A Super Bowl of Chili

Super Bowl time is approaching fast and we all know that you've got to have good food! If you're planning on serving your guests a real meal may I suggest some chili?  I like my chili to be thick and spicy!  All others need not apply.  I made this chili for a potluck my husband was attending so I had free reign when it came to the heat level.  Woohoo! Let's get going and don't forget the Beano . . .

With chili there's always the great meat debate in my house. What meat shall we use? Seriously, they're all delicious in chili! I was making this batch for an all male potluck my husband was attending. So, I went with his favorite . . .

This was a lovely 2 lb "bottom round roast" that I located for $1.99/lb. I could of fainted with joy.  A chuck roast or arm roast would of been lovely too.  I cut this one up and it was so lean I didn't even have to trim any fat off of it.  Dice it up!

I wanted something that would fit on the spoon with some sauce and maybe a bean. The meat will shrink as it cooks. If I was making this for the family I'd use a smaller size because the kiddos just don't seem to like huge chunks of meat. Now for some seasoning.

I like to season my meat with a few chili seasoning packets. I use the store brand which is actually rather light on the salt and has ingredients a 4th grader can read. It's NuVal rating is better than my children's breakfast cereal . . . What the heck? Can I just send the kids on the bus with a packet of it? That would really speed up that whole school morning hustle thing!

Anyway you want to toss your meat with the seasoning packet and add about 2 tsps of salt at this point too. Cover it up and set it in the fridge. You've just done a dry rub!!!

On to bigger and better things! The beans . . .

These are lovely.  Of course you can use canned but I like to make my chili S-L-O-W-L-Y.  Wash 'em, and pick'em (look for debris). I found 4 split peas in my bag of beans. What is the world coming too? sigh. Anyway since they're dried beans you're going to want to soak them. I wanted to do it quickly but I didn't want to agitate them because I like them to keep their skins whole.  I just poured boiling water over them and set them aside.

This is when you take all the kids to their music and athletic practices. Clean the toilets. Eat lunch. Write a blog. Pick your favorite! When you can break a bean open with a fork it's ready. An hour or two should do. Your meat will be nicely seasoned by this time too!

Beans are soaked! Now what to add to the chili? Since it's a "one pot" style meal we're looking to get all the flavor profiles in one place. We need umami(meatiness), salty, sweet, sour, and bitter working together for total mouth happiness!  The meat takes care of umami. The seasoning packet was mainly bitter. I added salt already. We shall turn to our aromatics once again!

You're going to want to chop up an onion or two.  I had a nice large one so I only used one. Dice it up! We're going to cook it nice and long, What happens when you cook an onion nice and long? Sweetness baby! So sweet is in the pot. Next . . .

Dice up a bell pepper. Green peppers have a nice bitter and slightly sweet quality to them that makes them indispensible in cooking. My daddy put a little green pepper in EVERYTHING! Now put all these yummy things in the pot!

There's no heat and no fat in here. They're just patiently waiting for the party to start.

Now for a little sweet and sour addition . . .

I like to use these in my chili for two reasons. First off there's a ton of juice. I like the juice because it limits the amount of flavor-diluting water that has to be added to the chili.  The 2nd reason is there's this little chemical they bathe canned tomatoes with that makes them keep their shape.  I want my tomatoes to dissolve into my chili! The smaller the tomato piece the firmer the tomatoes are. So I chose the large tomatoes. I used a little muscle on them . . .

I actually ended up missing a whole tomato in my blending and didn't discover it until I was stirring the chili later. It completely dissolved by the time it was served. So if you don't have one of these devices then just crush them up with your hands.  If you like little bites of tomato in your chili by all means go for the canned diced tomatoes. Whatever floats your boat!

Add the tomatoes and the beans to the pot!  I added my soaking water to them too. I know most people don't but it just looks like there's flavor in that water and I just can't stand to throw away flavor. You wouldn't want me to go against my principals would you? No, thank you.

Go to the fridge and get that beef! Dump 'er in. Everything should be underwater!

It's just barely covered and that's good. The onion, bell pepper and meat are all going to be releasing their juices into the water. The beans have already soaked up all they need.  Go ahead and bring this mixture to a gentle simmer, covered. At this point you're a few hours away from a nice chili. A chili that could be served in any elementary school cafeteria. But we want more! More flavor! Show me the heat!

