Feb 04, 2001
Purpose
This is my increasingly-non-traditional tomatoless chili recipe. My sincere thanks to Jer. I call it: John's Black Jer's Famous Brown Chili.
It's my attempt at putting together a good chili recipe that doesn't involve tomatoes. By no means is this my original recipe. I started with Jer's Famous Brown Chili, and made my own special modifications :
Ingredients & Preparation :
- 14-inch frying pan
- 8-qt pot
- 2 lb top sirloin
(substitute in 1 lb ground pork for a richer flavour)
- 2 tblsp corn oil
- 4 medium white onions
- 1 clove garlic
- 6 celery sticks from stalk
Cut sirloin into cubes 3/8-inch on a side (5/16 is okay, too). Add oil to pan, add heat under pan, add sirloin to oil. Stir. Chop the 4 onions, garlic and celery. Stir meat. When meat is semi (sorta) browned or grey, add onions, garlic and celery.
- 1/2-bottle red wine
- 3-4 tblsp chili powder
- 2 oz Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 oz Soy Sauce
You'll get lots of moisture for a while, then as the onions go translucent, the moisture will reduce. Pour 8 oz of wine in large wine glass. Have a couple of gulps. Add chili powder. To the pot, not the wine glass. Stir until well mixed. Add Lea & Perrins and Soy.
- 3 red bell peppers
- 1+1/2 cups fresh mushrooms
(a mixture of gourmet-brown and Portobello is best)
Cook in frying pan, constantly stirring, until moisture has reduced to maybe a half a cup puddle in the pan. Chop bell peppers and mushrooms. See if there's any more Lea & Perrins in the bottle. If there is, add another three ounces or so (...says Jer; I don't!), and stir it in. Whether there is or not, have another couple of gulps of wine.
- 1 19-oz can black beans
- 1 19-oz can red kidney beans
wash and drain the beans!
- 1/2 cup frozen corn niblets
- 1 tblsp Cumin
- 2 tblsp blackstrap molasses
or brown sugar, doesn't matter I'm sure.
- fresh hot peppers*, chopped
* I can offer only guidelines as to quantity. Chop a pepper in half (wear rubber gloves), Touch the cut end to your tongue and savour. If your head explodes, use only one or two peppers in the chili. If the burn is hot but bearable, use three or four peppers. If you can chew a piece of the pepper without running to the fridge for a glass of milk, then use at least six in the chili.
OR start with one generous tablespoon of cayenne pepper flakes.Transfer frying pan contents to pot. Pour 6 oz. of wine in the frying pan, loosen all the scrapings and run-away seasonings by stirring, and add to the pot. Add beans, corn, mushrooms and bell peppers to the pot. If you're a chili purist, skip the beans and double the meat. Have a gulp of wine. Add the molasses, hot peppers (or crushed pepper), and cumin. Stir, but do not taste. Have another gulp of wine, instead.
Cover the pot, gulp some wine, and simmer (the chili) on low for another hour. Turn off the heat, and let it sit for an hour with the cover on. Gulp some wine. With your palette appropriately cleared and sharpened, taste the chili. Don't inhale with the spoonful of chili near your open mouth. Take another spoonful. Adjust seasoning until chewing, swallowing, and inhaling partially paralyzes the trachea at the bronchial juncture.
Serving :
Mince the last onion. Reheat the chili until just barely bubbling. Very Important: Add a generous grind of fresh black pepper! Taste the chili. Look at your guests. Is it too hot for them? If so, get new friends, or add some brown sugar to the chili (not enough to make it noticeably sweet). If you think it still lacks a certain something, then add a pinch of salt, a dash of vinegar, a half spoonful of brown sugar and some cayenne pepper flakes, and stir them in.Ladle into bowls. Sprinkle minced onion over the surface of the chili. Grate cheddar cheese on top of the onion. Add a generous tablespoon of sour cream on top of the cheese. Serve with fresh bread. Pour another glass of wine. Why wine instead of beer? For some reason, beer makes you sweat while you're eating John's Black Jer's Famous Brown Chili.
Evaluation:
- Delicious, flavourful chili. Something gives it a wonderful earthy character: it's the ground pork (recommended), or the brown mushrooms, or molasses, or maybe the cumin. Lots of vegetables and beans, so can be eaten straight, without bread.
- Originally designed to taste great without tomatoes; but if you miss them, then try stirring a little tomato paste or unsweetened ketchup (if you can find it!) into your bowl.
- Heat: "hot" to the non-chilihead, definitely "spicy" to the pepper-addicted among us. Serve it straight-up to your family, and keep a shaker of cayenne pepper by your own bowl!
thesandmage@netscape.net
www.angelfire.com/sc/cosmo
