Texas Style Chili

     Every cooking hack, like myself, thinks they make the best chili in the world.  I don't think any dish lends itself better to weekend cooks and braggarts better than chili does.  We guys love to get in the kitchen and toss manly ingredients into a bucket and see what we get.  Here in the Northeast, it's our winter equivalent to a guy's barbecued chicken.  If you are following my blog then you know these are only cooking guidelines; they are suggestions and ideas.  This approach will allow you to refine my chili to become your famous chili, which will be the best chili you have ever had.  I made this chili at our first annual Post Christmas Chili Off!  At the time of this entry, I don't know how I'll do, but I am always overconfident.  I have some general info on all the other chili recipes in this competition, and they each incorporate beans.  This is a common ingredient of local chili recipes, but my choice is a bold move against the local palate. This recipe is a classic Texas chili with no beans.   The recipe you're about to read is a combination of various other chili recipes and cooking methods combined to make it my Texas chili.

     Now on to the recipe!

   
     There are three things missing from the above picture.   First is the beer that I usually enjoy while preparing food, second is sour cream, and finally cornbread mix.  The beer is absent because I prepared this meal in the morning for our afternoon chili off contest and I try not to drink before 12:00 pm.  As the chili cooked down, I realized it needed thickening.  As cornbread is a great side for chili why not use cornbread mix to thicken the chili.  Of course, I made the remainder to go with this dish.  Finally, the heat of my chili suggested a bit of dairy, thus the sour cream at serving.

Ingredients-

2 1/2 to 3 lbs Beef Chuck

2 Onions

4 Garlic Cloves

1 1/2 cups Beef Stock

2 Chipotle Chilies in Adobe Sauce

2 Small Cans Mild Chili Peppers

2 10 oz cans Chopped Tomatoes with Chili Peppers

1/3-1/2 cup Brown Sugar

Kosher Salt

Black Pepper

Chili Powder

Cumin

Cilantro 

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Worcester Sauce

2 tablespoons Cornbread Mix

To serve-

Cornbread

Chopped Scallions

Sour Cream

Pickled Jalapenos

Let's make it-

     First I trimmed the meat of most fat while chopping it into 1"x 1" cubes.  Next, the meat is seasoned with kosher salt, pepper and cilantro.  Let it stand for a few minutes.

I sautéd the beef in an electric skillet over medium high heat in a few teaspoons of olive oil.  While the meet is simmering, add at least half the brown sugar.  Cook until browned and the sugar is carmeling a bit then remove from pan with a slotted spoon, leaving the juices behind.

      While that was cooking, I chopped 2 onions fine and seasoned them with kosher salt, pepper and cilantro.  After the beef was out, I added the onions to the beef juices and simmered them until they were soft.  While the onions simmered I minced 4 cloves of garlic and 2 chipotle peppers. 

     Add the minced garlic stirring constantly and reduce the heat a bit to prevent burning of the garlic.  After a few minutes add the chipotle peppers, seeds, sauce and all.  Stir well, to break the peppers up and blend them into the mix.  After a minute or two add 2 cans of chopped chilis.  After a bit more simmering, add the rest- 2 cans of chopped tomatoes with chilis, 1 teaspoon cumin,  2-3 heaped tablespoons of chili powder, a splash of Worcester sauce, 1 cup of beef stock and the remaining brown sugar.  Simmer this for about 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Be certain to gently scrape the bottom of the pan while stirring as flavorful sugars are hiding there.

     Transfer your mix and the beef to a slow cooker to simmer on high for about 4 hours.  After that time, mix 2 heaped tablespoons of cornbread mix with 1/2 cup of beef stock and add this to the slow cooker to thicken the chili.  Reduce heat to low and cook another hour or so before serving.  

This picture is prior to "cooking down".  The final chili should have a dark, rich, homogeneous look, as the ingredients have melted and blend together.

     Serve with a sprinkle of chopped scallions, a few pickled jalapeños, a glob of sour cream, and cornbread.

                                                 Don't forget the beer!

     How did the contest end?   Everyone was surprised by the lack of beans and they were a bit skeptical until they tasted it.  The chili eaters loved it; my Barbie, who has a 10 year old's palate, hated it.  That alone told me it was the winner.  There were compliments for all the chili recipes and anyone of them alone would have been a smash at a party.  Still no formal winner was announced as we wanted to avoid a drunken brawl, but I'm going to publish this recipe. So who do you think won?  Keeping in mind the theme of my blog, we all think we won, of course.  Try it and you'll have a winner.