Okay, this is not heat but it's pure deliciousness in chili! All the really good chili has a ton of cumin in it.  Technically it has tablespoons of it in it. Overly dramatic you say? Well somebody has got to be!  Back to the cumin. Cumin seed is packed with flavor! I like to take a tablespoon of it and squish it with a mortar and pestel until I can smell it. You can skip this step but it'll take you longer to get the full flavor of the cumin in the chili.  If you only have powdered cumin well go ahead and use that. Stir this into your chili even if it's not quite bubbling yet!

Now show me some heat!
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GASP!

I can't show you the heat.

The pictures of the heat didn't turn out.

Do you ever have these times when you feel like a total failure?

Like everything you do and try stinks?

Excuse me. While I gather myself . . .

Technically this ISN'T the heat I added to the chili. These are the high paid vegetable actors that you think are about to jump into the chili but actually go back to the refridgerator.  So what are their names? The pepper on the right is the star of the show. It is a smoked jalapeno pepper preserved in a vinegary tomato sauce. It's called Chipotles en adobo. You buy it in a little can in most grocery stores with a mexican/latin/hispanic section. I often only use 1 or 2 peppers from a can so I throw the leftovers in a baggie and freeze them.  These puppies are flavor power houses! Smokey, hot, with a vinegar brightness. Great to keep around to add to BBQ sauces, queso dips, pulled pork etc. 

The pepper on the left is a beautiful green serrano pepper.  It adds a vibrant, vegetal, FIRE! Use the seeds if you really want to turn up the heat.  My family likes to double the amount of peppers in the recipe. Of course you can leave both peppers out if that's how you roll. Let people add one dimensional hot sauce at the table. Be boring. I don't care . . .

You want to cook the chili until the beans are soft, and the meat is tender. A couple of hours should do it. I actually cooked mine for an hour and then threw it in the fridge and finished cooking it in the morning! I love stop and go food. This is one of those recipes where you can stop and set everything aside at any point! Perfect for mothers. A quick run to the emergency room isn't going to ruin this dinner!

You want to test your salt level now.  If you used any type of canned beans, seasoned canned tomatoes, or a really salty brand of chili seasoning in this you probably don't need it.  For the stuff I used I need another teaspoon or two.  Unless you're planning on serving it with cheese and chips. If you're adding fritos to your chili you might want to take a quick taste of a chip dipped in the chili.  At this point I have a beautiful chili but it's a little bit runny for me.  So I stirred in 1/4 cup of plain old cornmeal.  Thickens everything up and makes the sauce more gravy like. Who doesn't like gravy?

See the glossiness? See the utter richness? There are very few sour components in chili so pick a few sour things to add as garnish. I'm thinking some sharp cheddar cheese, sour cream or even a splash of lime juice!  A little chopped cilantro or raw onion never hurt anyone either. My husband's new favorite thing is corn chips. See how we naturally add sweet, sour, bitter, and salty to our foods?

There's no grease on the top of this chili!  If you're not a beef eater you could substitute 2 lbs of center cut pork loin or 2 lbs of turkey.  If you're a fan of ground meat feel free to sub in any of those too. I think it would probably be lovely made with deer meat even! Follow the same steps.  This chili can also be thrown in a crockpot and it'll be done in the evening! Enjoy!

Spicy Beef Chili

2 lbs bottom round roast
1 lbs dried red kidney beans
1 large onion, diced
1 large bell pepper, diced
2 one oz. packages of chili seasoning mix
2 tsp salt
1 28 oz can of whole tomatoes in juice, chopped up
1 Tbsp cumin seed or powder
1 chipotle pepper in adobo, minced (my family likes two of these)
1 jalapeno pepper, minced (my family likes two of these too)
1/4 cup corn meal

Dice meat into bite sized pieces. Season with seasoning mix and salt, then cover and place in refridgerator.  Heat 6 cups of water to boiling. Wash kidney beans and remove any debris. Let beans soak in boiling water for 1-2 hours. Add onion, green pepper, tomatoes, meat, beans, cumin, chipotle pepper and jalapeno pepper to a pot and bring to a boil.  Simmer covered until beans and meat are tender, around 2 hours.  Before serving stir cornmeal into pot and allow to cook for at least 5 minutes.