need advice from chili-heads

[pinkelephant]

I'm trying to bring an old recipe back from the ashes of time.

My first wife and I entered her Mexican chili in the Illinois chili cook offs for about 2 years, around 1994-95.

Her chili did real good up here, because it stood out in the crowd. her/my daughter has all of her trophies down in Austin now. The guy who won the state chili cook off told her that it was better than his chili. that's what got us hooked and traveling to the cook offs.

I mesquite-smoked some stew meat, set her up with a pot on a turkey fryer and it was all her show from there.

We divorced and she returned to Texas around 96 and I then raised her 14 yr old daughter as my own. My ex later died of cancer in 2002.

In 2007, I got this recipe from my daughter (The recipe was typed by my ex, pasted below, un-edited) and I filed it away.

Now my daughter and grand daughter will be coming up next week and I want to make the old competition chili for them.

I'm looking at the recipe now for the first time and I see it's a kitchen version (adapted for the daughter) and the key ingredients are not measured. she always did it to taste. I'm going to have to go by a 15 year old memory of what it tasted like. What I remember most was the cumin.

I want to clean up the recipe and make some measurements of the seasonings I use, so It will be a lot easier the next time I cook it.
Also, I don't want to "change" it so much that it's not her chili anymore.

I should note that my grand daughter is only five. I've been told she's a pepper-head (raised in San Antonio and Austin), but she will be "on loan" to me for 4 days and I want to try to return her in the same condition as I got her.



(these are my proposed changes to the original recipe below)

• I will use diced and crushed tomatoes (NOT flavored!!).
• I will use Bush's Best pinto beans (we used to use generic).
• I will add Bush's best mild chili beans.
• I will add a little V8 for flavoring
• I will use garlic instead of garlic powder.
• I will use brisket instead of stew meat (deciding what to do with the brisket is what had me think of blowing the dust off this recipe).
• I'm considering sautéing the onions before adding them.
• I'm going to use McCormick's chili powder because that's what she used.
• I will slice up some cherry tomatoes and drop them in towards the end of the cook, after everything else cooked down.
• I will make her cornbread with corn.

I was going to put this in a CI pot and cook it under the brisket but that would change it too much. Now, I think I will put it in my electric roaster and simmer it thru the day.

I'm flying solo and I want to do this right.
any suggestions will be appreciated.

===============================================================================
Mexican Chili
===============================================================================
1 large can tomato juice
2 cans diced or whole tomatoes (i like the diced with flavor, onion or garlic)
2 or 3 can pinto beans (depends on how beany you like it)
1 whole onion cut up
1 lb beef (for chili if you can find it)
chili powder
salt
pepper
garlic powder
cumin
------------------------------------------------------------------------
fry beef in pan, add seasonings to taste, add 1/2 of onion if desired
drain 3/4 of beef, keep some grease
in crock pot or on stove top
beans (do NOT drain)
canned tomatoes
onion
add seasonings to taste
add beef with grease
pour tomato juice in until full (i usually use about 3/4 of the can)
add more seasonings to taste (you need just a couple shakes of cumin but load up on the chili powder, seriously you will use probably 1/2 large container of chili powder!)
let brew all day, stirring occasionally. start on high and then simmer or slow boil after boiling.
I serve with cornbread (jiffy mix) with 1/2 cup sugar added to mix (you can also add some canned corn, drained or jalapenos)

 

[Oldyote]

I did a Google search for Mexican Chili. I found three recipes that called for cumin. One asked for 1 teaspoon of cumin the other two asked for 1 Tablespoon. I'm guessing your recipe would lean more toward the 1 Tablespoon.

Wish I could be of help. Good luck with the "on loan" granddaughter.

 

[Old dude BBQ]

I find the idea of using brisket for a chili base intriguing but it will probably change the consistency from the original recipe - I would definitely go with the tablespoon of cumin - good luck on it and let us know how it turns out.

 

[eddieh70301]

Cumin is pretty powerful and if you are only using 1 lb of beef, might be too much. I would start with 2 tsp of cumin and continue adding in 1/2 tsp amounts until you get the taste you want. Also, the longer you simmer the chili, the more pronounced the flavor will be.

garlic powder and fresh garlic also have different flavors. I would "sweat" the onions and garlic together until clear and then add to the meat.
As for salt, I would use either sea salt or kosher. Much better than table salt.

If she was cooking a texas recipe, it probably had a little heat besides black pepper. If you can find ancho chili powder, add a teaspoon or two. It has the heat level of black pepper but different.

