Question about roasting tomatoes for chili!

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BAPyessir6

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So I'm going to a potluck and bringing chili (it's a chili competition/cook-off, but I'm SUPER competitive so I refuse to let mine be judged, cause I'll become a baby if I lose)

I was tossing around ideas and thinking about great chilis, and I remember seeing a recipe online that called for roasting Roma tomatoes before blending them into the chili sauce.

If I'm using rehydrated guajillo/ancho peppers, maybe a Chipotle chili or two as well, will this extra step of roasting the tomatoes make that big of a difference?

I figure the peppers (at least the ancho and chipotle) are already smoked, so I'm just curious if this step will make it go WOW and not roasting them (say using just canned tomatoes or green Chilis and tomatoes) will make a difference in the final product.

I'm fine roasting the tomatoes as well, but I'm just wondering how much flavor/smokiness the roasting will add.

(I'm also braising a chuck for the meat in the chili. Maybe be sacrilegious and add some cream cheese to the base. It's gonna be delicious!!)
 
I vote for roasting. Roasting changes the tomato's flavor a lot. It'll bring out the sweetness and reduce the acidic taste.
 
Ahhhh. I didn't think of that. It can't. . .reduce the acidic content, but probably just caramelizes the sugars? Kind of like how fresh garlic is pungent and roasted garlic is like sweet by comparison?
 
I second the roasting the tomatoes. If you feel that it is missing acid in the final product, give a squeeze of lemon juice or whatever acid you might like to make. Roasting does caramelize the sugars in tomatoes.
 
So I'm going to a potluck and bringing chili (it's a chili competition/cook-off, but I'm SUPER competitive so I refuse to let mine be judged, cause I'll become a baby if I lose)

I was tossing around ideas and thinking about great chilis, and I remember seeing a recipe online that called for roasting Roma tomatoes before blending them into the chili sauce.

If I'm using rehydrated guajillo/ancho peppers, maybe a Chipotle chili or two as well, will this extra step of roasting the tomatoes make that big of a difference?

I figure the peppers (at least the ancho and chipotle) are already smoked, so I'm just curious if this step will make it go WOW and not roasting them (say using just canned tomatoes or green Chilis and tomatoes) will make a difference in the final product.

I'm fine roasting the tomatoes as well, but I'm just wondering how much flavor/smokiness the roasting will add.

(I'm also braising a chuck for the meat in the chili. Maybe be sacrilegious and add some cream cheese to the base. It's gonna be delicious!!)

I use ancho and chipotle peppers, too. I lightly toast them in a dry pan to "wake up" the natural oils -- don't burn them. I sometimes use tomatoes, and sometimes don't. Roasting should add a little smokiness. BTW, chipotle chilis are smoked and dried, I don't believe quajillo and ancho peppers are smoked. Just dried.

Traditional "Texas Red" with diced chuck roast, no beans or tomatoes...

1737349444961.jpeg



Modern, using course ground chuck, same chilis, with hand crushed canned plum tomatoes and pinto beans...

1737349517074.jpeg


CD
 
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So you are saying that trail food of Texas Chili is really just stewed beef with onions and flavoured with chili peppers?

Calling it a stew makes much more sense to me, especially when Texans get so upset when they see tomatoes or beans in it.
:LOL: or are they afraid if we call it a stew they'll find carrots and potatoes with sprinkling of peas in it. :LOL:
 
Well, it is like a stew. Some Texan(s) called it chili way back when, I guess because that's where it gets its flavor.

BTW, most Texans these days use tomatoes in chili. Texans are split on beans or no beans. I'm fine with pinto beans in my chili, but not kidney beans like "Yankees" tend to use. But, I hate kidney beans in anything.

I know people who put corn in chili. People even make vegan chili, which seems like an oxymoron to me, but there are all kinds of recipes online for vegan chili, with potatoes multiple kinds of beens and veggies... and even tofu chili. Now, that sounds like a stew, to me. :ROFLMAO:

CD
 
Chili is, by definition, a stew. I've never heard anyone call it that.

I started using dark red kidney beans in my chili to stretch it a bit back when I started making chili. I like them better than pintos. I also add a little tomato sauce. I don't know if it's authentic or not, but the recipe I use won an international chili cook-off a while back (without the beans).
 
Chili is, by definition, a stew. I've never heard anyone call it that.

I started using dark red kidney beans in my chili to stretch it a bit back when I started making chili. I like them better than pintos. I also add a little tomato sauce. I don't know if it's authentic or not, but the recipe I use won an international chili cook-off a while back (without the beans).

It's a lot like gumbo, which is fundamentally a soup. But it's called gumbo... and like chili, people make all kinds soups they call "Gumbo." :unsure:

CD
 
If you want to win a chili contest (Ive won a few) dont worry about he tomatoes. They dont belong in chili, anyway.

Add unsweetened cocoa powder
 
all this talk reminds me I have some beans left over in the back of the fridge. Now I know they keep but I don't remember how long they've been there... almost afraid to look.
 
If you want to win a chili contest (Ive won a few) dont worry about he tomatoes. They dont belong in chili, anyway.

Add unsweetened cocoa powder

The "King" of chili cookoffs is the Terlingua cookoff.


CD
 
The "King" of chili cookoffs is the Terlingua cookoff.


CD
I have the recipe for the 1970 Champion, Wick Fowler.
 
On the note of a chili cook-off, I'm a bit bitter about it. Not that my chili didn't win (I didn't enter mine anyway, as I'm very competitive to the point that it isn't healthy for me. Though I did favor mine as I was the only one there to roast/soak dried chilis and use anything other than ground beef.)

The most annoying part of it is that the reigning champion, who's won 7 times outta 9 years as of yet, wins with admittedly canned Hormel chili. She beat out a guy last year who is from Texas and made the traditional meaty chili that took him like 3 days (dude grows his own peppers, smoked his own beef, etc.). After he lost to canned chili he apparently withdrew permanently.

Everyone says the reason she wins so much is that she has 8 kids and they all voted for her. 😂
 
So enter your canned Hormel chili next year. Never know - if the judges can't tell the difference you might have a chance!
AHA! maybe the contest is sponsored by Hormel!
 

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