Recipe: Chili Con Carne

Chili con carne (meat chili) is one of my favorite stews. It is super delicious and very easy to cook once you know the order of operations. There are some extra steps that give the chili far more complex flavors.
A pot of chili can be stretched across many meals by eating it with tortilla chips, bread, or roast potatoes. It can also be served over Romaine lettuce as a refreshing palate cleanser.

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb of meat
    • Ground beef, pork, chicken, veal
    • Vegetarian option: Portobello mushrooms, black beans
  • 1 large onion
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • 16 oz can of kidney beans
  • 8 oz can of tomato puree
  • Smoked Peppers (adjust to spice desired)
    • Ancho (mild spice)
    • Pasilla/Chipotle (medium spice)
    • Ghost Pepper (high spice)
  • Fresh Peppers (adjust to spice desired)
    • Bell pepper (no spice)
    • Poblano (mild spice)
    • Serrano/Jalapeno (medium spice)
    • Habanero (high spice)
  • Spices (about 1 tbsp each)
    • Salt
    • Black pepper
    • Cayenne pepper
    • Paprika
    • Cumin
    • Garlic powder
    • Onion powder
  • Brown sugar (1/2 tbsp)
  • Unsweetened cocoa powder (1/2 tbsp)

Instructions

Part 1: Roasted Pepper Puree

  1. Cut fresh peppers in half and remove seeds (Do NOT touch eyes or any sensitive area after handling peppers)
  2. Season fresh peppers with olive oil and salt
  3. Roast the fresh peppers until nicely browned (not too black)
  4. Stove (in a pan)
  5. Oven (broiler, or at 450º F)
  6. An air fryer (highest)
  7. Repeat with the smoked peppers (just to heat them up)
  8. Combine all cooked peppers, tomato puree, and water into a blender
  9. Blend until smooth

Part 2: Seared Meat

  1. Chop up onion and garlic
  2. Put oil in pan, turn stove heat to High
  3. Add the meat into the pan
    1. Don’t add too much meat at once, otherwise it won’t sear
    2. Break up any larger clumps; aim for a flat layer of meat
    3. Remove meat when dark brown
    4. Drain excess fat
  4. After meat is removed, turn stove heat to Low
  5. Add onion and garlic to pot, with a pinch of salt
  6. Scrape up the burnt bits from the meat. Stir occasionally
  7. Continue cooking until onions caramelize (soft and brown)

Part 3: Final Assembly

  1. Stir in the following:
    1. Cooked meat
    2. Roasted Pepper Puree from Part 1 into the pot
    3. Can of kidney beans
    4. All spices listed above
    5. Some water if too thick
  2. Keep pot covered and heat on Low for 1 hr.
  3. Serve with tortilla chips, bread, or potatoes

Notes

Searing the ingredients individually seems like a chore, when we are just throwing everything together at the end. The meat and peppers are seared at high heat for a Maillard reaction, while the onions are sweated at low heat to caramelize. Both processes are recognized by food sciences and chefs to be the objective best method for maximizing savory flavor (umami).

Brown sugar and cocoa powder seems strange to add to a spicy meat dish like chili, but there is some logic behind it. The sweet and bitter tones add complexity to the flavor profile, and rounds out the acidity and spice from the chili. I think this is the same fundamental as adding salt to chocolate or watermelon.

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