If you are using brisket that was previously smoked, it will also change the flavor profile of the chili. I have used both brisket and pork butt in chili that was smoked and it does add a fairly large smoke flavor. So you might want to use both brisket and ground meat.

Good luck.

 

[EatonHoggBBQ]

I checked my chili recipe. For seven pounds of meat I use three tablespoons of cumin.

 

[El Pistolero]

For my Texas Red chili, with 6 lbs of meat I use 1 cup of chili powder and 2 tablespoons of cumin. For just one pound of meat you might want to start with 1 1/2 teaspoons, but you'll probably want to kick it up some with all the tomato in your recipe.

 

[pinkelephant]

thx everyone.
We always used mesquite-smoked stew meat, so the smoke was there before. I will definately use less cumin than I was planning to. I'm going to make a double batch with 2.5 to 3 lbs of brisket this time but will go back to stew meat in the future. It's basically my chili with salt, pepper and cumin then all the beans are pintos, So I am comfortable getting close. then I need to add ingredients a little at a time and bring it up to where it needs to be. I understand that the last little bit of seasonings are "to taste", but If I know how much is "not quite enough", it makes things a lot easier to do the next time.

(off topic) About a month ago, the 5 yr old grand daughter was eating dinner with her mom and mom's "friend" (boyfriend, but she doesn't know it) and the guy kept complaining that the food was too spicy and was groaning. the 5 yr old kept eating the same food and told him "your a baby...". I haven't seen her since she was 6 weeks old, but I know we will get along

My late ex also had a 12 lb lasagnia dish with 4 different cheeses. I just found out that she didn't pass that recipe down to her daughter. That was a serious loss. She learned that dish from her mom and didn't pass it on.

 

[Ron_L]

My chili recipe uses 2 lbs of meat (always brisket for me) and I use 3 tablespoons of chile powder and one teaspoon of cumin. I think I use about the same amount of liquid, but it depends on how big a 'large can of tomato juice' is. Is that the 32 oz can? Then our liquid is about the same.

Also, I use chile powder that I grind myself from dried chiles that I pan roast for a bit and I use fresh ground cumin, so that may influence the amounts.

 

[Camille Eonich]

My chili recipe uses 1 lb of meat and 1 teaspoon of dried cumin with 4 T of chili powder. If you want to pump up the flavor of the chili powder, along with the heat, add about a T of vinegar.

I add the diced onions to the hamburger while it's browning and then usually toss in the minced garlic just before adding all the other ingredients.

My most recent pot of chili is here
http://grillandgun.com/wordpress/?p=104

 

[PaPaQ]

I also use 2 lbs of meat in my chili recipe (like Ron L said Brisket is the best :thumb and use 1 tbs of cumin and 2 tbs of chili powder. One other thing I add at the last hour of cooking is ½ oz unsweet backing chocolate. Good luck with the chili!

 

[caseydog]

+1 on starting small on the cumin, and adding if needed. Cumin can take over a chili if you use too much.

I usually keep my chili on the mild side, and let people add Tabasco if they want it hotter.

Down here, almost everyone uses Ranch Style Beans. I also prefer Fiesta brand chili powder and cumin (comino). It has more flavor, IMO.

I bought a jar of finely chopped garlic at Costco last week for a gumbo cook, and it was California garlic, and it was WAY more potent than the last jar I bought, which was from China. I'm going to use the same stuff in my next chili cook.

CD

 

[Lake Dogs]

I agree with the watch the cumin; probably 1.5 to 2 teaspoons with 1lb of meat is a good bit, and I love cumin.

Also, I'm not sure I'd change from garlic powder to garlic. How they react with the meats, beans, tomato sauce is completely different from my experience. Perhaps start with 1 teaspoon of garlic powder and taste pretty early in the cook, if you need to add another 1/2 to 1 teaspoon, decide in the first 30 minutes or so.

If you like hers with the tomato juice; why add in V8?

 

[fingerlickin']

For 2lbs meat, my recipe fills a 5qt. CI dutch oven. I use 2 Tablespoons of fresh ground chiles, 1T Guajillo, 1T New Mexico and 1 teaspoon of fresh ground cumin.

I think the fresh cumin has a more potent flavor than store bought. Also, unless I'm mistaken store bought chili powder already has some cumin in it so as others have said you might want to start small and work your way up with the cumin and chili powder for that matter.

I would be sure to let it simmer for a while in between seasonings. Sometimes it takes a while for the flavors to come out. I've certainly overdone it a few times being impatient.