Well as all good things would have it, I inadvertently typed in 28 ounce cans of tomatoes instead of 14 ounce cans. I went ahead and made the correction, buying and using14 ounce cans is the appropriate amount. So sorry for my screw up. Thanks to jfmorris for mentioning he couldn't find the 28 ounce cans.
I'm sure St. Peter wrote that down and you'll have to account for it at the Pearly Gates one day. Just bring some of your Texas Red for him, and you'll whiz right through.
K.
Last edited by fzxdoc; December 2, 2020, 07:54 AM.
Love chili. I use Smoked pulled pork with prime chuck roast. It gives it an interesting smoked flavor and also add chipotle peppers in adobo. Kind of spicy but it is good
Thanks for the history lesson and recipe, Troutman. For those who haven't read Frank X Tolbert's book, "A Bowl of Red," I highly recommend it. He goes into detail about the Terlingua chili happenings.
If not cooking outdoors, I am cooking on the stovetop with my 14" carbon steel wok, 12" CI skillet, or in the oven with my two Lodge CI pizza pans, or two dutch ovens. I've also got a nifty Lodge carbon steel grill pan that rocks for veggies outdoors.
Troutman , wouldn't you know I got to my local Kroger last night, and all they had was 28 ounce cans of diced tomatoes in that brand, and no crushed tomatoes? Only 14 ounce cans were in the Muir Glen tomato sauce...
I ended up getting 2 28 cans cans of diced Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes, planning to throw one into the food processor for a few seconds to "crush" them. Or put them in a bowl and mash them up. Otherwise, I just need to get a different brand crushed tomato.
Oh - and after getting all the stuff to do the recipe for dinner tonight, SWMBO told me to make the chili for dinner Saturday night, for 8 folks (outside by the fire pit), after my 23 year old daughter's 3pm college graduation (only 3 guests allowed). So I guess I will go back for more stuff to double the recipe, and I won't be able to use my 5 quart dutch oven, but will end up doing the long simmer in two crock pots, so that it can cook unattended during the afternoon on Saturday.
So here is my question. How spicy is the recipe, made as given?
With a mix of folks who may not be able to handle a lot of heat, should I split the doubled recipe into two pots, and cut the heat in one? What would you eliminate to make a "mild" version?
Last edited by jfmorris; December 3, 2020, 09:34 AM.
jfmorris Spiciness is so subjective. I used exactly what I wrote down and I didn't think it had enough heat to be honest. It was spicy but not hot. If you're concerned I'd leave out the jalapenos (or at least de-seed them) and cut back on the cayenne pepper. The chipotle sauce is kind of spicy but there's not enough of that to worry about. I'd make two batches and try to compare the two and adjust accordingly
Thanks Troutman - since I am doubling the recipe, I am going full spice level (hot Italian sausage, pepper with seeds, all the cayenne) in one pot, the other pot I am using mild sausage, half a deseeded jalapeño, and cutting the cayenne pepper in half. If its too hot, I've got a big tub of sour cream, and a dollop of that stirred in goes a long way to cooling off spicy chili. Making cornbread on the side, and a pot of pintos as well for them that want beans...
I'll preface this by saying that I ALWAYS add canned tomatoes to my chili, and further, I'm a heretic who also always adds beans (some combo of pintos, black, and/or kidney), but... I can gar-on-tee (to steal a phrase from Justin Wilson (RIP) of neighboring Louisiana), the original, and still "authentic", bowl o' red din't have no maters.
The two hour argument continues !! Yes I would agree that peppers and meat would probably qualify as "original" (whatever that means). I may try to do a verde version, never really tried but bet it's good as well !!
jfmorris As has been pointed out, "authentic" Texas Red was supposedly made from only various chili peppers and meat. Look back at post 29, @fcxdoc has a link to one by Epicurious, that looks to be the closest to the supposed real McCoy.
jfmorris Well, like I said, I am a heretic, so I do use both tomatoes and beans, but the "real deal" is pretty much just chiles, beef, cumin, maybe onion, and some liquid. Rather than post a bunch of links, just Google "authentic bowl of red". Some time (years?) ago, I posted a recipe on AR from (I think) Wick Fowler for an "original" bowl of red. I can't find it now, but it called for a pound of bacon--just for the grease, eat the bacon while the chile cooks--a CUP(!) of cumin seed, some chile powder, and some ground/chopped beef--the details escape me...and mebbe Fowler was jesting a bit, too, especially as regards the cumin. The recipe came from Chile Pepper Magazine about 30 years ago.
