Amy was out with the girls again tonight, which as you, the loyal reader know, means it's Chili Time! So, I grabbed the recipe from my last experiment tried again. For added pressure, I invited my friend, Darrin over to sample my wares. How did I fare?
Bald Man Tom's Skillet Chili, Take Four
The Players
| The Pan | 12" cast iron skillet, well seasoned |
| The Ingredients | 12 oz. chuck roast, cut into small cubes salt 3 oz onion, finely diced 2 clove garlic, minced 3 oz pickled jalapenos, minced ~1-1/2 oz chipotles in adobo sauce, minced ~1 tbsp adobo sauce (from the can of chipotles in adobo) 2 tbsp chili powder 2 tbsp cumin (ground) 1 tbsp coriander seed (ground) 1 tsp turmeric (ground) 2-1/2 c beef broth, plus 3 tbsp 3 tbsp masa harina Vegetable oil |
The Method
Season the meat with a few pinches of salt about 5 minutes before cooking begins. Heat the skillet over high heat. Coat the skillet thinly with oil, then sear the meat quickly on all sides, maybe 1-2 minutes max. Remove the meat from the pan and set aside. Lower the heat to medium, sautee the onion and garlic until softened a little, about 1 to 1-1/2 minutes. Add the minced jalapenos and minced chipotles, stir and let sautee another 1 to 1-1/2 minutes. Add the meat back to the pan with 2-1/2 c of the broth, spices and adobo sauce, mix and simmer 5 minutes. Make a slurry with the masa harina and the remaining 3 tbsp of the beef broth, then add to the pan and give it a good stir. Place in a 350 degree oven for 75 minutes.
Makes 2 servings.
Notes
Much better portioning when I was cutting up the beef tonight, I actually ended up with 12 oz beef, huzzah! As per my notes from last time, I dropped the amount of adobo sauce and increased the amount of cumin, which is now abundant. I also served slightly sweetened cornbread with the chili tonight, as Darrin prefers his cornbread sweet as opposed to savory.
The Verdict
<slobber> That was my best effort to date. Boosting the cumin and dropping the adobo ended up being the perfect switch in this batch of chili. The heat was present but not overwhelming, and the smokiness was excellent. I think that I didn't sear the beef quite long enough before stewing, it wasn't quite as tender this time, but it was still darned tasty. It'll be hard to top this particular bowl of red.
Lessons Learned
Lessee:
- Excellent balance between heat and smokiness. I think I got the right balance of cumin and adobo
- I think I could still use an accessory flavor or two. Need to put on my thinking cap
- I still need a "manly" chili bowl
- Sweet cornbread still = yum!
4 comments:
You are making my mouth water and it's only 8AM.
Sounds like a great bowl of chili. I'll have to try making it sometime.
--ken
Yeah.. Tom's right. This was tasty stuff. Very tasty.
The beer was good too.
But I still have no idea what he means by a 'man bowl'. *shrug*
If only I didn't loathe chili, I'm sure your recipe would rock. How's that for a back handed compliment!
ken -
If you try it, lemme know how it goes for you.
darrin -
"man bowl" = "something manly to eat chili out of"
jojo -
hmmmmm.... what do you loathe about chili? I'm fairly certain that with the strategic removal of certain ingredients and addition of others, it'd make a darned tasty beef stew....?
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