***NOTE: Due to the acquisition of Instructables by AutoDesk, and Instructables' refusal to allow me to make private or unpublish any of my works, this instructable has been permanently deleted from this site around September 1, 2011. ***
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By the way...my family always ate chili with a dollop of cottage cheese (instead of sour cream). Love it that way!
1) Chili short for "chili con carne" (peppers with meat) has no beans if it's really chili. If you're purest that is.
2) I brown the meat before hand and then de-glaze the pan with dark beer. All that goodness left in the pan really helps the flavor, plus the flavor from the beer works well.
3) I use semi-sweet chocolate chips rather than powder. I usually add those to the beer after I've de-glazing things, and before I add the other fluids.
I also add some maple syrup, the real stuff not the imitation, which adds a hint of sweetness. It sounds odd I know, but try it and you'll be surprised. To be fair I have to give a nod to Bobby Flay for that, as it came from one of his recipes.
There are a lot of veggies in there as well. At what point does chili become beef stew?
For comparison I am adding a picture of my chili.
A lot of people are commenting that the dish does not look like it would be hot. If you are throwing 1 or 2 chopped habanero peppers in there it will have some kick.
I bet this is great on a cold evening and is a lot more nutritious than most recipes I see!
All these awesome ideas everyone's coming up with in the comments are inspiring, now I just wish I had more time.ingredients/money to try them all out myself!!!
I added a splash of smoky whiskey (I used Ardbeg 10).
The chili had an extra smoky flavor that took it to new places.
B. Sorry there are no beans in chili.
C. Make it as hot as you like, add a dollop of sour cream to cool it down for wussies
One of the things I've found really improved my chilli's, particularly when using minced beef (ground beef) is to get it really well browned, more browned than you would really expect, make sure it's really caramelised. This savory flavour, as you say, really will help the final dish.
Great clear 'ible, hopefully it'll encourage a few more people to venture into their kitchens.
You're totally right about browning the meat, it really applies to any meat you add. It really adds a lot of depth to the final chili.
This recipe as it is with these exact ingredients I've shown do make it spicy, I'd say about "medium", and if all you were to do is make one single change (like, omit the habaneros, or reduce the cayenne powder), I'd say it'd be a "low" spiciness.