food chili con carne advice

ShowMeDaSauce said:
Some of the best chili i ever made was pork chili verde but i can see how it would have problems in a cook off. Lots of people cant get past the green baby vomit color. :D Flavor though is off the charts with grilled country style ribs cut into cubes. Really lean pork belly/side works well too.
DmItkiv.jpg

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A-a-a-a-nd we have a WINNAH!!

I love red, ground beef, chunky cubed beef, venison, moose, loon, beans, no beans, white, turkey, chicken, any but *eeyaghuh* vegetarian, but pork green chili? Gets it's own PLANET, man. It's just one of those flavors you can't untaste....
 
nmlarson said:
 
Please, when you have the chance, do give it a try.  The last cook off I won was against 17 other "red" chilis.
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any chance of a screenshot of the recipe? it's paywalled
 
sinensis said:
 
any chance of a screenshot of the recipe? it's paywalled
Click to expand...
 



Here you go.  From Cooks Illustrated, published January 2007.
 
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We found not one but three solutions to bland chicken chili recipes: To fix watery sauce, we pureed some of our sautéed chile-onion mixture and beans with the broth to thicken the base. To avoid floating bits of rubbery chicken, we browned, poached, and shredded bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts, which gave our chicken pieces a hearty texture and full flavor. And to solve the problem of insufficient chile flavor, we used a trio of fresh chiles: jalapeño, poblano, and Anaheim.
 
Adjust the heat in this dish by adding the minced ribs and seeds from the jalapeño as directed in step 6. If Anaheim chiles cannot be found, add an additional poblano and jalapeño to the chili. This dish can also be successfully made by substituting chicken thighs for the chicken breasts. If using thighs, increase the cooking time in step 4 to about 40 minutes. Serve chili with sour cream, tortilla chips, and lime wedges.




White Chicken Chili



 



INGREDIENTS

 
3 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken breast halves, trimmed of excess fat and skin
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 medium jalapeno chiles
3 poblano chiles (medium), stemmed, seeded and cut into large pieces
3 Anaheim chile peppers (medium), stemmed, seeded and cut into large pieces
2 medium onions, cut into large pieces (2 cups)
6 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 (14.5 ounce) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth (I use Better than Bouillon)
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (from 2 to 3 limes)
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro leaves
4 scallions, white and light green parts sliced thin
 
 

INSTRUCTIONS


SERVES 6 TO 8


Adjust the heat in this dish by adding the minced ribs and seeds from the jalapeño as directed in step 6. If Anaheim chiles cannot be found, add an additional poblano and jalapeño to the chili. This dish can also be successfully made by substituting chicken thighs for the chicken breasts. If using thighs, increase the cooking time in step 4 to about 40 minutes. Serve chili with sour cream, tortilla chips, and lime wedges.

1. Season chicken liberally with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add chicken, skin side down, and cook without moving until skin is golden brown, about 4 minutes. Using tongs, turn chicken and lightly brown on other side, about 2 minutes. Transfer chicken to plate; remove and discard skin.
2. While chicken is browning, remove and discard ribs and seeds from 2 jalapeños; mince flesh. In food processor, process half of poblano chiles, Anaheim chiles, and onions until consistency of chunky salsa, ten to twelve 1-second pulses, scraping down sides of workbowl halfway through. Transfer mixture to medium bowl. Repeat with remaining poblano chiles, Anaheim chiles, and onions; combine with first batch (do not wash food processor blade or workbowl).
3. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from Dutch oven (adding additional vegetable oil if necessary) and reduce heat to medium. Add minced jalapeños, chile-onion mixture, garlic, cumin, coriander, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables soften, about 10 minutes. Remove pot from heat.
4. Transfer 1 cup cooked vegetable mixture to now-empty food processor workbowl. Add 1 cup beans and 1 cup broth and process until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add vegetable-bean mixture, remaining 2 cups broth, and chicken breasts to Dutch oven and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until chicken registers 160 degrees (175 degrees if using thighs) on instant-read thermometer, 15 to 20 minutes (40 minutes if using thighs).
5. Using tongs, transfer chicken to large plate. Stir in remaining beans and continue to simmer, uncovered, until beans are heated through and chili has thickened slightly, about 10 minutes.
6. Mince remaining jalapeño, reserving and mincing ribs and seeds (see note above), and set aside. When cool enough to handle, shred chicken into bite-sized pieces, discarding bones. Stir shredded chicken, lime juice, cilantro, scallions, and remaining minced jalapeño (with seeds if desired) into chili and return to simmer. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper and serve.
Per Serving:
Cal 370; Fat 6 g; Sat fat 1 g; Chol 115 mg; Carb 25 g; Protein 52 g; Fiber 7 g; Sodium 710 mg



 
 
ShowMeDaSauce said:
Some of the best chili i ever made was pork chili verde but i can see how it would have problems in a cook off. Lots of people cant get past the green baby vomit color. :D Flavor though is off the charts with grilled country style ribs cut into cubes. Really lean pork belly/side works well too.
DmItkiv.jpg

 
Click to expand...
 
yo SMDS, you got a recipe for that thing?
 
 
i've been busy and haven't done any prep or practice yet, but i still have about 10 days. i hope i can get some powders in the mail in time. will shop tonight.
 
