Cincinnati Chili
Posted on 02/13/2014 4:00:26 PM PST by nickcarraway
Chili tastes are highly personal, often inflexible and loaded with preconceptions — the political party of culinary offerings.
For some people raised in Texas, the notion of beans is akin to cat food, dismissed with derision as filler. Some chili cooks believe flavor rises and falls on cumin levels; others say the story begins and ends with dried chiles. Some like a rich beefy stock, and there are those who extol the entanglement of bacon.
Poultry and venison have their place (beef purists blanch), and vegetarian chili is met largely with guffaws except by the people who smilingly bring it to potlucks, an act that seems to stem from their childhood issues often associated with snack cake deprivation.
Serving rituals vary.
Oyster crackers on the side? Some have never heard of it, but maybe. Rice? Often! My Texan mother-in-law always served chili over spaghetti, a bit of Cincinnati craziness that confused and unnerved me, but I am perfectly at peace with chili dumped over a bag of corn chips, known as Frito pie. (Some regions refer to this as a “walking taco,” but I would prefer you do not.)
Yet just as much of our nation craves bipartisanship on the major policy debate of the day, so, too, do many chili lovers wish to end the crazy decades of rivalries. They believe it is time for us to embrace every form of this warming bowl of red soul food, be it venison-laced, processed cheese-topped, bean-adorned, beer laced, spicy or mild. My husband has even learned to live with beans. He just does not discuss it.
“I don’t disagree with anyone’s chili,” said Robb Walsh, a Texas food historian, the author of “The Tex-Mex Cookbook” and a restaurateur.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Cincinnati Chili
There’s a few variants to chili that I am looking forward to.
To start with, the use of Sous-Vide beef. With Sous-Vide you vacuum pack your raw meat, then immerse the pack in water that is the perfect temperature for cooking beef, 130-135F.
“The meat has begun to turn pink, and is significantly firmer. Moisture loss is still minimal, at around 4%. Intramuscular fat has begun to render, which not only lubricates the meat, making it taste juicier and more tender, but it also delivers fat-soluble flavor compounds to the tongue and palate—beef at this temperature tastes significantly “beefier” than beef at 120F. When tasted blind, even self-proclaimed rare meat lovers preferred this one, making it the most popular selection. It also avoids the ‘sawdust’ texture that begins at 140F.”
Importantly, none of the odor or flavor is lost, which is obvious when it is cooked and you open the vacuum pack to give the meat a quick sear. You get “beefed” right in the face with a delicious “beefy” odor.
When cooked Sous-Vide, this beef is quite tender and close to perfectly cooked. I would then add it to the chili with just enough time to warm it, before serving. It is far less important that its flavors have blended with the chili flavors than it not get any additional cooking.
Next, some chili makers are using spices that are “bloomed” and roasted. “Blooming” means briefly sauteing spices in oil to bring out their flavors, whereas roasted spices have a different character altogether. Some cooks think of the two as the same thing, but I distinguish them as different techniques.
Third, while some chili makers use roux in their chili, roux is so versatile that it should not be an afterthought.
Roux comes in colors: white, blond, light brown (or caramel colored), brown, and dark brown (called chocolate). While the dark brown is most flavorful, it does not thicken much at all. While the lighter ones thicken, they are less flavorful.
Unless they are made into sauces. And while these would likely not be blended into the chili, they could be drizzled on top of it. For instance, a white cream roux sauce, Béchamel sauce, can become Mornay sauce by adding cheese; or a Nantua sauce, with crayfish, butter and cream, etc.
They wouldn’t make the chili. They would make the chili better.
I have 20 hot peppers and 28 sweet peppers started to be ready to go out into the garden come spring. Of course, by then I won’t be able to afford beef.
No- but I will give up one of my secrets. I buy spices whole and then put them in a blender with tequila and puree them before adding them. The alcohol leaches out the oils in the spices and (I think) improves the flavor.
I'm sorry, I've never heard of rope chili. Or did you mean something else?
if you soak the beans overnight, no gassy gassy.
both things you suggest can be true. age changes taste b/c buds die off, smell receptors in your nose die off, plus brain changes over time can change flavors you enjoy. this happens in older animals too.
‘It’s “Chile”, not “Chili” and it comes in either red or green.”
As a native New Mexican I agree! everything else is crap!!!
Beans ARE “filler.” Feh. Don’t belong in chili. And I’m not even from Texas.
your analogy - they wouldn’t be sticking the food up their noses, but their butts.
i tell ya a good montery jack shredded on top with a couple dollops of sour cream are a nice topping.
New Mexico state motto: "Red or green?"
I like to eat chile with spaghetti—a dish known as “Spaghetti Western.”
The best chili I ate was 40 years ago and made by my mother-in-law. She put kidney beans in it.
The next day I SUFFERED! about every 15-20 minutes it felt as if a bayonet was thrust into my gut! Then came the pressure and the gas could not be kept in! I could clear an area about 50ft radius with that gas! It sank so bad even I choked on it! Fart and run or choke!
I never ate any of her chili again. Here is MY RECIPIE for NO BEANS chili.
2 lb hamburger 90-95 % meat to fat
one large onion cut up
2 cloves garlic minced
4 tablespoons of chili powder
3 tablespoons of cumin
1 tablespoon cilantro or corliander
1 tablespoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
several Ancho or New Mexico chilis cut up
Enough water to cover and cook. stir to make sure it does not burn.
after cooking for about an hour or two..
Mix three tablespoons of corn flour in cold water, mix into the chili to thicken and cook on low heat.
Serve over Fritos and cover with grated cheese.
As you can see, there are NO TOMATOES and NO BEANS! It is NOT a sweet chili like Wolf Brand chili,and I have never had indigestion or acid reflux with it. It is also NOT A HOT chili.
I go to the original one in Alexandria, VA
Lima beans? Ouch!
Thanks, that’s an interesting recipe. I guess I’ve eaten so much Mexican food in my life the beans don’t affect me.
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