We have had a fabulous dinner.
Well, a good dinner.
It was OK.
Roast pork, which ended up a wee bit dry. Baked potatoes and broccoli florets.
Trying to plan ahead for dinner later over the weekend, we picked up some Brussels sprouts, which leaves me to dig around and find out how to pair them with roasted chestnuts. It's supposed to be a classic combo, but I've never had them served together and haven't the faintest idea as to how to cook them.
And there's bad news: our grocery store of choice doesn't have dried chiles of any kind. They have chili powder, but that's not the same thing. Hopefully I'll be able to find someplace nearby that has dried chiles, so I can make chili the way it should be made.
I like to soak the chiles and then puree and strain them before adding them to the seared meat, preferably chuck, cubed not ground. Let's face it, how authentic is ground meat in chili? Do you think the Cookies at their chuckwagons had time to waste grinding that meat? Of course not! They used real meat, cubed and simmered in a good broth until it was tender. Ground beef wasn't brought into the picture until Depression-era housewives were trying to make their families good meals on a highly restricted budget, and ground meat was cheaper than chuck or most other cuts.
It was the Depression-era housewife that introduced beans as part of the dish, rather than something served with the chili. Again, it was a sensible thing for them to do, a way of extending the meal in a healthy way while holding down the budget. Adding pasta was another tactic (hello, chili-mac!), and so was adding canned tomatoes.
Me, I think Depression-era chili deserves a hero's congratulations, but I like my chili the old Texan way. Like I say, I like to start with a good slab of chuck, and dice it into 1-inch cubes, or maybe a little smaller. Frankly, I like to mix chuck and pork together, starting with some slab bacon or salt pork, diced and rendered down in the Dutch oven. Toss the chuck and pork butt in some seasoned flour, and sear the meat in the rendered fat. (Dieters can skip the rendering part.) Add in the pureed chiles, some extra hot chili powder (if possible, from a single type of chile; it's less likely to have been cut with other spices), some cumin and oregano, diced yellow onions, some bell peppers that I've diced up, some minced garlic and minced jalapenos, some unsweetened powdered cocoa, add in some beef stock and beer (the darker the better), and just let it all simmer away over low heat for a few hours.
Yes, you heard that right. Cocoa. It tames the chiles, and adds a really interesting background note. Very yum.
When it's all tender and smells exactly right, it's almost dinner time. At this point I like to add maybe a tablespoon of corn meal, which thickens up the broth and adds another interesting flavor. The beans (red kidney or black beans) can be served on the side, and toppings like cheddar, sour cream, green onions, oyster crackers...
Am I making everyone hungry yet?
And, for all you Atkins people, follow this general recipe and simply don't add the questionable stuff that would be upping the carbs or overdoing the fats, you've got yourself and your fellow Atkinsers something to feast upon! Yeah, this is more about method than actual proportions; you're all smart, you can figure out what to do.