Chili with ground beef and red beans

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di reston

Sous Chef
Joined
Mar 25, 2010
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Location
Calosso, Piemonte
In four days time, my stepson is coming to visit. He is a chili fan, big style! I
already have Steve Kroll's chili, and I'm banking on it. However, the chili they generally do in the UK is the recipe using ground beef and red beans. Steve's recipe is awsome, but if my stepson opts for the ground beef style I don't have a recipe that's good enough - it just doesn't come up to stratch. Fortunately, in Italy now you can get all the herbs and spices you could ever wish for, but not chipotle, but on the whole I could find a suitably hot chili. Italians love their chili spices.

By the way, I came across a recipe that has cocoa powder in it. Is that used as well?

Many thanks


di reston


Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde
 
Chili is a very regional thing. I live in Dallas, and have lived in Texas since 1974, and nobody here can settle on one recipe.

It is 2AM here right now. I'll get back to you tomorrow with some of my favorite chili ingredients -- and there is nothing wrong with ground beef in Texas chili. I use a very course grind of beef in mine, as do most Texans, from my experience. And, contrary to popular belief, many of us in Texas like beans in our chili.

I have not had a Texas chili with cocoa powder in it, but a very dark chocolate powder sounds interesting. I can imagine that working.

Good night.

CD
 
What casey says is an understatement. From the seriouseats article:

"To write about chili is to court controversy; few subjects in American culinary life are so contentious. Chili is for Americans what paella is for Spaniards, or Bolognese is for Italians. It seems like everyone knows exactly what they think chili should be, and everyone knows that everyone else is wrong."

https://www.seriouseats.com/2017/02/guide-to-chili-styles-types-of-chili-recipes.html

Here's another article about the variations:

Regional chili styles around America - INSIDER

I use black beans, corn, and tomatoes in one of the chilis I make, which I would never admit to in Texas.
 
Thank you for your advice and links. The words 'Thunderbolts and lightning, very very frightening' tell me that you have to tread carefully around this subject!

Thanks for the advice. I shall tread warily! Your comments and advice say, teach him to learn the knacks and never forget thaty this a Great American Classic. We're going to have fun!

di reston


Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde
 
I put ground beef, bell peppers of any all colors, Kinsey beans (or a bag of mixed soup beans), crushed tomatoes, chili powder (plus an assortment of other hot and sweet ground chili peppers). I also like to add a packet of French’s brand Chili-O mix. I have added cocoa powder and it gives it a nice rich depth of flavor like a molé but it tastes much better the next day after the cocoa powder blends with other ingredients. I have also added a small amount of creamy peanut butter to my chili.
 
I put ground beef, bell peppers of any all colors, Kinsey beans (or a bag of mixed soup beans), crushed tomatoes, chili powder (plus an assortment of other hot and sweet ground chili peppers). I also like to add a packet of French’s brand Chili-O mix. I have added cocoa powder and it gives it a nice rich depth of flavor like a molé but it tastes much better the next day after the cocoa powder blends with other ingredients. I have also added a small amount of creamy peanut butter to my chili.


msmofet, Dh and I just had some chili I made, and he said, 'along with this piece of butter bread, a glass of milk, this chili, the only thing more I could want is some chocolate cake with peanut butter icing!' I've never made that combo but I hear about it often. chili/peanut butter/chocolate
 
Or the first thread I always think of when it comes to chili: http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f62/authentic-texas-chili-3649.html

Yeah, that's pretty accurate. That's the core of Texas chili, but from there it goes in all kinds of directions.

That recipe is close to what I do. I use some tomato sauce in mine, but NO ketchup. Some people use ketchup, but not a chance in my kitchen.

I also use my own spice and herb blend instead of the store bought blends. I go light on the cumin -- that stuff can overpower everything else if you are not careful.

I also like beans in my chili, which is supposed to be a mortal sin in Texas. I use Ranch Style brand "original" beans. Texans who put beans in the chili generally go with Ranch Style beans. They are pinto beans.

I always make a cast iron pan of cornbread when I make chili. I crumble some in a bowl, and drown it with chili. Yum!

In all honesty, I've eaten a lot of variations of "Texas Chili," and with very few exceptions, I've liked them all.

My best advice to di reston is to find a recipe that looks good to you, and have a lot of tasting spoons ready as you cook. Chili is kind of a personal thing. You have to taste as you cook. Also, keep it simple. Authentic chili is one of those foods that is best with fewer ingredients -- less is more.

CD
 
I put ground beef, bell peppers of any all colors, Kinsey beans (or a bag of mixed soup beans), crushed tomatoes, chili powder (plus an assortment of other hot and sweet ground chili peppers). I also like to add a packet of French’s brand Chili-O mix. I have added cocoa powder and it gives it a nice rich depth of flavor like a molé but it tastes much better the next day after the cocoa powder blends with other ingredients. I have also added a small amount of creamy peanut butter to my chili.

Wow, that's a lot of stuff in the pot. I'm sure it tastes good, but it may be going beyond "chili."

CD
 
In four days time, my stepson is coming to visit. He is a chili fan, big style! I already have Steve Kroll's chili, and I'm banking on it. However, the chili they generally do in the UK is the recipe using ground beef and red beans. Steve's recipe is awsome, but if my stepson opts for the ground beef style I don't have a recipe that's good enough - it just doesn't come up to stratch. Fortunately, in Italy now you can get all the herbs and spices you could ever wish for, but not chipotle, but on the whole I could find a suitably hot chili. Italians love their chili spices.
Hi Di,

I'm flattered you like my chili recipe. There is certainly no reason you couldn't substitute ground beef, or some combination of ground beef and beans. As mentioned, a coarser grind might be preferable. With regard to chipotle, the reason I like it is because it adds a nice smoky flavor. You could just as easily use something like hot smoked Spanish paprika (aka Pimentón de La Vera Picante, which I'm relatively certain is available in Italy) to get the same effect.

The nice thing about chili is that almost everyone starts off with a recipe, but eventually adapts it to their own tastes.
 
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I like to make Chili with ground beef and Black beans, Corn kernels, mild green chilies and small diced tomatoes... I use a mild chili powder spice blend along with freshly ground cumin, coriander seeds and oregano :yum:

and I've been known to put cinnamon, cocoa powder as well as some instant espresso! I feel that it makes the other ingredients sing.

Oh, and I'm with Casey on using a large grind of beef... here in Arizona, they sell a grind of beef specifically for chili con carne, sort of a very, very small dice almost.

Now, in Hawaii we use not only ground beef but ground linguica sausage as well. A friend of ours who moved away from Hawaii and could no longer find linguica, she now uses sweet Italian sausage removed from it's casing, MMM!
 
Personally, I much prefer pinto beans to any other kind. I also saute finely chopped onions, celery and garlic before adding it to my chili. And, of course, the beef is well browned before putting it in the pot with the other ingredients.
 
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