I was once asked by a friend of mine, “where did you get the recipe for your Black & White Chili?” When I answered “I made it up,” my friend said that he was envious I could “just whip up a batch of such great-tasting chili” without much time or effort. He said that, for him, making chili was an all-day affair, what with the four kinds of meat, three kinds of beans, three kinds of peppers, … After thinking about what he said, I decided to write this essay.
Cooking chili – that is, the actual preparation of the ingredients – is exceedingly simple: You saute a few things, maybe cook a few other things, add some spices and liquid, then simmer until it’s the desired consistency. Even a child can do that (with a bit of parental supervision, of course). The real “work” is making up the recipe. Yes, making up the recipe: I firmly believe that everyone ought to come up with their own recipe for chili – a recipe that suits their own tastes and doesn’t slavishly follow what someone else says to do. This exercise will help you get started on the path to finding your own chili recipe.
If you follow my instructions from start to finish, you’re going to make a lot of batches of chili. Some will be better than others but few (if any) should be inedible. Since this is a series of experiments, it’s best to work in small batches – a pound of meat and a cup of beans. I also suggest you choose a different meat for each experiment; you could use the same meat for all of them but then how would you learn which meat you like best? The same for beans (if you use them), peppers, and spices. As with all good experiments, write down what you’re going to do before you do it; make notes along the way if you use different quantities than you first planned; at the end, taste the results and write down what you did and didn’t like as well as what problems you had.
I propose that you start by making a batch of chili using as few ingredients as possible; each batch after that will use one more ingredient, but as few of the same ingredients as possible. For example, the first batch uses ground beef, onions, and dried red chiles; the second batch uses cubed pork, onions, fresh green chiles, and white beans; the third batch uses chopped sausages, onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, and beer; … You get the idea, right?. (If you’re feeling adventurous, try starting with just meat and peppers.)
The astute reader will notice that all of the example lists of ingredients I just gave included onions. While it’s certainly possible to make chili without onions, I don’t usually like the results. Let this one ingredient remain the same in all your experiments.
Let’s consider the following groups of ingredients …
Meat. Cubed, chopped, shredded, or ground. Beef, pork, sausages (uncooked), chicken, turkey, game (rabbit, venison, squirrel). Try different cuts of meat, too, as well as both breast and leg meat for poultry. I suggest avoiding seafood, as I don’t find it works very well in chili. Any other types or cuts of meat you can think of are allowed. Personally, though, I don’t like chili made with poultry, but far be it from me to stop you from trying it for yourself.
Peppers. Fresh, dried, chopped, crushed, or powdered. Red, green, orange, yellow. Try every variety you can find (including things like chipotles in adobo sauce). You can also use chili powder but you really ought to make your own. One thing, though: Do not use bell peppers; in this context I’m treating them as vegetables. Hot sauces could be used here or considered as “other flavorings” (see below).
Spices. Garlic, cumin, paprika, salt, pepper (black or white, always freshly ground); also, allspice, basil, bay leaves, cilantro, coriander, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme.
Liquid. Beer, stock, wine, tomato juice (although I don’t recommend it), but never, ever use water. Even a weak stock is better than water. All that water can do is dilute the flavors we’ve so carefully selected. I’d rather you go out and buy too-salty canned beef stock than use water. If you use wine or beer, be sure to cook your chili long enough to evaporate out all the alcohol. If you remember, pour the beer into a cup or bowl a few hours before you’re ready to use it; if you forget, pour it into the pot slowly to avoid getting lots of foam.
Vegetables. I don’t like vegetables in my chili, except for beans, and tomatoes (usually in my Cincinnati-Style Chili). Black beans, white beans, red beans; big beans, small beans. Soak them or not, cook them separately (plain or with other ingredients), drain and rinse them, then add them to the mixture after the meat has been browned. Tomatoes should be peeled and chopped up a bit; oddly enough, I find that canned tomatoes work better than fresh ones. My favorites are Pastene Italian peeled tomatoes with basil leaf; use just the tomatoes and discard the juice they’re packed in. Other than beans and tomatoes I suggest limiting yourself to bell peppers (of any color), olives (either color, but not oil-cured), celery, and maybe mushrooms.
