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First Chili of the Season
It’s rainy and grey outside. Perfect weather for a big pot of soul-warming chili. And so it happened; I cooked the first chili of the season marking autumn’s official arrival.
Sorry to those of you mourning the end of summer, but I love this time of year. When it gets so chilly you have to light the fireplace (a fireplace DVD counts, right?) and lots of candles at night. When the colors of nature get all warm and earthy. When you cook hearty stews, soups and casseroles while the rain hits the window pane and the wind howls. Wonderful!
I took a different route this time. Normally I’d use store-bought ground beef, but I decided to put some work into it and I ran stewing steak through the meat grinder. Big difference! Huge difference in flavor. Now is not the time to show restraint in spices. Quite the contrary, you have to use a liberal amount when making chili. I did. And it was out of this world good.
Ingredients:
Chili:
2 pounds stewing steak (or ground beef)
1 large onion (mine was a sweet onion)
1 green bell pepper
2 garlic cloves
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cups beef broth
1 can tomato paste
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp worcestershiresauce
1 tbsp white vinegar
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp brown sugar
Seasoning:
1 tbsp hot chili powder (or 2 tbsp medium)
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp Lawry’s seasoned salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp paprika powder
2 tsp oregano
Optional: jalapeños (topping)
Optional: kidney beans
Directions:
Told you I used a liberal amount. I bet you’re real glad I’ve put it all in one storyboard! Combine all spices listed in the Seasoning list and give it a good stir.
I only had a sweet onion on hand, it worked beautifully. Finely mince the onion, bell pepper (mine were small, so I used two) and grate the garlic.
It was time the beast—as I so lovingly call it—made an appearance.
I had 2 pounds stewing steak (riblappen for the Dutchies) in the fridge. It was perfect for the job. You could also finely mince it. Or use ground beef instead.
But I decided to make my own ground beef. After all, what’s the fun in being a foodie if you can’t make stuff like this yourself? I cut it in coarse pieces.
And there it went.
And I ended up with a big pile of this. I thought it was still a bit too coarse.
So I ran it through the meat grinder once more.
It was perfect like this!
Heat some oil or butter and sauté the onion for 2 minutes before adding the bell pepper and garlic. Give it 4 more minutes.
Add the ground beef and cook it ‘til it loses its rawness. Don’t overcook it or you’ll change the structure of the meat too much!
Add the tomato puree and spices and give it 30 seconds while stirring it into the ground beef. Pour in the diced tomatoes and beef broth.
Normally I add Molasses to dishes like these, but I was fresh out. I hate it when that happens. Unfortunately it’s not an item you can simply run to the store for here. So I opted for maple syrup. It worked like a charm!
Also add the worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and vinegar. I used Unca Duke’s geaux jus. I’m gonna cry when I run out of that stuff. Throw in two bay leaves, bring to a boil, pop the lid on and simmer over low heat for 2 hours. The longer you simmer, the better it’ll get.
But I was hungry. And I have the attention span of a fish stick. Two hours were all the waiting I could handle.
After those two hours I took the lid off and cooked the sauce for 30 minutes over low heat, giving the liquid a chance to cook down.
Those 30 minutes gave me the exact sauce consistency I was looking for. Discard the bay leaves.
If you hail from Texas, you might want to turn your head. It’ll get ugly now.
I drained the kidney beans, added them to the chili and gave the whole shebang another 15 minutes to simmer and bubble. And if you think this is bad, you’ll probably cry when you learn I usually add corn, too. I’m not completely heartless, so I omitted it this time. But this time only!
I would have given it another hour but I was hungry. Real hungry. Can you blame me?
It was really all that and a side order of chili-cheese fries. I know I shot it in a pristine white bowl looking all classic and pretty. But get this; off camera I ate it poured over crispy French fries and topped with an indecent amount of cheddar and jalapeños.
Just sayin’.
