Letters to the Editor

REAL CHILI

From: "Roy Witt" <roywitt@pacbell.net>
To: "Warren Bonner" <wdbonner@pacbell.net>
Subject: REAL CHILI

Geeezuz, I just read the latest from the rag and almost barfed when I read xcarol's recipe for, yuk, what she calls chili.

First of all, you never, ever, put pork in chili. Pork is for dirt farmers, not real people. How sickening can you get? Secondly, there's no such thing as a `hot' onion. Some have a stronger taste than others, but never too hot that you can't eat one like an apple.

If you want hot out of that family of veggies, try horse radish. I transplanted some Illinois horse radish around here, but it's not doing very well. I'd sure like to get it to grow and the damned stuff is a weed; my brother says it's the best he's ever had. He makes his own horseradish and it'll take your breath away. That's the best there is.

For the next edition of the rag, here's a little something I came up with that resembles what most non-chili people would call chili. It's not, even though it has chili ingredients!

I call it; Texican Bean Pot, since it has beans in it, it can't be called chili.

1 to 1 1/2 lb of ground beef (I'll tell ya how to cook it so there's no `grease' in it, xxcarol.

1 to 1 1/2 lb of pinto beans (if you buy canned pintos, drain them before you use them).
1 lge sweet onion (I use sweet onions, exclusively for this recipe)
14oz can of Green Chile' ( chop to bite size if you don't buy them that way).
14oz can of sliced stewed Tomatoes
2 tbsp of chili powder
15oz can of `Ready to serve', Mole' * salt to taste

To get 'greaseless' ground beef and the texture I like for chili, errr, bean pot; I cook the ground beef in a skillet of water. I usually keep after it with a spatula until the beef is broken up into little balls with no fat. When the gnd beef is browned to your liking, drain the water and the fat will float off the top. Set it aside, covered, for now.

Chop the onion, first by cutting it in half through the equator, the vine being the northern pole and the tap root the southern pole. Then chop it into bite size. No tears here, especially with sweet onions.

Chop the green chili to bite size. I like using the canned green chili's, less work. If you prefer to cook up a batch, have fun.

In a deep 4qt pan, add the water, drained beans, tomatoes w/juice, onion, green chili and the mole'...

Set your flame to high and stir for a few minutes to get the ingredients mixed well. Bring to a rolling boil and leave it boil, while you add the beef and then mix in the chili powder.

If it looks a little dry, add a little more water, but not so much that you have soup. Cover and bring to a rolling boil for 5 minutes, then make your FLAME (I love that word) low enough to just keep things bubbly rolling, but not too fast - `simmer' if you will. Let it cook this way for 45 minutes, checking to see if it's still wet and stir every so often. Don't add anymore water. Remove the cover and cook an additional 15-20 minutes, allowing the excess water to steam off. You can leave it wet if you like, but it just tastes better if it's not watery.

This serves about 6 or 8 people. I've had as many as 12 dig into this and I didn't get any seconds.

* If you're using dry beans; rinse and sort beans. In a slow cooker; add beans and 3 1/2 cups of water, cover, turn heat to high. Cook for 3 hours or until beans are tender. Goto start.

* If you can't find Mole' or you've tried this recipe with it and don't like the mole' taste (it's really different), you can use Mexican chocolate in it's place, just add a cup of water with it. See the procedure in `Colorado Chili' below, for using Baker's chocolate if you can't find Mexican chocolate.

====Now, this is what I call Chili.====

I call it Chili Colorado, because of the steak as an ingredient. It's still a Texas style, though. No beans! Oh, and this recipe has won a couple of blue ribbons here in San Diego County.

1 lb Chuck Steak (gristle and bone removed)
1/2 lb lean ground beef - 12% fat or less
8oz can of Tomato sauce
1 tblsp Chili Powder
1 very large Spanish Onion, freshly chopped
1/8 cup Cilantro or Parsley, chopped
1 cup Picante Sauce, Mild, Medium or Hot, it's your taste buds, beginners use Mild.
1 Large Clove of Garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp Oregano
1 oz Mexican hard Chocolate *
Salt to taste

Cut the steak into 3/4 inch cubes. In a heavy 12 inch skillet, brown the chuck steak and then the hamburger all together. Cover and let simmer.

Add water if you want to remove the fat at this stage and drain before adding the rest of the ingredients.

In a separate sauce pan, combine the other ingredients over a slow heat.

First the tomato sauce, then the chili powder, the onions, cilantro, the picante sauce, the garlic chopped up fine and the other seasonings.

Continue simmering while the chocolate is being added.

* The chocolate must be grated or scraped into fine pieces as it is added.

Bakers chocolate may be used instead of the Mexican chocolate, provided you add one teaspoon of sugar and one half teaspoon of cinnamon. Don't over do it with the cinnamon, a little bit goes a long way. I once made a batch like this, thinking more is better, and the cinnamon was so obtuse, I and all but one of my guests couldn't eat it. He took the entire batch home with him. Fool.

When everything is mixed in well, add these ingredients to the simmering meat in the large skillet. Before adding, taste the steak meat for tenderness. It should be cooked tender before the other liquid ingredients are added.

Hint; this allows the liquid ingredients to meld with the meat.

Mix the whole thing around and continue to simmer in the large skillet for the combined taste to develop. Add some water from time to time if the mixture becomes too thick.

Don't worry about the meat fat if you haven't already drained it, as it will rise to the top and can be poured or skimmed out later.

The entire cooking time from beginning of the browning of the meat to the final product should be about 1 1/2 hours. If hotter chili is desired, more picante sauce may be added near the end of the simmering.

Hint; the hot taste will be in the sauce, not affecting the meat.

This should serve 4 or 5 people. I could eat the whole thing in one setting. After the cinnamon fiasco, Nancy won't touch this stuff without knowing I used Mexican chocolate. If she hasn't been helping and adds the cinnamon herself, I tell her it's the cinnamon version and I get it all for myself. :o)

"Roy Witt" <roywitt@pacbell.net>