I love making chili. It was the first recipe I really conquored, really understood inside and out. This meant I could experiment with the ingredients and cooking methods without messing up the final result. This meant I was a culinary goddess. A HOT culinary goddess.
The method is pretty simple.
1. Cook meat with fat in pan, drain meat.
2. Cook aromatics,flavorings (including some kind of chile pepper), veggies in meat fat until soft.
3. Add meat back in, some sort of tomato product, and liquid, the more flavorful the better. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to low, letting everything slowly cook together until meat is fully cooked through and tender, and sauce is thick and properly seasoned. Beans are optional, but can be either cooked in the liquid or added in last minute if canned.
Follow this method with your favorite ingredients (and make sure you’re not drunk), and you too can produce a damn fine chili. Almost all of my chilis use onions and garlic as the aromatics. My first chili used ground beef for the meat, canned chipotles in adobo sauce for the chile, and beef stock, beer, and white wine for the liquid, with canned black beans.
Another chili used ground chicken meat, jalapeno peppers and tomatillos in place of the tomatoes with chicken stock for the liquid. In Australia, I used chunks of tough beef (forget the cut) that eventually cooked down to shredded beef with dried Mexican chile peppers like ancho, Mexican & dark bitter chocolate,dark ale and beef stock as the liquid, and corn for some sweetness.
I know. I’m a freaking REBEL.
For my yearly chili cookoff, we’ve had an italian chili w/ pork sausage and white beans win, a kangaroo chili with lemon myrtle in Australia, and even a Thai chicken curry chili. In my cookoffs (which are quite untraditional), the more creative, the better.
Which brings us to this week’s chili recipe. I used ground beef and ground lamb for the meat, and bacon fat to help brown it. I had some butternut squash lying around in the fridge, so I threw that in to help make the dish more seasonal. I used chipotle peppers from a can along with a few dashes of commercial chili powder (which contains cumin, oregano, garlic, etc.). Lamb stock and a pale ale were my liquids, because I had them and I thought they would go well together.
And thats it. One hour later, I had some of the most delicious chili I have ever made: thick, hearty, meaty and full of awesomeness. I topped it off with sour cream, a sprinkle of cheese and a few chopped chives, and I was good to go.
What is your favorite chili combo?
~LTG!
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Leena’s Kick-ass Beef n Lamb Chipotle Chili
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground lamb
2 TB bacon fat
1 small onion, smalled diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 whole chipotle pepper(with seeds) finely minced
1 TB adobo sauce from chipotle can
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded and smalled chopped
1/2 cup frozen pearl onions (cuz i had them!)
s&p to taste
1 bottle of beer
2 cups of lamb stock (or other meat/poultry stock)
1/3 cup canned crushed tomatoes
Method:
1. Brown meat with fat in pan, drain meat on plate with paper towel.
2. Cook chopped onions, garlic, chile pepper, chili powder and squash in fat until onions start to get soft, but not completely translucent. Use a bit of salt while cooking.
3. Add meat back in, frozen onions, tomato, and both liquids. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to low, letting everything slowly cook together until meat is fully cooked through and tender, and sauce is thick and properly seasoned. You might need to taste as you go and adjust the heat or amount of spices to your liking. Beans are optional, but can be either cooked in the liquid or added in last minute if canned.
Enjoy!
