Chili Cookoff

After a langorous day spent working from home, laptop in... well, lap, reclined on my sofa coding like the good monkey I am, the evening brought a bit of coolness and with the setting sun, a longing for the warmth of a good bowl of chili.

I'm not from Texas, but I'll admit to taking inspiration from the "original" Texas-style chili. While I'm prone to adding vegetables such as celery (and even the occasional carrot) to my stock, and am divided over the issue of tomatoes, I feel that the dish can stand a bit of variation. The chili I cooked up today is a fair representation of my signature recipe... optional ingredients can be added or subtracted at will.

I like to use a combination of beef and pork, as well as a fair sampling of different types of chiles to add depth to the dish. If there's beef stock on hand, I'll use that for additional flavor, but if not, a bit of Worschestershire sauce usually suffices. Herbs include whatever is currently in my garden, which in the summer is quite a handful. Like so many other dishes I cook (especially liquid dishes,) I'm going for a blend of the sweet, salty, sour, spicy, and bitter.

The ingredient list is quite daunting, but well worth the while. If you're lazy (like me) it is probably best to double or triple this batch and freeze the leftovers for later use.

Chile con Carne

Ingredients

1 lb. ground chuck
½ lb. lean ground pork
3 tbs olive oil
2 sweet onions, diced
8 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 stalks celery, split and sliced
¼ cup fresh herbs (oregano, marjoram, savory, thyme, basil, sage, cilantro)
12 chiles (I used 3 New Mexico, 3 California, 4 ancho/pasilla, and 2 chipotle)
6 sun/ovendried tomatoes
2 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp fennel seeds
½ tsp celery seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
½" cinnamon stick
1 tbs cocoa powder
¼ cup Worschestershire sauce
½ cup dry Marsala wine (my secret ingedient)
4 plum tomatoes, diced
juice of 1 lime
2 tbs molasses (or 1 tsp brown sugar)
2 bottles beer (lager or light ale)
½ cup pinto beans
½ cup small red kidney beans
2-3 tbs salt

Directions

1. Soak the beans overnight, or in boiling water for 1 hour. Simmer in salted water for 45 mins. or until just tender.
2. Unless you like a really hot chili, seed the dried chile pods thouroughly, then soak in water just off the boil for 20 mins.
3. Prepare a chile paste in a food processor together with the sundried tomatoes, garlic, spices, and half the herbs.
4. Meanwhile, add olive oil, onion, celery, and a bit of salt to a soup pot over medium-high heat and sweat about 5 mins.
5. Add meat and brown approx. 10 mins.
6. Add beer, Worschestershire, molasses, cinnamon, bay leaves, and Marsala wine, and simmer 5 mins.
7. Add chile paste and tomatoes, and simmer, uncovered for 30 mins.
8. Add beans and lime juice, and adjust salt, pepper and sugar to taste.
9. Serve over basmati rice, or in a bowl with saltine crackers, cheddar cheese, diced onions, and minced herbs.