Chili Tonight - What Did You Have?

[3M-TA3]

Wet, cold, and rainy in Portland today, so to celebrate I made chili and thought I would share. I developed this recipe as a bachelor so it is true man food with plenty of meat, substance, and bold spices. It's also very quick, and if you do it right all the cleanup happens while you cook, so you can zone out in bliss after eating without having any KP duty later.

Chili
2 lbs burger (use the good stuff, I get mine at White's in Gresham)
2 medium onions, skinned and diced as you prefer.
3 cans diced tomatoes
4 cans Texas Ranch Style Chili beans
1 can black beans (drained)
1 can red beans (drained)
Chili powder
Granulated garlic
Onion powder
salt
Baking soda
Sugar

Cornbread
2 boxes Jiffy cornbread mix
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
butter

0 - Dinner in 30 minutes - Ready, set, go!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees for the cornbread
Next, put a big skillit on one of the big burners, just shy of high temp
Add hamburger and chopped onion
Add spices to taste, then add a bit more
Add Tabasco if wife is not home and don't hold back. Most of the heat will cook out, leaving that wonderful flavor.
Stir occasionally while cooking

While the meat and onions are cooking get the tomatoes and beans hopping.
Place a large pot on the other large burner, also just shy of high temp.
Add just the tomatoes and bring to boil.
This part is secret (sshhhh, don't tell anybody):
Add a small amount (half level teaspoon) of baking soda to boiling tomatoes to neutralize the acid from having been picked too green.
If needed add a bit more - watch how much foam is made as the baking soda neutralizes the acid as your guide
Once neutralized, add about 1/8 cup of sugar. Foam will immediately disappear. The tomatoes are now almost as good as if you picked them from your garden.
Add the beans and stir, allow to heat while the meat is cooking

Now, while the meat continues to cook, prepare the Jiffy mix according to directions.
Take a 10" cast iron skillet and grease with butter.
Add mix to skillet
Now the Jiffy goes in the oven for 20 minutes (that's right, you are only 10 minutes in at this point)

At this point the meat mixture should be cooked. Remove any grease as needed, then add to large pot with tomatoes and beans. Let simmer while the cornbread cooks, stirring occasionally.

At this point I usually score points with the wife by cleaning everything that isn't on or in the oven and get bowls, plates, etc., ready. Scoring these points is really important, because my wife will be really agitated about an hour later after the Chili hits the fan, so to speak...

When the cornbread is finished, place a large dinner plate upside down and flip it over. The cornbread will pop right out onto the plate. Cut into 8 wedges.

Enjoy... Next time I'll share my recipe for low carb Enchilidadadas.

[Em-squared]

Hi - thanks for posting your recipe. I would challenge you in a chili cook-off ANY day. My chili is bomb, just so you know. One of my stepsons, who used to hate chili, started liking it because of mine.

I agree with the Ranch Style beans, I use them too and they really make the dish.

For dinner tonight, we had sweet potato fries, chicken strips, AND fish sticks with homemade tartar sauce. Kind of a weird dinner for us normally, but it was a long day and we were lazy.

[someguy]

Interesting tip about baking soda, never heard of that before. I also use less beans or sometimes no beans. I start off my pot by cutting up and cooking about 5 strips of bacon then browning my meat in bacon grease. Next I add diced green and red peppers and onion and some poblano or hatch peppers for flavor base. Then add tomato, beans, spices, and fresh jalapeño, serrano, or habanero peppers to taste and simmer a few hours.

[crownr0yal]

Anybody delivering samples of their chili recipes? I will send a pre-addressed and stamped box w/ dry ice! Starving grad student / chili lover here!

[someguy]

Originally Posted by crownr0yal

Anybody delivering samples of their chili recipes? I will send a pre-addressed and stamped box w/ dry ice! Starving grad student / chili lover here!

For the cost of postage and dry ice you can make your own chili

[Em-squared]

Yeah, I've never used baking soda, either. What does it do, exactly?

I will share my recipe, but I'm not at home right now and since it is my own improvised recipe, it's written down on a piece of paper.

[3M-TA3]

Canned tomatoes (and every tomato you get from a grocery store) are typically called "vine ripened". This means they are picked green, but supposedly will still ripen normally. This is why the tomatoes you buy at the store are salmon pink instead of vibrant red like they should be for the typical store varieties.

Tomatoes that mature after being picked green wind up too tart and not sweet enough. I use the baking soda in small amounts to neutralize the acid. Once that is done, I add a small amount of sugar to replace what was denied them by picking them too green. After this process the canned tomatoes are as close to garden ripened as they can get. The texture also changes for the better.

Nothing beats the garden, but this will get you close.

[3M-TA3]

And lookin' forward to that chili recipe, Em...

[Xion]

French fries + Curd cheese + Gravy = Poutine = miam miam

[ravenspilot]

I may have to try this chili recipe. I usually cheat and use Carroll Shelby's chili mix when I make it, with a can of Ro-Tel or similar diced tomatoes and green peppers, and plenty of onion.

Sometimes I add beans, usually I don't.

Leftovers make for great taco salads.