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Great post and recipe, Troutman. Looks like a great bowl of chili/chile. I know this always brings up a debate and some fun.
The link Kathryn posted, to me that is Chile! Or Chile con Carne, and spelled correctly too none of this chili with an "i" stuff!
But, that’s the New Mexican in me, and growing up watching my grandparents run a New Mexican food restaurant, it was always red chile pods blended up with some water and added into the meat of choice, ground beef or some type of cut up beef along with garlic and some other spices perhaps. Or pork for carne adovada, which is one of my favorites! But, no beans or tomatoes. And the key, letting the chile cook for a few hours to get a nice shimmer - my grandmother says that’s when you know the bitterness from the red chile has cooked off. One thing that many do, cook a pot of pinto beans with lard and add the red chile and beans together in a bowl, but cooked separately.
And chile verde, same thing, it’s chile and some spices, again letting the chile stand out. But, if you ask for a bowl of green chile stew, then you start to see potatoes, tomatoes, onions and such added in.
Either way, it’s fun to see the interpretations of chile or chili and how they vary across the country and even regionally. It would be a fun event to have A Pit Chile Cookoff!
But again, thanks for the recipe and post. Glad to see your signature "Trout is Out" back and bringing the goods!
I’m with ya on the tomatoes. I’ve done it both ways and I prefer tomatoes and sauce also. It adds so much to the flavor, that’s the only way I do it anymore.
Nah, it’s ok. I’ll leave the tomatoes for other cooks. Chile is what I cook and eat always with various types of chiles!
I don’t want you to miss my point in my post - I like seeing the various regional styles, yours included. If my post came off in the wrong manner, I apologize. Not how I meant for it to be.
Last edited by barelfly; December 3, 2020, 07:34 PM.
barelfly No apology necessary brother, just love to see everyone’s opinion. In fact I’d love it more if everyone would show their versions. Sharing techniques and alternative methods is what we’re all about here. We benefit from the collectivism!!
A couple of general thoughts about chili: For my tastes, I prefer a lot more chile powder than most recipes call for, pure chile thanks, not chili powder. I generally use ancho, but would also use guajillo if it was more readily available in a powder. Anyhoo, I use 1/2 cup for batch of chili that has two pounds of meat, two onions, a 28-oz can of maters, and four cans of beans (OMG! what heresy!). I leave the basic chili fairly bland cuz my wife isn't a big fan of hot, then spice my individual bowl with some hot sauce.
Second, I'd bet one could make a darned good chili using a can or two of enchilada sauce in place of the powder--or using a homemade enchilada sauce made from ancho and guajillo pods. Anyone out there do this?
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Found it! Here is a link to "authentic chili" recipe I referenced above. You can see how bad my memory is in that I attributed it to the wrong person and also misstated the amount of cumin seed. Enjoy.
Well the two hour discussion continues. That is pretty far from anything authentic in Texas. Although bacon in anything rates high with me, in chili that puts it in a different category. Lots of cumin, especially double the amount, is definitely NOT in my chili. Using fresh ground chile pepper paste though, is the best way to go, I'll give it that.
Oh well, cook me up a bowl of yours and leave some pictures. I called for a cook-off, show me the goods !!!
Troutman. I should perhaps say "original" as Pendergrast did. To be clear, I’m not advocating for it, just having fun. I would like to try it someday...maybe.
I like Wendy's chili too on occasion, and I had a hand in its making around 1982-83, as a senior in high school. Basically, we always kept singles (the old square ones) going on the cooktop in case of an order, and as they started to get overcooked, they got tossed in a pan and fresh ones put on, assuming no one came in asking for a burger. Those went into the walk-in fridge and were used to prepare the next mornings chili in big pots for the day. Basically browned the beef in "squares", haha.
none of this chili with an "i" stuff! 
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