What I Ate Today

Chilli Con Carne is one of my favourite dishes, not only because it’s so hearty but also because it’s fun to cook and there are lots of different ways of cooking and serving it. I rarely use the same recipe twice but I’ve started getting a feel for what works well, so this more like a set of thoughts on Chilli rather than just a recipe. Let’s start off with some fundamentals: the common Chilli Con Carne lends as much from Texas as it does from Mexico. The core ingredients consist of meat, chillies, onions, garlic and cumin – notice no beans! In fact most chilli cook-off’s tend to ban beans!

Meat

The meat used in Chilli seems to vary a lot. The most common is beef steak, but venison is also fairly popular. Some people like theirs in chunks, others like it ground. Prime beef or veal tend to be avoided though because they’re not suited to the long cooking times. I’ve also experimented with some recipes with various cuts of pork which work pretty well. I’ve spotted some more with Turkey and Chicken too, but that’s a step too far beyond my Chilli boundaries.

Chillis

For me, the key to a good Chilli Con Carne is the right Chillies. I’m fairly fussy about chillies most of the time. I get a little irritated when people seem to think of chillies as just one type of ingredient for making food hot. A lot of chillies aren’t that hot and many can add a great deal of flavour. To paint a better picture, I’ll discuss the three chillies I used in this chilli recipe: Cascabels, Anchos and Pastillas. First however, I’ll feed you some chilli trivia:

• You shouldn’t eat chillies whole (unchewed), they can do serious damage to your stomach.
• The ‘hotness’ of chillies can be measured with the Scoville rating. Something like a Bell Pepper is somewhere between 100-500 SU (Scoville Units) whilst a Scotch Bonnet measures 100,000–350,000  SU.
• Although chillies are today inherently linked with curries, chillies didn’t make it to India until the introduction by the Portuguese in the 16th century.
• India grows over twice as much chilli as the next largest chilli grower (China), roughly the weight of 300,000 Range Rovers every year.

Cascabel are my favourite chilli. They look a lot like cherries. They are full with seeds and make a rattle noise (which is the meaning of their name). They’re really smokey in taste with a slight nutty edge. They’re hot, but not hot enough to really register any discomfort, 1,000-2,500 SU.

Pasilla along with Ancho and Mulato form the Holy Trinity of Mexican chillies, which you often find in Mole. The Pasilla is quite large by chilli standards with a hint of grape and cherry. I’d rate them as mild-medium at 1,000-2,000 SU.

Ancho chillies are dried Poblanos, they’re very dark in colour and the most popular in Mexico. They’re often the size of peppers, quite round too. They’re very mild in heat, only 1,000-1,500 SU.

If you give this recipe a go, you’ll get a good idea of all my raving of chillies when you make the paste in step 2 below, it’s soo rich, almost like being in a coffee factory or inhaling some really strong chocolate.

There is a nice page on Chillies Galore with an overview of a huge variety of chillis.

Secret Ingredients

In addition to the standard ingredients, many people often add extra ingredients to provide more flavours. I quite often use red wine, cinnamon or bay leaves. On the rare occasion I’ve added some things like beer, honey or sugar. Some people however, do use some pretty unusual additions – bananas, peanut butter, coffee or whisky. In the recipe below, I’m taking a gamble with a little bit of Chorizo which will hopefully infuse it’s flavour.

If you’ve got any other strange things you add, it’d be interesting to hear.

Ingredients

Serves 3/4 people.

• 5 sundried tomatoes
• 1 dried ancho chilli
• 1 dried pasilla chilli
• 2 dried cascabel chillies
• 400 g minced beef
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 stick of cinnamon bark
• 1 tsp ground corriander
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 2 tbsp sundried tomato puree
• 400 g chopped tomatoes
• 300 ml vegetable stock
• 1/2 red pepper, sliced
• 1/2 green pepper, sliced
• 1 oz chorizo, cubed
• 1 tin kidney beans (drained)

Method

I’m sure a lot of people will be looking at the ingredients list and be thinking of cutting back on the amount of chilli. When I made it Jenny had her sour cream at the ready, but in the end it was mild enough not to warrant any sour cream.

1. Remove most the seeds from the Cascabels – not because of heat, mainly because they have so many.
2. Soak the chillies and sundried tomatoes in some hot water for ~ 10 minutes. Stuff them in a blender with just enough of the leftover chilli/tomato liquid to make a paste.
3. Brown off the beef in some olive oil, do it in stages if necessary. Once browned, add the onion.
4. Once the onion is semi-translucent, mix in the cumin seeds (with some more oil if needed) and the garlic.
5. After a couple of minutes add the spices, chilli/tomato paste and tomato puree, mix in with the meat for a few minutes.
6. Once it’s all mixed, add the chopped tomato and cook for 10 minutes after which add the peppers and chorizo.
7. Keep cooking for ~ 1 hour covered, you want it to be constantly simmering, so if it starts to dry out keep adding the vegetable stock.
8. Leave to mature, ideally at least 10 hours. If the weather is hot, it may be best to put in the fridge.
9. When you’re ready to eat, put the pan back on the stove and let it simmer for ~ 15 minutes. Add the kidney beans and cook for 15 more minutes.

Serving

No matter what variation I’m cooking, chilli always seems to taste best the day after. Even, letting it mature in the freezer seems to improve it.

When I serve up the Chilli, I tend to go the whole hog with cheese (I like mature cheddar, but I’m sure some more purists will say you need Monterey Jack), refried beans, sour cream and guacamole/avacado. I’m equally happy with rice (as long as it’s brown), chips or tortillas. To really top things off though, a bottle of McEwan’s Champion really does it for me. It’s really strong and bitter, a good match to a feisty Chilli.