Other Flavorings. I’m thinking here of things like mustard, “liquid smoke” (which is probably somebody’s brand name or trademark, but which isn’t as yucky or artifical as it sounds: it’s nothing more than water that has been flavored with wood smoke; try it sometime), hot sauces, whiskey and liquers, tomato paste, etc. I prefer to avoid these but sometimes a teaspoon of this or a tablespoon of that is just the right thing. Those few times I use these ingredients I tend towards spicy brown mustard (Gulden’s), bourbon, or a red or green habanero hot sauce (El Yucateco).
Finally, on to the experiments …
Batch #1: Start with onions, one meat, one kind of pepper, and one liquid; if you insist on beans in your chili, pick one kind. A general rule of thumb is one medium-large onion per pound of meat, and up to equal weights of beans (after cooking) and meat. You’ll have to guess at how much liquid to use, but more than 6 ounces per pound of meat and beans is probably excessive.
The basic method is this:
A note about oil: First, use as little oil as possible; unlike soup, you don’t want to have to skim the fat off chili. When sauteeing use just enough to fully cover the bottom of your pan; when browning the meat, remember that the fat in the meat will render pretty quickly so you don’t need much oil get things started. As far as what kind of oil to use … I like peanut oil but I usually have only canola oil in the house (because it’s healthier) so that’s what I use. For some chilis – ones made from sausage or with green herbs (oregano, basil, marjoram) I use olive oil (a basic, not-too-expensive extra virgin oil that doesn’t have too distinctive a taste of it’s own). I suggest staying away from sesame or sunflower oils or any other oil with a strong taste. [The fat in meat isn’t oil, per se, but this seems like a convenient place to mention that for those recipes that use ground beef I suggest 85% lean.]
Batch #2: Keep the onions but pick a different meat, a different kind of pepper, and a different liquid; then, choose one spice or one vegetable or one “flavoring.” If you’re feeling confident you may choose one spice and either a flavoring or a vegetable. Cook as above and record your results.
Batches #3, 4, and 5: I suggest sticking with the same number of ingredients as batch #2 but choosing all new ingredients (except the onions, of course). This basic recipe is a good vehicle for learning what tastes good to you; make at least three batches like this, more if you’re having fun and enjoying the results.
Batches #6, 7, and 8: Using your best results so far as a base, work your way up (one batch at a time) to a recipe that has one item from every category (although “flavorings” should still be considered optional).
Batch #9: Almost there. Go back to your favorite results and add another spice or two and maybe a “flavoring”; if you haven’t already done so, try using both tomatoes and beans (kidney beans work best for this).
Batch #10: At this point you may well know exactly what you want your chili recipe to be; if so, great. Make it and enjoy! If you’re still not satisfied, use your favorite results so far as a base, but this time take out one ingredient; or, take out two and put only one back (with something different). If you’re really stuck, go back to your favorite results from the early batches (#2 through #5) and use that as a base (even if you liked a later batch better). My guess, though, is that you’ll be pretty close to finding what you like and won’t really need any help from me at this point.
If you’ve been patient enough to stick with me this far I have one more thing to say before I end. Many people think chili needs to be “complicated” – lots of ingredients, multiple spices, more than one kind of meat or beans, etc. I strongly urge you not to fall into this trap! Chili is a simple dish, easily prepared, and shouldn’t require much effort. Don’t let yourself get carried away! For example, the most complicated chili I make has 12 ingredients, and that includes the oil used for sauteeing, the ever-present onions, and the salt and black pepper; not counting the time to cook the beans it takes me at most 90 minutes to prepare this chili, from sharpening my knife to sitting down with a bowlful.