 
i'm about to go to the store and buy ingredients for nmlarson's suggested white chicken chili from cooks illustrated.
i hope to make it tonight or tomorrow. :D
 
nmlarson said:
Please, when you have the chance, do give it a try.  The last cook off I won was against 17 other "red" chilis.
Click to expand...
 
 
i tried it tonight!
 
i love it. great recipe, thanks for sharing it!
 
 
white chicken chili.jpg

 
some thoughts/notes:
 
this is a pretty easy recipe with not a ton of ingredient prep. especially if you take the shortcut of using jarred minced garlic (i didn't), there's not much to do since you're letting the food processor do most of the work.
 
i think that it could benefit from some roasted flavor. roasting some or all of the peppers first would probably do good things.
 
i used a lot more lime juice than called for (easily 5 or more limes), and it seemed like the more i added, the better it tasted.
 
i didn't have anaheims, so i used an extra poblano and jalapeno as suggested. the peppers i used had unusually low heat, so i added a teaspoon or so of reaper purée: http://thehotpepper.com/topic/32602-making-some-puree-todaywill-post-pics-of-the-processits-easy/
amazing how little is needed to add some excitement.
 
concerning this part of the recipe:
 
nmlarson said:
2. While chicken is browning, remove and discard ribs and seeds from 2 jalapeños; mince flesh. In food processor, process half of poblano chiles, Anaheim chiles, and onions until consistency of chunky salsa, ten to twelve 1-second pulses, scraping down sides of workbowl halfway through. Transfer mixture to medium bowl. Repeat with remaining poblano chiles, Anaheim chiles, and onions; combine with first batch (do not wash food processor blade or workbowl).

3. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from Dutch oven (adding additional vegetable oil if necessary) and reduce heat to medium. Add minced jalapeños, chile-onion mixture, garlic, cumin, coriander, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cover and cook, ...
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i have no idea why they say to mince the jalapenos, only to then immediately combine them with the food-processed poblanos/anaheims/onions and cook.
i just threw all the peppers (except for one jalapeno reserved for the final step) and onions into the food processor together. easier that way, and i don't see how the result would be different.
 
 
 
sinensis said:
 
 
i tried it tonight!
 
i love it. great recipe, thanks for sharing it!
 
i have no idea why they say to mince the jalapenos, only to then immediately combine them with the food-processed poblanos/anaheims/onions and cook.
i just threw all the peppers (except for one jalapeno reserved for the final step) and onions into the food processor together. easier that way, and i don't see how the result would be different.
 
 
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Glad you liked it!  Leftovers freeze beautifully.  As for the jalapenos, I can't say, other than maybe to get some control over the heat.  If I could find that issue, it would probably explain why.  All I can add is I did the same thing you did.  A constant theme with CI recipes is they can be obsessive in the details
 
sinensis said:
 
yo SMDS, you got a recipe for that thing?
 
 
i've been busy and haven't done any prep or practice yet, but i still have about 10 days. i hope i can get some powders in the mail in time. will shop tonight.
 
 
i'm about to go to the store and buy ingredients for nmlarson's suggested white chicken chili from cooks illustrated.
i hope to make it tonight or tomorrow. :D
Click to expand...
 
Its basically what you see on the grill. Chicken stock for the liquid. Country style ribs charred on the grill then cut into chunks. After you char and sweat the peppers you remove the seeds. Cook them in the stock for a bit then puree it. Add pork, onions, garlic and cumin. I like a little avocado in mine too.
 
I will see if i can dig up the recipe i used but a simple way is to grill the pork and just use Rojo's avocado tomatillo salsa verde and chicken stock. It turns out fantastic with very little effort. The whole key to it is the grill. It makes a world of difference.
http://www.rojossalsa.com/tomatillo-avocado

 
 
i don't exactly know what i'm doing, so i ordered some stuff from mild bill's: https://www.mildbillsspices.com/collections
many or most of the recipes on casichili.net and chilicookoff.com reference powders and blends from them, so i ordered a variety of things. i can try following one of the "championship" recipes to the letter if i get really desperate. they should arrive in a few days, and that'll give me a couple days to do some test batches before the cookoff.
 
i got these mixes because i saw them come up in a lot of recipes:
  • Cowtown Light
  • San Antonio Original
  • San Antonio Red
  • Stockyards Special
something that really bugs me about those mild bill's mixes is that they contain salt. i wish they wouldn't do that shit. i get that salt's a cheap filler, and i bet that's part of the motivation, but it really is annoying to have a lot of salt built into ingredients because it seriously limits flexibility. oversalting is a disaster, so you have to be really careful. especially when reducing.
 
i also got these chili powders:

  • Dixon Medium Hot Chili Powder
  • Guajillo Chili Powder
  • Chimayo Mild Chili Powder
  • Pasilla Chili Powder 
i think that gives me some interesting stuff to work with. trying for flavor depth here.
 
i also have various 'fresh' peppers to work with.  reaper, fatalii, bhuts, scorps, and bonnets. mostly frozen, but i have some overwinter pods still kicking. i don't necessarily want to add crazy heat (especially for the crowd pleaser entry), so i might try 'floating' a pod or two (cooking whole with holes poked in it and then discarding).

 
 
 
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