Newsgroups: talk.bizarre Subject: My Chili Recipe (not bizarre) Distribution: world Followup-To: talk.bizarre --text follows this line-- There were some requests for this in August, so I took time and codified it, and here it is. ``Chiladelphia'' 1 large yellow onion 1 tablespoon grease 2 anaheim peppers 8 serrano peppers 3 jalapeno peppers 2 large cloves garlic 4 scallions 2-3 pounds ground beef 2 pounds whole tomatoes, peeled 3 pounds dark red kidney beans 1 cup fresh cilantro 2 bay leaves 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/2 teaspoon salt HOW TO Peel and chop garlic. Chop onions, peppers and scallions. Sautee the onions in the grease in a heavy cast-iron skillet until they are translucent. Add beef, scallions, peppers, and garlic. Sautee until the beef is browned. Cut the tomatoes into bite-sized pieces. Put the sauteed beef-pepper-allium mix into a large stew pot with the beans and tomatoes. Chop the cilantro. Add the salt, herbs, and spices to stew pot. Simmer at low low heat, stirring occasionally, for an hour. CORRECT SEASONING. Simmer another 15-30 minutes. Serve hot over rice. Feeds 8-12 people. NOTES (Ignore these if you are not in need of additional guidance. I put them in for people who like to have their hands held.) * GENERAL Preface all times and quantities in this recipe with `about'. For example, ``2 pounds tomatoes'' actually means ``about pounds tomatoes'', and `an hour' actaully means `about an hour'. This is chili, not rocket science. Chili tastes better each day you leave it in the refrigerator. The flavors mature. Chili does not mind re-heating. It also freezes well. Chili is a BEAN STEW FLAVORED WITH HOT PEPPERS. This recipe is for `chili con carne', which is chili with meat. Although I haven't done it yet, I fully expect that it will be just fine if you omit the meat. I did try substituing tempeh chunks for the ground beef, but it was no good. If you devlop a good tempeh chili recipe based on `Chiladelphia', please send it to me. People advised me to name my chili `Philly Chili'. These people can drop dead. I hate the name `Philly' at least as much as San Franciscans hate the name `Frisco'. I live in `Philadelphia', and recipe is for `Chiladelphia'. * MEAT I've been using ground round steak. This is expensive. I suspect that it doesn't matter whether you use cheapie ground beef or expensive ground beef. I was going to use cheapie ground beef last time I made it but couldn't find any in the grocery store. * BEANS It's important to get *dark* red kidney beans, because they give the chili a better color. Canned beans are fine. If you use dried beans, don't forget to soak them overnight and throw away the floaters in the morning. * TOMATOES Canned tomatoes are fine, but fresh are better. To peel fresh raw tomatoes, plunge them into boiling water for ten seconds. * ALLIUM Onions, scallions, and garlic are in the allium family. (So are chives and shallots, which do not appear in this recipe.) * SAUTEE Fry. * SKILLET Frying pan. * STIR OCCASIONALLY The objective here is to keep it from burning on the bottom. If it *does* burn on the bottom, just leave it alone. Don't scrape at it, because then you'll have burnt crap mixed in with your chili. * PEPPERS Anaheim peppers are about six inches long, pale green, lumpy, and mild. Serranos are no more than an inch long, narrow, pointy, smooth, and dark green, and very hot. Jalapenos are like serranos but bigger, fuller and not as hot. The chili will be fine if you use peppers other than those I mention. Use what you have. Most of the hotness of hot peppers resides in the placenta, which is the white membrane that the seeds are attached to. Most of the rest of the hotness resides in the seeds themselves. I like to remove the seends and placenta from my peppers, because I like the peppers to contribute more flavor than heat. Your taste may be different. * GARLIC To chop garlic, sprinkle it with salt before and during the chopping, until it turns into paste. Running the garlic through a press will also work. The only garlic press worth owning is the Susi, made by Xyluss company. I wouldn't want to use jarred chopped garlic; it always tastes of that weird vinegar they pack it in. * GREASE For frying the onions in. In the past, I have used peanut oil, Wesson vegetable oil, and homemade lard. It doesn't matter. If you use a nonstick skillet, you can probably omit the grease entirely. * CILANTRO Cilantro is the leaf of the coriander plant. If you can't get fresh cilantro, add 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seed instead. About one person in 10 thinks that cilantro tastes exactly like soap. Omit the cilantro when cooking for these people. (I think it tastes exactly like soap too, but whenever I eat cilantro, I'm always shocked at how delicious soap can be.) * CORRECT THE SEASONING I almost always add more salt and pepper at this point, sometimes more cumin. Remember the Cardinal Rule of Cooking, the one that even comes ahead of `Hot glass looks the same as cold glass': TASTE IT, STUPID. * CREDIT This is basically the `Chili con Carne' recipe from _The Joy of Cooking_, with amounts scaled up for younger appetites, and with real seasonings substituted for `chili powder'. I take full credit for the recipe because the recipe is entirely in the seasonings. _The Joy of Cooking_ wanted you to put in a teaspoon of sugar. Can you believe that? Half a cup of browned onion and they want you to add sugar. The trouble with the _Joy of Cooking_ is that they're firmly entrenched in the cuisine of the Eisenhower administration and no matter what they're cooking, they think they're making Jello. Everything has to have sugar in it, and everything has to go into a mold. OK, sorry. I'll shut up now. They also think that black pepper is daring and exotic. They say `1/2 cup chopped onion or 1/2 clove chopped garlic'. Like it's too risky to use both. OK, OK. Now I'm really done ragging on _The Joy of Cooking_.