a simple chili

ChowderMan

Pizza Chef
Super Site Supporter
ever got the the point where you're exhausted trying to 'taste / appreciate' all 436 ingredients of a dish?

here's a simple chili con carne - beans and beef.
no, not interesting in regional definitions of what is and isn't chili. . . .

with the advent of 'chili contests' the 'how to' of this dish has gone to extremes. personally, as things go in the 'genuine' camp - I'd be real curious as to how Cookie made such a dish with thousands of ingredients by the 1/8 teaspoon on the back of a Conestoga chuck wagon.
for some odd reason, I'd bet he did 'simple'

there are exactly two secrets to this dish:

(1) brown the beef - not just make it turn from blood red to pale brown - hot sear the ground beef until about 50% of the 'kernals' show some dark color.

(2) time: it says simmer 2 hours. 4 is better. if you cut it short, you'll miss the flavors.
it's a good candidate for 'make the day before' - the peanut gallery in my house thinks it's better the second day.

1 lb ground beef
1 chopped onion
3/4 c green pepper chopped
1 lb = 2 c tomato chunks
1 lb = 2 c dark red kidney beans, drained
8 ounces tomato sauce
1 tsp salt
1 to 2 tsp chili powder
1 bay leaf

brown beef
add onion & peppers til soft
add rest
simmer two+ hr.
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
I love that, CM!!!

That's the way I always made chili growing up!

I tried a competition chili championship recipe once. Had to toss it. One spoonful of that stuff gets a judge's attention, but can't/don't want to eat a bowful.

Thanks for posting that!

Lee
 

CharlieD

New member
Being from Ukraine, I know very little about chili, but my DW being from CA loves it. I've been promising her to make some, and if man says he'll do it there ain’t no reason to remind him every 6 month, well, this must be just the recipe I was looking for to try, simple. Maybe this Sunday, I have some work to do on the deck, I'll start the chili, and then move onto the deck, by the time I'm done so will chili.
Thank you.
 

Lefty

Yank
I will have to agree, simple is BETTER. I used to make chili from scratch with 14 different peppers, 3 types of beans (not kidney, kidney beans are dry) and it was great, but it started costing me over $50 per pot to make, $75 if I made a large batch. Now I opt for a simpler chili to get more out of the dish and better taste the flavor. I will also plus one your "it tastes better the next day" 100% agree on that. I do have a weakness, if I have garlic bread to dip into the chili I will eat twice as much. Seriously!
 

ChowderMan

Pizza Chef
Super Site Supporter
Charlie kicked my buds - had not made any in a while - just finished two bowls of the simple chili!

major bummer on the Saltines - despite a BestBy date still three months away they wuz' stale! yuck!
 

Adillo303

*****
Gold Site Supporter
With the exception that I mix 3 kinds of beans, I do something similar often.

Great post, thank you.
 

LADawg

New member
Think I'll make me (us, my wife and I) a pot of chili, but I'll leave out the Green Pepper, the Tomato Chunks and the BEANS. I will add one more tablespoon of chili powder and a can of beef broth and a little water........At the end I will thicken it up with a heaping spoon full of corn starch mixed with a little water..........
 
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