Pop's chili

RePost!  Just for grins, here's that chili recipe again:


Here it is, my “famous” chili recipe! Like most good ones, it is mostly ‘in the wrist’, and thrown together by instinct, but I’ll try to put down here what I do.

Start with good meat. If you just want hotdog chili, you can use regular hamburger meat, since it’s ground fine. Larger ground “chili grind” the grocery stores often have is ok for a quick pot. But for really good chili, a good cut of meat is a must. A good tender roast, cut into 1/4 to 3/8 inch cubes works best, and I find that venison makes a great chili!

I use an iron pot and wooden spoons. It never tastes right in stainless steel or aluminum.

Fresh spices are best, of course.

3 – 4 lbs meat (beef or venison, ground or cubed as preferred)
McCormick Hickory Smoke flavored salt to taste
1/2 large or one small onion, cut in medium (1/2 inch) pieces
1 stalk green onion, diced small
2-3 tbs bacon grease or olive oil
1/2 tsp dill
Garlic, minced (1 clove or powder to taste)
3 tbs Woody’s Cook-in’ Sauce
black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp parsley
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
2-3 shakes Tabasco Chipotle sauce
6 – 7 “shakes” Chili powder*
1/2 tsp red Chili powder*
3 tbs Masa corn flour mixed in water
1 can tomato sauce
1 can stewed and diced tomatoes

* The chili powder is the base flavoring that gives this dish its distinctive taste. You must experiment with this spice to get the heat you want. I use a small amount of the basic chili powder as flavoring, and the red pepper is the one that gives it the real heat. BE CAREFUL with the red pepper! Remember – you can always put in more, but you can’t take it out once it’s in!

Melt the bacon grease in an iron skillet. (You can use olive oil if you’re watching your fat, but bacon grease gives it a better flavor.) Dice the onion and sauté it in the grease or oil until it’s transparent. Add the green onion and sauté it as well. Add the minced garlic clove here, too, or add the powder form instead.

Add the meat. As it browns, add the McCormick hickory smoke salt, black pepper, dill, and parsley. Brown the meat thoroughly. Add the Woody’s now. After a couple more minutes to allow the Woody’s to cook in, add the can of tomato sauce and stewed tomatoes, along with a couple of shakes of the Tabasco chipotle sauce.

Add the cumin, chili powder, red chili powder and oregano.

Now put the Masa corn flour in a bowl and add cold water enough to make it into a medium thin soupy mix. It should pour from the bowl like a thin batter. Once the chili is back to a good boil, add the mixture to the chili, pouring from the bowl, stirring it in slowly. This will thicken the chili, and add a good background flavor, too.

That’s all you need to add. Just let it cook. Once it gets back up to a boil after adding the corn flour mixture, back it down to a simmer and cook for at least another 30 minutes. An hour would be better. Add water to it as needed to keep it from getting too thick or sticking. Stir often to prevent it from burning to the bottom of the pot.

Serve in bowls, with fresh bread, or breadsticks, or cornbread. The finer ground meats make it work great on hotdogs, too. You can sprinkle cheese over the top, or add the cheese and ‘nuke’ it to melt the cheese in. Sharp cheddar works best, since its got a strong taste.

A note about the spices: The amounts I gave above are a guess. Start small and add to taste. As I noted about the red pepper, you can always add more, but you can’t ever take it out once it’s in. If you do ever put in too much pepper, you can add water and corn flour to try to water it down, but that’ll throw off the other spices’ taste. Best to start small, taste often and fiddle with it as needed. Instead of canned stewed tomatoes, you can use home grown tomatoes you’ve stewed yourself. If you do, cut ‘em up small, and stew ‘em well.

Another note about (shudder) beans: Don’t get me wrong, I love beans – just not in chili! There are two camps in Texas regarding beans. One won’t make it without ‘em, the other (the right one!) says they’re a cheap filler when yer low on meat! That’s why you won’t see ‘em in my recipe!

A poem about chili:

WHEN TILLIE ATE THE CHILI

by Jack Prelutsky

When Tillie ate the chili,
She erupted from her seat,
She gulped a quart of water,
And fled screaming down the street,
She coughed, she wheezed, she sputtered,
She ran totally amok,
She set a new world record
As she raced around the block.
Tillie's mouth was full of fire,
Tillie's eyes were red with tears,
She was smoking from her nostrils,
She was steaming from her ears,
She cooled off an hour later,
Showing perfect self-control
As she said, "What tasty chili,
I should like another bowl."