Issue Date: January 25, 2004
Super Bowl, super chili
Turn ordinary ingredients into an eyebrow-raising party dish.
Terrific toppings
Serve a simple bowl of chili and guests will be content. Zip in fun, colorful condiments and you've got a party. Consider these chili accompaniments:
-- Tortilla and corn chips
-- Shredded sharp cheddar cheese
-- Sliced scallions
-- Sliced black olives
-- Pickled, sliced jalapeños
-- Chopped green chilies
-- Red and green pepper sauce
-- Sour cream
-- Cilantro leaves
-- Avocados mashed with fresh lime juice and salt
-- Red and green salsa (boost flavor with fresh cilantro and lime juice)
|
As turkey is to Thanksgiving, so chili has become to the Super Bowl. The hearty stew is a classic casual party dish for good reason. For the cook, it's easy, do-ahead and cheap. For guests, it's appealing, fun and friendly.
There are lots of chili recipes. So why try mine? For one thing, it calls for common grocery store ingredients (no visits to ethnic markets and mail-order companies). Plus, this eyebrow-raising chili will prompt guests to ask for the recipe.
Here are five key steps to success:
-- Use the right meat. Start with chuck roast (for rich, beefy heft) and country-style pork ribs (for mild, sweet contrast), and sear the meats well. Nicely browned meat is crucial to flavor. Forget ground beef; it stews to gray hues. Searing individual beef cubes is messy and tedious, especially for a Super Bowl-size batch. So I sear whole roasts -- it's easy but still imparts plenty of flavor -- and pull the meat into bite-size shreds. Compared with meat cubes, shreds are soft and tender; compared with ground meat, shreds have better "chew" and flavor.
-- Cook meat quickly with high heat. Instead of slow-cooking, I "pressure-cook" the seared beef and pork in a foil-sealed, lidded pot in a 450-degree oven. This high-heat method cuts cooking time nearly in half.
-- Slow-toast spices. Many serious chili recipes call for toasting and then grinding whole spices, a step many cooks aren't willing or able to perform. I easily punch up flavors by slowly toasting powdered spices in a dry skillet over low heat before adding them to the chili.
-- Use a roaster on the stovetop. I set a heavy-duty roasting pan over two burners, using the large cooking surface to sear the meat in two batches rather than four. Later, the roaster helps the onions sauté and the chili stew up more quickly.
-- Flavor at the end. Finish the chili with minced garlic and bittersweet chocolate. I've found that if you sauté garlic with the onions at the beginning, the garlic's flavor is barely detectable. Added at the end, however, the garlic is pleasantly potent. Ditto the chocolate. Added early, chocolate takes the chili in a mole direction. Added at the end, it miraculously pulls the chili together.
This Super Bowl, you can make that same old chili. Guests will even tell you it reminds them of Mom's. If, however, you want to drive people back to the pot for seconds and motivate them to ask for the recipe, here's your chili.
Contributing Editor Pam Anderson is the author of "CookSmart" (Houghton Mifflin, $28).
Go to top
Chili With Pulled Beef & Pork for a Crowd
2 flat, boneless beef chuck roasts (4 pounds total), patted dry
8 country-style pork ribs (2 1/2 pounds total), patted dry
1/2 cup vegetable oil or other flavorless oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbs. plus 4 tsps. ground cumin
1 cup mild chili powder
4 tsps. dried oregano
4 large onions, diced (about 8 cups)
9 cups crushed tomatoes (2 28-ounce cans plus 1 16-ounce can)
12 garlic cloves, minced
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
Optional: 4 15.5-ounce cans pinto or kidney beans, rinsed
Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 450 degrees. Set a large, heavy-duty roasting pan over 2 burners on medium heat.
Pour 2 Tbs. oil into a medium bowl. Add half the meat; coat. Generously sprinkle with salt, pepper, and 1 Tb. cumin. Repeat entire process with rest of meat.
Increase heat under roasting pan to medium-high. Add half the meat; cook until a solid brown crust forms on one side, 4 to 5 minutes. Turn over; cook until a crust again forms, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer meat to a soup pot. Brown remaining meat; add to soup pot. Set roasting pan aside.
Add 2 1/2 cups water to the soup pot and cover with heavy-duty foil, pressing down so foil is concave and touches the meat. Seal foil around the top of the pot so it is airtight; place lid on pot. Heat until you hear pan juices bubble. Set pot in oven. Cook, without checking, 90 minutes (meat should be very tender).
Carefully remove from oven and let cool. Shred pork and beef into bite-size pieces, discarding pork bones. Measure meat juices, then add enough water to equal 12 cups.
Meanwhile, in a medium skillet over low heat, slow-toast chili powder, oregano and remaining 4 tsps. cumin, stirring constantly, until spices are fragrant and darker in color; be careful not to burn.
Set roasting pan over two burners on medium-high heat; add remaining 1/4 cup oil. Add onions; sauté until soft, 7 to 8 minutes. Add spices, tomatoes, meat and juices.
Simmer until flavors are unified, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Add garlic, chocolate and optional beans; simmer 5 minutes. Serve.
(Can be cooled, covered and refrigerated up to 3 days; reheat to serve.)
Yield (without beans): about 5 quarts.
Serves: 16 to 20.
Per cup (without beans): 325 calories, 26g protein, 15g carbohydrates, 18g fat (5g saturated), 4g fiber, 310mg sodium.
|