| First Chili of the Season | |
| Ingredients |
Chili: 2 pounds stewing steak (or ground beef) 1 large onion (mine was a sweet onion) 1 green bell pepper 2 garlic cloves 1 can diced tomatoes 2 cups beef broth 1 can tomato paste 1 tbsp maple syrup 1 tbsp worcestershiresauce 1 tbsp white vinegar 2 bay leaves 1 tbsp brown sugar Seasoning: 1 tbsp hot chili powder (or 2 tbsp medium) 2 tsp ground cumin 2 tsp cocoa powder 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1 tbsp Lawry’s seasoned salt 1/4 tsp black pepper 1 tsp onion powder 2 tsp paprika powder 2 tsp oregano Optional: jalapeños (topping) Optional: kidney beans |
| Directions |
Heat some oil or butter and sauté the onion for 2 minutes before adding the bell pepper and garlic. Give it 4 more minutes. Add the ground beef and cook it ‘til it loses its rawness. Don’t overcook it or you’ll change the structure of the meat too much! Add the tomato puree and spices and give it 30 seconds while stirring it into the ground beef. Pour in the diced tomatoes and beef broth. Add the maple syrup (or molasses) worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, vinegar and bay leaves. Bring everything to a boil, pop the lid on and simmer over low heat for 2 hours. After those two hours I took the lid off and cooked the sauce until it had the consistency I liked, 30 minutes over low heat did the trick for me. Discard the bay leaves. If you’re going to add beans, drain them, add them and let everything heat through or simmer it longer. Tastes great when served with sliced jalapeños on top! |
| Meal type: | main course |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Copyright: | © kayotickitchen.com |
That looks delicious. You don’t happen to have a picture of it over the fries, do you? ’cause I’d love to see that. Or try it, for that matter.
Cocoa powder?
You put cocoa powder in chili?
Intriguing! I must try this soon :).
@Ann M.:
Sorry, I don’t. We had it for dinner that night! You just load lots of chili on top of your fries and top that with grated cheddar. Because of the heat the cheddar will melt and blend in. It’s delicious. And greasy. And fattening. And delicious :)
@J.:
Always. It doesn’t add a cholocate flavor or anything, it just deepens the flavor of the chili. Adds some sort of richness.
It looks yummy, Kay!
I also wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to ya!!
Foil-packed supermarket mince is indeed vile and doesn’t brown properly because it contains so much water. My butcher makes his mince fresh several times a day or will even mince specific cuts for you on request so you know exactly what you’re getting. The difference in quality is worth the fraction it is more expensive than supermarket crap ten times over.
I can’t wait to make chili- yours looks amazing!
Don’t pass out or anything (after all this comment is from the lazy, too tired to cook, better be quick & easy person you’ve grown to know and love lol) BUT…….I always use the pre packaged chili spices.
Stop crying!!!
I’m going to give this a try. It really sounds wonderful and like J, I’m intrigued by the cocoa powder.
There is no way in hell I’m grinding my own meat though so you’ll just have to deal with that!
I want a meat grinder! That looks really good Kay!
@Teri:
You’re hopeless, but I love you anyway :)
Gedt your butt over to Holland, you can use my meat grinder! And margarita glasses *grins*
This looks delish! Love the spices! I make chili quite frequently in the fall/winter. My family is always anxious for it. I always make an extremely big pot of pinto and great northern (brown and white) beans, save some of the bean soup to serve with cornbread for one meal and use the remainder to make my chili. Makes wonderful chili! I’m still going to do it that way but I am going to try it with your spice blend! Can’t wait…yum!
Your recipes and photos are amazing! What camera do you use?
@Amber:
Thanks for the sweet comment! I’m currently using a Nikon D700!
Yay! Someone else who adds cocoa to their chili!}:P
Try it with ground venison sometime. Yum.
Ohhh wat ziet dat er heerlijk uit.. Ik ga dit binnenkort zeker proberen… Asl het hier (in Denver, CO) geen 30 graden meer is! Normaal begint het al af te koelen, maar dit jaar niet. Ach ja… Over 3 weken hebben we vast wel de eerste sneeuw..
@Wolf:
Somehow venison is pretty hard to come by here.
I also like dark beer (like Guinness) as a way to add depth of flavor to chili. I use both that and unsweetened cocoa powder. They compliment each other quite well.
I’m fixing chili tonight too!
This recipe is awesome! I love how you made your own ground beef too! Great recipe.
@ Kristen:
I’m gonna try the beer thing next! Sounds like a wonderful addition.
i made this on Thursday and i made it with ground turkey. it was very good and i love the idea how i could chop up green peppers and hide them in there for my husband who doesnt eat them whole!!!!!! this was very good…ill deff do it again. i ate mine with tortilla ships (the ones that are shaped like a bowl).
Sounds lovely. I add two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar to mince beef whenever I make this type of dish, ie. bol, chilli concarne etc. rather than the Worstershire sauce although my husband does :)
I love that you wrote ‘riblappen’ . It is so helpful for me who still has problems with learning the Dutch cuts of meats :)
I’ve never had chili before and I really like the look of it.
Magda
I sometimes make chili like you with cocoa powder. I also add a little bit of strong black coffee as well. Really brings out the flavor. I like it Cincinnati style as well – served over spaghetti and topped with cheddar, raw onions and with kidney beans or even better with black beans (in Cincinnai that is called Chili 5-way – spaghetti, chili, beans, onions and cheese). Wonderful stuff.
I’m making this right now! It smells so good. Thanks Kay!