Yet.
I'm going with Kirk to one of his best childhood/high school friends, somewhere back west. I'm told it's "outside of Allentown" whatever that means. This is someone I knew from high school too and they haven't seen me since I was a senior in high school I guess. Should be interesting.
I want to prepare a chili that stands apart from the crowd, yet is totally recognizable as, well, chili. It's not going to be a tofu chili, or a fruit chili, or a Polish chili, or any other kind of chili that is just NOT chili.
I'm feeling a lot of (pleasant) pressure to figure out how to pull this off. I'm sure in the end I will wind up making something that is great and that makes everyone love me for WHO I AM, and marvel over how I have opened their eyes to the unbelievable potential that is in this dish and inside me. Maybe they will sit back at the end of the night and think "she didn't turn out so bad afterall. Hell, she can really make some good chili."
And I'm thinking that with this chili, maybe my whole existence on this blog might come full-cirlce, since it is, afterall Mommydawg's Famous Chili. Or at least it started that way. Hmmm...
This is a lot to expect of one dish, one crockpot full of beans, ground beef, aromatics, tomato base, and whatever else goes in there. But I've been known to conquer my own world one meal at a time and this should be no exception.
If anyone has any ideas of what might help make a nice chili, I'm all ears. Again, it's going to have a very traditional base of beef, beans, tomato, spices. The rest is up in the air. It needs to be a crowd pleaser so it can't be too spicy, too hippy, too far-reaching for the average palate.
Some bullets:
- Beef-toying with which type of ground beef might be best (chuck, sirloin, leaner cuts) vs. not ground beef (perhaps chuck steak cooked til it's falling apart and shredded).
- Beans (kidney, a mix, or something else entirely).
- Tomato (thinking a thicker consistency is best so maybe paste with a little bit of chopped fresh sans seeds and juice).
- Aromatics (Needs the fresh garlic and onion but is there anything else I'm missing? Anyone have any opinion of maybe shallots or a particular color of onion or anything else I can't think of?)
- Chili powder (Do I go nuts actually grinding my own? How is this even done? Any particular brand/style/etc. stand out to anyone?)
- Thinking about making a back-up batch of brown roux just in case it needs a little more thickness and depth.
- Beer (I remember having chili made with beer in it once and it was good. What type should I use, if I use it? Something light [not to be confused with "Lite"] and Mexican, like Corona or Tecate or should I got for dark, like Guiness?)
- Some other ingredient I'm not thinking of?
Stuff on the side:
- Corn bread with cheddar in the mix, half the batch with a slice of jalapeno on top, half without
- Very high quality sour cream
- Avocado, to slice right on the spot
2 comments:
ok here we go, tried this before and it rocked.i'm sure ya wanna mix it up your style but here's a thought. use a nice sirlon tip and slice into chunks. caramalize your onions and add in the beef at the end to brown up. turns a deep brown almost burnt but this adds depth and richness, garilc now,but just for a little time..add your stock, then red peppers etc.cantanelli beans a nice touch.i enjoy a dark beer in mine. it might sound alil crazy but dark chocolate in a really nice flare for a finish(if using dk. coco. use a nice lager).after cooking time and simmer beef comes out nice and tender.well, good luck and enjoy the prep time. always fun.
I LOVE making chili. I've thrown everything in the fridge in a pot of chili and it's been yum. One of my secrets is to season the meat (I always use ground turkey but it will work with beef) with a packet (per pound) of dry onion soup mix while it's browning. It gives the meat a fullness of taste all it's own. I've used kidney beans and black beans, and both. I've thrown in corn on occasion, but always TONS of onion, TONS of fresh garlic, red and gree peppers sauteed in extra virgin olive oil.
I use diced tomatos and some tomato sauce to get the right blend of sauciness.
For spices, a hell of a lot of chili powder, no particular brand, cumin, paprika, and hot red pepper flakes.
Yuuummmmmmy.
You asked. Oh, and I always make sweet cornbread by drizzling the top with honey after it's baked. And on the side of the chili, shredded cheddar, and sour cream. If we don't have cornbread, I like to take corn tortilla and throw it on a hot oiled pan to crisp it and melt some cheese on top. Or just tortilla chips.
You should post your recipe!
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