I just found the recipe area yesterday, and I thought I'd make a contribution. This is from my cookbook, Eat What You Want and Die Like a Man, which comes out next year. It's a recipe for seriously unauthentic chili.
The chili itself is great, but the thing that really makes it is the plantain patacon you stick under it.
Ignore the bits about adding fresh Scotch bonnet peppers and use whatever peppers you like, in whatever amounts you like.
It's very simple. Just brown the meat, drain the excess grease, chop the stuff that needs to be chopped, dump it in a pot, and simmer it. It tastes great after half an hour, or you may want to keep it in the fridge for a couple of days so the flavors mix.
INGREDIENTS
1 pound pork
1 pound ground chuck
1 ½ tbsp. chili powder
½ cup ketchup — yes, ketchup
Scotch bonnet peppers, minced, to taste
jalapeno peppers, chopped coarsely, if you’re too wimpy to eat Scotch bonnets
8 leaves fresh culantro
3 16-oz. cans dark kidney beans, including juice
2 tbsp. sugar
½ tsp. oregano
2 cups diced onion
2 oz. sharp Cheddar
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes
3 oz. tomato paste
habanero hot sauce to taste
double shot tequila or mescal
fresh lime juice to taste
It's better if you make your own chili powder. Grind your favorite smoked pepper in a coffee mill, mix with equal parts cumin and paprika, toast for a few minutes in a hot skillet, and add at least three tablespoons to the chili. If you make this chili powder, you may want to increase the oregano in the recipe slightly. Store chili powder often contains oregano, and I left it out of my powder.
I didn't put salt in the recipe, because you don't really need it. But feel free to add it.
Now, the patacon. this is a giant fried plantain, rolled out like a pancake.
I'll cut and paste from the book.
PATACON INGREDIENTS:
1 large, very green plantain
corn oil or olive oil
salt
Peel the plantain. It’s a pain; the peels are brittle, and they cling to the meat. I peel them sideways. You cut slits in the peel, lengthwise, and you pry the peels up along their length. Then you slip the tip of a finger under them and move it up and down the length of the plantain, rolling the peel back slowly. Plantain peels crack easily when you try to take them off like banana peels, but they hold together better when you go in the other direction. They make a tool for peeling plantains; I don’t have one. Also, it supposedly helps if you hold them under running water while you peel.
When the peels come off, you may have some bits stuck to the plantain. These tend to turn black and look nasty, so I scrape them off using the dull side of a knife.
Some Puerto Rican guy invented a thing that peels plantains. It’s cheap. It’s called an E-Z Peeler. You can find it on the Internet. Does it work? Damned if I know.
Heat the oil--half an inch deep, in a large skillet--to 350. Nuke the plaintain for 45 seconds. The traditional thing is to fry it, but this works better. Turn it over. Nuke it for 45 more seconds. You want it cooked but not thoroughly roasted.
Wet a dish towel thoroughly. A smooth towel, not terrycloth. Lay the towel out flat on your counter. Dump the plantain on it, off-center. Fold the other side of the towel over the plantain. Roll out the plantain with a rolling pin, until it's around ten inches long and six or seven inches wide. You can start it out by mashing it with the heel of your hand. If you can get it less than a quarter of an inch thick, do it. The towels will peel off without sticking all that much. If it sticks, the plantain is too ripe.
Turn the plantain out onto a plate or small cutting board. Try not to break it.
Slide the plantain gently into the hot oil. Fry the plantain for about three minutes, or until the bottom starts to brown. Flip it and fry the other side. Take it out and drain it on paper towels. Salt is optional. I don't think it helps. You may want to squeeze some lime juice over it.
If you’re really good, you can roll these things out as thin as a pancake. And buy a few extra plantains for practice, because it’s not easy. If they fall apart, they’re too ripe, or you didn’t cook them long enough, or you’re just a clumsy oaf.
I like to put the chili on a hot patacon, bury it in cheese and pepper slices, and broil it until the cheese melts. Then I serve it with a pile of sour cream.
You can also fold the patacon and use it like a giant taco.
