Making chili

[Chuck Dye]

Cooking with beer?   Try

CARBONNADES A LA FLAMANDE

Flour for dredging
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 pounds boneless chuck, cut into 1-inch cubes
¼ cup salad oil

6 medium onions, sliced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 12-ounce bottle or can of beer
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 bay leaf
¼ teaspoon thyme

   1.  Combine flour, salt, and pepper.  Dredge the meat in the seasoned flour.
   2.  Heat oil in a skillet.  Add onion slices and garlic and cook until tender but not brown.  Remove the onions from the skillet.
   3.  Add the meat and brown on all sides, adding a little more oil if necessary.  Return the onions to the skillet.
   4.  Add the remaining ingredients.
   5.  Cover and cook over low heat until the meat is tender, about one and one-quarter hour.  Serve hot with boiled potatoes, spaetzel, or noodles.

I've never made this with a lager, preferring ales.  More malty, less hoppy seems best.  Brown ales are my preference.  I always use more beer than 12 ounces, have plenty on hand.

The recipe also works well with venison, lamb, and pork.

[280plus]

Not sure how it would go with the cocoa but I like a little balsamic vinegar in mine.

[coppertales]

I like beans in my chili, pinto, garbanzo, black, and homney.  The after effects chase the cats off the bed at night.....Gotta have jalapenos in my corn bread......chris3

[lupinus]

1 Medium Onion, large dice
1 Medium bell pepper, large dice
4 Cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
1 1/2lbs meat. I usually use lean ground beef
2 Guajillo peppers, or whatever dried chili you prefer, left whole or split and seeded as you prefer(# is to taste, you can add more depending on preference or size)
1 Large can crushed tomatoes
1 Normal size can Rotel Tomatoes (heat level to your preference)
Water, stock, beer, or some combination thereof to rinse out both those cans
1 1/4 teaspoon cumin
1 1/2 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoons paprika
1 large or two small bay leaves
Cayenne pepper to taste
1 can beans of choice, if you so prefer, rinsed. I like small black beans when I feel so inclined to add beans.
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a dutch oven and add a little oil, brown the beef well and then add the onions, garlic, and bell pepper. Continue cooking while stirring frequently until the onions start to become translucent.

When the onions have gotten to the right point move the meat to the sides of the dutch oven in a well shape so you get a hot spot in the middle of the oven. Add your dry spices (cumin, oregano, paprika, and cayenne) to the hot spot and toast them briefly, stirring for probably about 30 seconds. When you can smell them, they're toasted. Stir them into the meat and onions to coat the meat and to stop the spices from burning.

Add the crushed and rotel tomatoes, whatever liquid you've decided to use, and the guajillo peppers and bay leaves to the dutch oven and season with salt and pepper. Keep in mind it'll be reducing, so don't add to much salt.

Cook for 2-3 hours at a light simmer, adding a little water as needed to keep it from over reducing. If you have to add water, make sure you cook for at least 15 minutes to allow everything to blend and avoid a watered down flavor. If you are adding beans toss them in with 30-45 minutes to go.

I like to cut the heat and let it sit for at least 20 minutes before serving. Serve with what? I like sour cream and oyster crackers. Little cheese if I'm in the mood.

Reheat leftovers the next morning and serve with a fried egg or two on top.

[bedlamite]

I've learned to add either beer or wine to my crockpot chili batches as a substitute for any water in the recipe.

It definitely adds another dimension, although subtle.

If the recipe doesn't call for water you can just use it to marinate the chef.

[thebaldguy]

I put in a little (2 tsp) cocoa and a half a cup of leftover coffee in a batch of chili. A bar in my area uses both in their famous chili. It gives it a nice color and flavor.

[280plus]

Mocha chili !

[Scout26]

I'm going to make a crockpot full of chili in the coming weeks as the weather grows colder.

Beans- Kidney, Chili, and whatever others I can find.

Beef, chili powder, no G-damn Celery, Yeah Beer, maybe some cocoa, just to try.

[charby]

Got a contest to win tonight, trying a new recipe I came up with, includes paprika and coriander.

[BlueStarLizzard]

I always use paprika. I don't really know why. I think it's cause it's red and I had it already in my tiny collection of spice bottles.

Made sense at the time.

[lupinus]

Always have paprika in my chili.

Of course, paprika ends up in a lot of things I make. Soups and stews in particular.

[RoadKingLarry]

Toast with chili? Never heard of that before.

I've got a recipe for a mostly corn based bread cooked in a free form loaf that makes pretty good toast as well as a side for chili and other hearty soup/stew dishes.

