Saturday, June 24, 2006

chili, for Jedi Appliance Guy


my old chili recipe
Originally uploaded by pwilnyc.

It's kind of a long story, why I owe this guy my prize-winning chili recipe, but suffice to say my Kenmore range works again, and I heartily recommend the altruistic human beings at The Samurai Appliance Repair Forums if you want to try to fix your faulty major appliance by yourself.


fixing the range


Herewith, chili.

About a pound of stew meat. Preferably a mixture of beef and lamb, but just beef is ok too.

Some oil in bottom of a good-sized stock pot. Let it heat up, then add the meat, to brown.

As it is browning, toss in about 2T of chili powder.

Once the meat is decently brown, pull it out.

Drop in 2 onions, diced. Also a few whole fresh or frozen small peppers, Thai or Serrano or in a pinch Jalapeno (minced). Let this cook at a moderately high heat until you see some brown around the edges of a few pieces of onion.

Turn the heat to medium and add, say, 5 cloves of garlic, chopped. Don't let the garlic brown.
Toss in a scant handful of cornmeal, mix it with the onions and garlic, and let it cook a couple minutes, scraping it around with a wooden spoon.

Add the meat back in and about half a beer. Stir. Then add 2 28-oz cans of tomatos, crushed with your hands. Stir.

This is the first time to season. I add enough additional chili powder to make it look the right color to me. I also add
1t ground cumin
1t cayenne pepper
molasses or brown sugar, about a quarter cup
1/4 cup white vinegar (or juice from a jar of pickled peppers)
1 T instant coffee or grounds
Taste and adjust

Partially cover and let cook for a couple hours.

About 45 minutes before dinner, throw in:
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can Mitchell's white corn. If you can't get white corn, don't bother. Yellow corn in chili looks a lot like poo.

Taste and adjust. This is the moment to dose it with hot sauce to bring it to the heat you like.

I like it with rice.

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