I know the chili is not authentic. I have no interest in that. I have no interest in hearing why I am wrong to put beans in it. I hope no one will waste a lecture on me.
Enjoy.
The chili itself is great, but the thing that really makes it is the plantain patacon you stick under it.
Ignore the bits about adding fresh Scotch bonnet peppers and use whatever peppers you like, in whatever amounts you like.
It's very simple. Just brown the meat, drain the excess grease, chop the stuff that needs to be chopped, dump it in a pot, and simmer it. It tastes great after half an hour, or you may want to keep it in the fridge for a couple of days so the flavors mix.
INGREDIENTS
1 pound pork
1 pound ground chuck
1 ½ tbsp. chili powder
½ cup ketchup — yes, ketchup
Scotch bonnet peppers, minced, to taste
jalapeno peppers, chopped coarsely, if you’re too wimpy to eat Scotch bonnets
8 leaves fresh culantro
3 16-oz. cans dark kidney beans, including juice
2 tbsp. sugar
½ tsp. oregano
2 cups diced onion
2 oz. sharp Cheddar
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes
3 oz. tomato paste
habanero hot sauce to taste
double shot tequila or mescal
fresh lime juice to taste
It's better if you make your own chili powder. Grind your favorite smoked pepper in a coffee mill, mix with equal parts cumin and paprika, toast for a few minutes in a hot skillet, and add at least three tablespoons to the chili. If you make this chili powder, you may want to increase the oregano in the recipe slightly. Store chili powder often contains oregano, and I left it out of my powder.
I didn't put salt in the recipe, because you don't really need it. But feel free to add it.
Now, the patacon. this is a giant fried plantain, rolled out like a pancake.
I'll cut and paste from the book.
PATACON INGREDIENTS:
1 large, very green plantain
corn oil or olive oil
salt
Peel the plantain. It’s a pain; the peels are brittle, and they cling to the meat. I peel them sideways. You cut slits in the peel, lengthwise, and you pry the peels up along their length. Then you slip the tip of a finger under them and move it up and down the length of the plantain, rolling the peel back slowly. Plantain peels crack easily when you try to take them off like banana peels, but they hold together better when you go in the other direction. They make a tool for peeling plantains; I don’t have one. Also, it supposedly helps if you hold them under running water while you peel.
When the peels come off, you may have some bits stuck to the plantain. These tend to turn black and look nasty, so I scrape them off using the dull side of a knife.
Some Puerto Rican guy invented a thing that peels plantains. It’s cheap. It’s called an E-Z Peeler. You can find it on the Internet. Does it work? Damned if I know.
Heat the oil--half an inch deep, in a large skillet--to 350. Nuke the plaintain for 45 seconds. The traditional thing is to fry it, but this works better. Turn it over. Nuke it for 45 more seconds. You want it cooked but not thoroughly roasted.
Wet a dish towel thoroughly. A smooth towel, not terrycloth. Lay the towel out flat on your counter. Dump the plantain on it, off-center. Fold the other side of the towel over the plantain. Roll out the plantain with a rolling pin, until it's around ten inches long and six or seven inches wide. You can start it out by mashing it with the heel of your hand. If you can get it less than a quarter of an inch thick, do it. The towels will peel off without sticking all that much. If it sticks, the plantain is too ripe.
Turn the plantain out onto a plate or small cutting board. Try not to break it.
Slide the plantain gently into the hot oil. Fry the plantain for about three minutes, or until the bottom starts to brown. Flip it and fry the other side. Take it out and drain it on paper towels. Salt is optional. I don't think it helps. You may want to squeeze some lime juice over it.
If you’re really good, you can roll these things out as thin as a pancake. And buy a few extra plantains for practice, because it’s not easy. If they fall apart, they’re too ripe, or you didn’t cook them long enough, or you’re just a clumsy oaf.
I like to put the chili on a hot patacon, bury it in cheese and pepper slices, and broil it until the cheese melts. Then I serve it with a pile of sour cream.
You can also fold the patacon and use it like a giant taco.
I know the chili is not authentic. I have no interest in that. I have no interest in hearing why I am wrong to put beans in it. I hope no one will waste a lecture on me.
Enjoy.