[lupinus]

now you dun it....

[280plus]

I made cornbread tonight. It started out in a little blue box with the word "Jiffy" on it. It was delicious! 

[zxcvbob]

I made cornbread tonight. It started out in a little blue box with the word "Jiffy" on it. It was delicious! 

How much sugar did you add?

[Perd Hapley]

Do y'all put bell pepper in your chili? Onion?

[charby]

Do y'all put bell pepper in your chili? Onion?

yes and yes

[lupinus]

Do y'all put bell pepper in your chili? Onion?

Of course

[T.O.M.]

I've been to football tailgates all around the country, and one thing that always catches my interest is what people make and call chili.  I've been in Texas, where chili is more of a stew, with big hunks of meat and a spicy sauce.  In the midwest, like Mike and adively describe, it can be more of a thick sauce that's put on spaghetti with beans, onions, and cheese.  Had it served to me once in New Orleans where frankly it seemed more like a gumbo, because it had seafood in it.  In Florida once, it was something more like I'd think of as a sloppy joe mix, but served in a bowl and topped with chopped onion and sour cream.

One thing, though, I've never had a chili I didn't like...except for one I remember that involved cooking red and black beans in beer.  It was at an Army football tailgate.  Can't remember where the people were from, but the chili was really bitter tasting...

Hey adively, I grew up in Cinci, and I've never heard of a 6 way or 7 way.  What else do they put on it?

[K Frame]

"I've been to football tailgates all around the country, and one thing that always catches my interest is what people make and call chili."

What really amazes me is that so many Americans think that there's was a single uniform recipe that was the origin of chili like it was some sort of Tex-Mex green bean casserole.

Some people claim that beans should never, ever be put in chili because it's not authentic. Given that just about every family had its own version of chili, often driven by personal likes and what was available at the time they were making it, I think it's pretty silly to say that any single ingredient either is, or is not, in chili, and that either adding, or omitting, any item or group of items makes it or breaks it.

[charby]

"I've been to football tailgates all around the country, and one thing that always catches my interest is what people make and call chili."

What really amazes me is that so many Americans think that there's was a single uniform recipe that was the origin of chili like it was some sort of Tex-Mex green bean casserole.

Some people claim that beans should never, ever be put in chili because it's not authentic. Given that just about every family had its own version of chili, often driven by personal likes and what was available at the time they were making it, I think it's pretty silly to say that any single ingredient either is, or is not, in chili, and that either adding, or omitting, any item or group of items makes it or breaks it.

I totally agree.

You go anywhere in Iowa and chili has beans in it, unless it is for a "chili dog" or "chili cheese and chips". Also depending what part of the state you are in, the accompanying side can be different. My hometown is peanut butter on white bread, other parts of the state it a cinnamon roll, other parts its cornbread and some areas it a grilled cheese sandwich.

I figure if someone took the time to make the chili and share it with me, I'm just going to accept it the way it is and not bitch about it.

Hell some people pitch a fit is there is chunks of tomatoes in the chili.

[Larry Ashcraft]

Some people claim that beans should never, ever be put in chili because it's not authentic. Given that just about every family had its own version of chili, often driven by personal likes and what was available at the time they were making it, I think it's pretty silly to say that any single ingredient either is, or is not, in chili, and that either adding, or omitting, any item or group of items makes it or breaks it.

Very true.  Here, when you say chili, what comes to mind is "green chili" which is made with pork, green chiles (Mirasol or hot anaheims preferred, with jalapenos optional), tomatoes and onions in a kind of gravy, served over burritos, eggs, rellenos or any other thing that comes to mind.  A local favorite is the "green chili slopper" which is an open faced cheeseburger smothered with green chili, sometimes with french fries added.  Google "green chili slopper" and Pueblo, Colorado will pop up.

Chili con carne is the red chili with beans that's so good on a cold day.  We prefer it with saltines and maybe some chopped raw onion and chopped dill pickles on top.

[charby]

Chili con carne is the red chili with beans that's so good on a cold day.  We prefer it with saltines and maybe some chopped raw onion and chopped dill pickles on top.

Pickles? Sounds interesting I may have to try that for the next batch.

[K Frame]

" Here, when you say chili, what comes to mind is "green chili" which is made with pork, green chiles"

Chili verde, which is pretty much unknown in this area except to the hispanic or Southern population. I first had chili verde in Raton, New Mexico, on a breakfast platter. Quite tasty.

[K Frame]

Pickles? Sounds interesting I may have to try that for the next batch.

Damn. I've never heard of that, but that does sound good. I think I'd use sweet dills, though.