Chili Recipe

[HBnotBlades]

One thing though - you want to end up using the pot where you cooked the meat because when the meat browns, some of the browned part sticks to the bottom. Later on when you add everything together you will introduce some sort of liquid (beer for me) to the pot so that you can cook it down and concentrate the flavors. Well, when you add that to a pot that has a bunch of the stuff from cooking meat stuck to the bottom, that stuff dissolves in the liquid and makes the flavor that much better. Also, as the liquid evaporates, some of the solids might collect just above the top of the liquid on the sides of the pot. Be sure to get that back down into the chili.

Why am I drooling right now?

And thanks Predicto! Next batch I'll add some curry powder and see what happens.

Great point MSF, I usually deglaze the pan before I add its ingredients to the chili to make sure all the good stuff from the pan comes along for the ride. By doing it in the pan you could completely skip that step.

[RVAbrendan]

Some killer stuff in this thread. I plan on making some very soon.

I was hoping somebody could give a few tips on a strange request...my girl was recently tested for a bunch of different food allergies and as a result, she cannot eat certain foods for about a month or so. Two of those foods that look quite prominent in chili are onions and garlic (and tomatos to an extent). Curious if any of you Esers have any recipes or recipe tips for chili without the above...maybe some substitutions?

[dfitzo53]

Some killer stuff in this thread. I plan on making some very soon.

I was hoping somebody could give a few tips on a strange request...my girl was recently tested for a bunch of different food allergies and as a result, she cannot eat certain foods for about a month or so. Two of those foods that look quite prominent in chili are onions and garlic (and tomatos to an extent). Curious if any of you Esers have any recipes or recipe tips for chili without the above...maybe some substitutions?

My wife has similar food restrictions due to migraines, so we've had to get creative.

I would check on whether leeks and shallots are acceptable for her. They're not exactly the same as onions and garlic, but they have similar flavors and would probably give you what you're looking for if she's able to eat them. If she can't eat those either, then I would guess she would have trouble with anything in that whole family.

Tomatoes are harder to harder to replace, but it depends on what about it bothers her. I have heard two different schools of thought. Some people say fresh are easier to tolerate because they're less concentrated. Others say the cooking process breaks down some of the compounds that can be irritating.

Either way, I would say making the tomato portion of the dish from scratch is probably preferable to canned. You could also try a chili recipe that's more stock-based than tomato based and thicken it with a roux or cornstarch or something if you like. It would come out more like gravy or stew than tomato sauce, but it would still taste darn good with meat and chilies (with or without beans, your preference).