Looking for a “proper” traditional chili recipe.

A friend used to make what he called “Texican” Chili without tomatoes and beans. And it was great.

Anyone know where I can find a recipe, preferably with ingredients that can be found in regular supermarkets, as everything I can find so far has ingredients I just can’t find anywhere.

It will be a compromise obviously, as Mexican texans don’t generally shop at Waitrose 🙂

no idea but are you asking for a Texan Chilli recipie or a good chilli one?

Ground Cumin, Smoked and sweet paprika, oregano are key for me. I also use smoked chillis

Used half a litre of strong coffee and some dark chocolate in my last one plus cumin & coriander seeds and oregano- that and a 50/50 mix of mince and cubed steak made it much nicer than my usual after work rush job.

Check out the homesick texan. Probably the best mexican food website I have found. The chili on it is amazing.

Not convinced there’s any such thing as “proper” chili – any claim to authenticity is based on… what?

Personally I’ve tried both with and without tomato, and prefer with. Cumin is important, a bit of dark chocolate at the end is nice, but the most important thing is to cook it for a good, long time. Don’t hurry it.

Beef ,onion red pepper mushrooms ,chilli ,paprika ,cumin ,cinnamon ,cocoa powder tin of tomatoes lea and perrins glass red wine stock pot cube.Experiment with the various powders until it suits your taste .Let it go cols then eat it a couple of days later when the flavours come out better

Not convinced there’s any such thing as “proper” chili – any claim to authenticity is based on… what?

This, really.

That homesick texan fella goes on about not using tomatoes because cowboys wouldn’t have had access to them on the move, yet pops in shedloads of other ingredients to which they wouldn’t have had access either. 😕

When I’m looking for a new recipe, I look for something on the BBC Good Food website, find one based on ratings, try it and if I like it, I stick with it and modify it according to taste or who I’m cooking it for. e.g. there’s no “right” amount of chillies, cayenne pepper, chipotle paste etc in a chilli. It all comes down to who you’re cooking it for. I like one so hot that my cheekbones are sweating a little but no point in giving something like that to some of my friends who find a tikka masala a bit adventurous.

I think the availability of chipotle chillies, pastes etc have made making chillis much easier and more interesting.

Although I shed a little tear when I read this: Trees Can’t Dance have shut up shop. 🙁 Their chipotle sauce was a staple in my chilli, and as a condiment for fajitas and anything generally texican.

I always add chopped celery for great texture. Good wuality ground beef rather than mince helps a lot too. I cook chilli in a casserole for 2 hours at 130Cin a fan oven. Give it a stir and a taste every half hour.

Experiment with the various powders

Alright Nigella

The Guardians article on it is a good place to start.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/may/12/cook-perfect-chilli-con-carne

I prefer mine with chopped up braising steak rather than mince and always use tomatoes.

The last one on the Guardian page is the bomb…

I use some tomatoes though too something like this

500g mince
1 Onion
3 celery
3 garlic
tbls cumin
tsp smoked paprika
tbls oragno
2 fresh green chillies
2 dried chillies
400g tinned tomatoes
tsp chilli powder
2 x double espresso
top up with water
simmer for 2 hours..

The hairy bikers do a chilli recipe which is yum!! 🙂

I’ve no idea if this is any more “proper” than what we normally see with mince and kidney beans – but I can confirm it is delicious, and assembled from readily available ingredients:

https://www.jamieoliver.com/magazine/recipes-view.php?title=pulled-brisket-chilli-1

You can still see how it is “a chilli” but its better than anything I’ve had with mince etc.

A “proper” chilli is basically meat, onions, chilli peppers, salt and Oregano. There’s not much to it by way of a recipe.

I was going to C&P my chilli non carne recipe here but it seems I’ve not actually typed that up. I might do that tonight; suddenly inspired to make chilli.

I might even have it with chips to really annoy the purists. (-:

I’ve never heard of adding coffee to chili, I may give it a go tonight and see how it turns out.

Jamie Oliver has a recipe which uses a whole brisket cooked on top of the sauce – very yummy.

Chilli is one of those things that nobody can ever agree on, so just try a few and adapt the recipes till you find something you like.

I prefer mine with chopped up braising steak rather than mince.

Me too, chopped up quite fine, 1cm cubes, and with Habanero chillis for a bit of kick and their flavour too.

Seen quite a few references to Oregano on this thread which I’ve not tried, are you using dried or fresh?