Chili: The art and science of Texas Red

November 10, 2009 on 1:01 am | In Elise, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

So, due to a Twitter conversation yesterday involving DC Charles (bridgemama), Jared James (count_01), Victoria Dahl, Keri Ford, and who knows who all else, I am compelled to defend the bowl of Texas Red.

First, let me refer you here to the International Chili Society (linked on my links page, too), which states, unequivocally, no beans or pasta in chili. Please take note. Competition chili is expressly and explicitly NO BEANS. I don’t understand why this is such a difficulty, since beans (and pasta)  are no more than filler. Also, chili should be spicy. I don’t just mean hot – though it should be that, too. I mean spicy in the sense of many spices involved in it’s creation.

I’ll cop to being a chili snob. I make my own chili powder (and if you think you’re getting that recipe, you’re dead wrong), and I’m pretty much unbending in my definition. If you want chili with beans, you go on ahead. But it’s chili WITH BEANS. It’s not chili. You can have venison chili, antelope chili or perhaps elk (though neither Jared nor I has tried that – sounds like it should be good, though).

In the interest of fairness, I’ll also say that I don’t really have a “recipe” so much as a general procedure. The proportion of spices varies with the acidity of the tomatoes and the flavor of the beef.  If the tomatoes are a bit bitter, we’ll adjust with some allspice, but that’s not usual. We use grass-fed beef, so the flavor is sweeter and a bit gamier than corn-fed, and that affects the overall balance of the dish, so I don’t need as much sweet in the rest of the recipe. Also, this recipe can be done campfire style, stovetop, in the oven, or in a crockpot. I’ll give crockpot directions here, since that seemed to be the consensus.

Texas Red

1.5-2 lbs stew meat (beef), cut in bite sized pieces
2 medium onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 fresh jalapenos, chopped
2-3 whole chipotles (I prefer dried to canned for this. Canned are sweeter, though)
1-2 chipotles, snipped into pieces
2 cans rotel tomatoes w/ chilis
1 can crushed tomato (the big sized can)
1 can tomato paste (useful for adjusting consistency, may or may not be necessary)
cumin
chili powder
onion powder
garlic powder
oil (pepper oil, garlic oil, olive oil, something like that)

In cast iron skillet, brown beef in oil. remove to crockpot.

sautee half of onion and jalepeno in same skillet until onion soft and slightly caramelized. Add half of garlic. Sautee additional minute. Dump in crockpot.

Add remaining ingredients (excepting tomato paste) to crockpot. I generally start with around 5 TBSP chili powder and 2-3 TBSP cumin, 1 TBSP each garlic powder and onion powder.  The mixture WILL LOOK like there is not enough tomato. I PROMISE it will loosen up.

Mix well, put crockpot on low. Allow to cook in crockpot 8-12 hours (depending on heat of your crockpot), stirring occasionally. At about hour 3, you should be able to get a sense of the flavor. Taste and adjust seasonings accordingly. I often find that I will need to adjust at this point.

At around hour 6, check consistency. If the chili is too soupy, add tomato paste as needed and adjust seasoning again (tomato paste has a very bright flavor, so you are probably going to want chili powder, cumin, and onion powder).

Start checking around 8 hours to see if it’s done. When done, the “graininess” of the spices will be gone, and the flavor will be completely melded. At this point, you can salt if necessary.

Serve as you like. I eat mine straight, with a side of corn chips. DH adds cheese on top.

Note that this is a very loose guide. Proportions can be varied depending on personal preference. I hope y’all enjoy.