Mexican Chicken Corn Chowder

           As this is my first recipe on this blog, let me introduce myself.  My name is Joseph Chubbuck and I live in a small Central New York community that is surprisingly rich with culinary variety and flavor.  Well represented are a number of heritages that include- German, Polish, Italian, Irish, and most recently Mexican.  All of these people brought a treasure of foods and flavors to our region.

           What is my flavor preference?  It's simple,  I like spicy and fully flavored foods of any background.  My spin on a comfort food like corn chowder meets and exceeds that criteria with a savory dish of complex flavor.  Complex, when compared to basic corn chowder.

          My style of cooking will exclude type "A" people immediately.  I will be giving you "cooking guidelines" only, and the lack of  concise instruction may limit my followers.   I do this because "your corn chowder" should taste better to you than mine does.  You know what you like and how you like it.  I'm here to inspire "your" Mexican Corn Chowder, or whatever dish my chowder inspires in you.  I encourage you to take everything I say "with a grain of salt," it's the way I do it or I make it, that hardly makes it the best.  Though I know it is! 

          I enjoy food, family and friends.  As a side note- I love to drink and my wife of 28 years, Barbara, keeps me out of trouble as best she can.  I like to think that our guests always feel welcome with a full glass and a plate of great food.  Nothing raises my spirits more than watching someone truly enjoying a dish that I have made.  So on with the recipe!

     Note: there are 3 beers in above picture (next to them is a bottle of white cooking wine)

Ingredients-

3 Chicken Breast

6 Red Potatoes

2 Medium Red Onions

1 Bag Sweet Corn

2 Small Cans Chopped Chiles

1/2 Stick Salted Butter

3/4 Quart Heavy Cream

1/2 Red Bell Pepper

1/2 Green Bell Pepper

Fresh Garlic

Kosher Salt

Black Pepper

Hot Red Pepper Flakes

Parsley

Deep Fry Pan

Slow Cooker

3 Mexican Beers (for your cooking pleasure and to help in timing)

White wine for cooking

Scallions to garnish

Enjoy more beer if you like!

How to-

     Chop chicken breast into cubes about 3/4" x 3/4".  Toss with kosher salt, black pepper and parsley.  Sauté in 1/2 stick of butter over medium heat while covered - stirring as needed.  Don't over cook as the chicken will get tough.  

     As the dish sautes, peel and chop the potatoes into 1/2" x 1/2" cubes.  Toss the potatoes with kosher salt, black pepper, and parsley.  Microwave the potatoes, covered, for about 6 minutes or until soft.

     Remove the cooked chicken with a slotted spoon and leave the remaining juices in the fry pan to continue cooking with.  Chop 2 red onions, 1/2 red bell, and 1/2 green bell into fine pieces.  Mince garlic and set aside.  

      By this point, you should have your first beer under your belt. If not, that's ok too.

     Add the onions and peppers to the liquids in the fry pan.  Season with kosher salt, black pepper, parsley and hot red pepper flakes.  Sauté over medium heat, without a cover, until onions are soft.  Add garlic and fold into mixture.  Take care not to burn the garlic as it will get bitter.

     While this is going on, toss the corn with kosher salt, black pepper and parsley.  Microwave covered for about 4 minutes.

     Add the 2 small cans of chiles to the pan, the cooked sweet corn, and a good splash of white wine.  Simmer this for several swigs of beer, stirring constantly to reduce and sweeten the wine. You should be finishing up that second beer by now - drinking at a casual pace, not a guzzle. 

     Just a note-  you should be constantly tasting each stage of cooking for seasoning. For example-you should taste a potatoe after microwaving, if you need more salt add more while cooking the peppers and onions.  If your potatoes are too salty back off on the peppers and onions as the potatoes will add salt later on when we assemble the dish.

     To finish this dish we add the contents of our fry pan to the slow cooker.  To that we add the potatoes and about 3/4 a quart of heavy cream.  Toss well and turn slow cooker to medium.

     Serve anytime - as the dish is ready once the ingredients are mixed in the slow cooker.  They do get better as the starch from the potatoes thicken the dish and the flavors blend. To me, it tastes the best after an hour or so.  Serve with a garnish of fresh scallions, bread with butter, and a fine beer.  Enjoy!