, let alone tomato paste, condemn this recipe to the Hall of Shame.

As I've previously informed you, the following is a really good starting point for Chili!
Mike

Three Chiles Chili

This is a serious chili recipe for people who are serious about their chili.

2 dried California (Anaheim) chiles
2 dried New Mexico chiles
2 chipotle chiles, dried or canned
12 ounces beer
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds beef chuck, well trimmed, chili grind
1 cup beef broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Split the dried chiles in half and remove stems and seeds (if using canned chipotle chiles, do not add them at this time). Put them in a saucepan with the beer. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to be sure all parts of the chiles are softening.
While chiles are simmering, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a skillet and sauté the onions 5 minutes, then add the garlic and sauté 1 minute more. Remove onions from the pan, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil, and cook the beef, stirring frequently, until the beef is lightly browned. Put the beef and onions in a large pot or Dutch oven with the beef broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer.

Put the chiles and cooking liquid in a blender or food processor. If using canned chipotle chiles, remove the stems and add chipotles to the blender. Puree until a thick red sauce forms. Push the sauce through a sieve to remove the bits of skin, then add sauce to the simmering meat. Stir in seasonings and sugar. Continue to simmer for at least 1 hour, until meat is tender, adding beer, beef broth, or water if needed. Add salt, adjust seasonings to taste.

Thanks for all the wonderful variations, folks. I lived in Cincinnati for five years, and got to be a big fan of the local style of chili--- soupy, but tasty. Almost certainly, a hint of cloves contributed to most of the variants, an addition started by a Greek immigrant many years back.

My own chili recipe has evolved to something very close to the original posting, except I add Tomato Juice (not sauce, not diced, not pureed, not whole) and a dash of cinnamon, and sometimes pickled jalapeños.

When the Spaniards arrived in Mexico, they found the Aztec aristocracy enjoying a drink made from powdered hot peppers and chocolate beans mixed to a froth in boiling water. (NO sweetener!) Cinnamon is a common ingredient in a lot of Mexican & Central American cuisines...
I think the secret is to avoid adding so much of any one of those exotic ingredients (i.e., chocolate, cinnamon, or cloves) as to actually call attention to it.

My brother, who seems remarkably good at articulating disturbing trends, was invited once to attend a chili cook-off among a bunch of "tony" local high-rollers (how he got on that invitation list I'll never understand.) Most of the alleged chili chefs were featuring huge chunks of supremely expensive cuts of steak, prime rib, etc. with hot chilis and even the occasional begrudged shake of powdered garlic.

What a crock.

It's sad and ironic to think those guys were denying themselves the real pleasure of excellent chili (a feast of the commonfolk, maybe) because of what I can only understand as an obsession with showing off their wealth.

Actually, none of you know me... so I'll confess that I have even occasionally put a half a package of Swiss Miss powdered chocolate drink (without marshmallows!) into a pot of chili, when I had neglected to check for any other more elegant chocolate beforehand. Hey, everyone seems to want third and fourth servings...

Does anyone know the history of chili?

OK, here`s a recipe for lazy people:

1 can Hormel Turkey Chili with beans
1 LB ground beef
1 Tomato
1/4 cup cheese

Cook ground beef in skillet.
Drain grease
Add 1 can Hormel Turkey Chili
stir
Add 1/4 cup cheese
stir
Add 1 chopped tomato
stir
Add water until disired thickness is obtained.

Chili in 15 minutes.

The History of Chili from the net. There are many other pages out there.

One thing for sure, it didn't come from Mexico. It has been in Texas for sure since my Great GrandDad came here in 1834. He made it, my Gramps made it, My Dad made it and now I am making it. It will be passed to my three Grandsons.

The ingredents may change, like using canned pepper sauce or such but the tradition will remain the same.

Papa Ray
West Texas
USA

fajitas ain't from Mexico neither. That's another Texas dish. Course you can't eat em without flour tortillas, so maybe you could say it's a joint effort. Ot do they call that Tex-Mex?

Chili is the best example of "dad cuisine," where the recipes are concocted by untrained amateurs and handed down to be further complicated. Too many ingredients, too much folklore, "special ingredients" like chocolate and beer and cigar ashes that you can't taste, cooking times that are way too long, ingredients that cancel out each other or are redundant. Barbeque sauce is another in this genre.

There are chili recipes out there by professsional chefs, and they tend to be spare and all business. Craig Claiborne's is an example.

Viz. my Colorado chili recipe:

Brown 3 lbs stew meat. If you have it, buffalo, venison, and lamb or mutton add flavor.

Add 7-8 cloves garlic, crushed, and a big onion, minced. A good handful of mexican oregano is good too.

Add 1/2 cup Fernandz's chili power from Alamosa, and one 6-oz can of tomato sauce (sue me, it makes the sauce much better.)

Add water to cover everything, bring to a boil, simmer until beef is tender. Ideally, then let it rest overnight, bring back up to a boil, and simmer for another half hour or so.