{"id":830,"date":"2013-02-12T18:45:59","date_gmt":"2013-02-12T23:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/wordpress\/?p=830"},"modified":"2017-08-29T13:26:59","modified_gmt":"2017-08-29T18:26:59","slug":"chili-cook-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/chili-cook-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Chili Cook-Off!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"chili_bowl_01\"<\/a>The wife and I have a good system. She cooks great food and I eat it. I OFFER to help occasionally, but more often than not I am either in the way, stir-obsessive, or inept. Culinary Arts is not my strongpoint since scrambled eggs is the peak of my expertise. So how is a couple to simultaneously spend “quality” time together and get the drudgery of meal-time out of the way? Chili Cook-Off! With each chef making their own pot of chili, we squared our experimental stews against each other in two rounds of good-natured competition.
\n<\/p>\n

No really; it was good-natured….<\/p>\n

Sue’s First Batch<\/span><\/p>\n

Fueled by SOMEBODY’s senseless comment that her Chili recipe wasn’t perfect, Suelynn was on a mission. She picked out the following ingredients, a few of which we shared:<\/p>\n

1 Pound of 85% Lean Ground Beef<\/span>
\n Can of Beef Broth<\/span>
\n Can of Black Beans<\/span>
\n Southwest Smoked Chili<\/span>
\n Green Onions<\/span>
\n Red and White Onions<\/span>
\n Corn<\/span>
\n Black Pepper<\/span>
\n Half a Jalapeno<\/span>
\n Minced Garlic<\/span>
\n Garlic Salt<\/span>
\n Garlic and Herb Salt<\/span>
\n Onion Salt<\/span>
\n Cumin<\/span>
\n Chili Powder<\/span>
\n Cayenne Pepper<\/span>
\n Red Chili<\/span>
\n Cornmeal<\/span><\/p>\n

A pound of ground beef was seasoned to flavor with black pepper, minced garlic, and garlic herb salt. It was then browned on a skillet. Separately, the beef broth simmered with cumin, minced garlic, southwest smoked chili, pepper, jalapeno, onion salt, the green\/red\/white onions, and black beans (drained and rinsed). She then added some chili powder and cayenne pepper with some red pepper flakes, and tossed in some garlic salt and black pepper. As the meat browned, she added some southwest chili powder to it and then threw it into the broth-crockpot, which is a superior way to meld the flavor apparently. When it had sufficiently simmered, she microwaved some frozen corn and mixed that in\u00a0ten minutes before serving.<\/p>\n

Mike’s First Batch<\/span><\/p>\n

I, myself, had barely heated a bowl of soup prior to this encounter so it appeared that my Mac ‘n’ Cheese experiences\u00a0would excel me not. I snagged my ingredients off the shelves regardless:<\/p>\n

Pound of 85% Lean Ground Beef<\/span>
\n Can of Borracho\u00a0Beans<\/span>
\n 3 Green Onions<\/span>
\n 3 Chives<\/span>
\n Half a Red and White Onion<\/span>
\n 1 Jalapeno<\/span>
\n About a\u00a0tsp of Black Pepper<\/span>
\n About a tsp Chili Powder<\/span>
\n About\u00a02 tbsp Garlic and Herb Salt<\/span>
\n About 3 tbsp Burnin’ Hot Habanero Sauce<\/span>
\n About 2 tbsp Season-All Steak Seasoning<\/span>
\n About 1 tbsp Chayenne Pepper<\/span><\/p>\n

What to do, what to do? In the interest of having two different dishes to compare, I tried my best not to sneak a peek at her work. I used a single pot for the process since I didn’t use broth. After browning and draining the meat, I chopped it up into little chunks to let it sizzle on low with my drunken beans. I always have a great time cutting up the veggies, so I made sure to get them nice and tiny, throwing each into the pot in succession, stirring in an attempt to avoid burning the bottom of my chili. Sampling as I went, I tried to follow what my tongue told me to do, stirring, dumping one of my spices, stirring, repeat. I cooked lid-less, which afforded me easy-access to taste, but may have burned off some of the\u00a0flavor and much of the moisture. Hindsight’s a bitch that way.<\/p>\n

Round 1’s Comparison<\/span><\/p>\n

We sat down to watch the X-Files, cuddled up with two bowls of chili each, Fritos’ Scoops at the ready. Sue’s chili was maroon and clumpy, a pleasing contrast to my own which seemed dry and the color of unseasoned ground beef, unsaturated and grayish. Neither was liquid enough to call a dip, but hers\u00a0had more semblance to what I was going for. Sue’s taste was a little more complex, with an initially\u00a0sweet pungent flavor followed by a smooth\/spicy after taste. Mine was certainly scoopable, but it was suprisingly bland and simple despite my various ingredients, the borracho beans tasting not-so-borracho. The garlic overtone was up-front and bold, but there was nothing beyond the first impression. Weirdly, it tasted much better piping hot and straight from the pot, a habanero flavor revealing itself when eaten that way.<\/p>\n

Round 1 Winner: Sue<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Mike conceded graciously, not stooping to cursing and petty name-calling. She rubbed it in anyways of course, frustrated when I still replied that our chili needed something.<\/p>\n

Sue’s Second Batch<\/span><\/p>\n

On a different day with a different mind-set we went about the process yet again, still searching for a blend that would yield something to please my\u00a0lofty expectations. Sue wanted to tweak her recipe instead of re-inventing the wheel, opting to add a scant amount of new ingredients: ancho chilis and\u00a0corn meal.<\/p>\n

1\/2 Pound 85% Lean Beef<\/span>
\n 1\/2 Pound Coarse Chili-Specialty Beef<\/span>
\n Beef Broth<\/span>
\n Can of Black Beans<\/span>
\n Southwest Smoked Chili<\/span>
\n Green Onions<\/span>
\n Red and White Onions<\/span>
\n Corn<\/span>
\n Black Pepper<\/span>
\n Half a Jalapeno<\/span>
\n Minced Garlic<\/span>
\n Garlic Salt<\/span>
\n Garlic and Herb Salt<\/span>
\n Onion Salt<\/span>
\n Cumin<\/span>
\n Chili Powder<\/span>
\n Cayenne Pepper<\/span>
\n Ancho Chilis<\/span>
\n Corn Meal<\/span><\/p>\n

She performed the same actions as before, except this time around she boiled the ancho chilis in beef broth, garlic, and pepper. Adding the mix to her broth in the same manner, she also thickened the stew with corn meal and starch, since she prefers clumpier chili as opposed to my own tastes of having something to dip rather than scoop.<\/p>\n

Mike’s Second Batch<\/span><\/p>\n

A little down-trodden, I revamped my procedure here. I could see that the way I cooked the meat was definitely a problem. In addition, I was afraid that my flavors were canceling each other out or getting boiled away. I cut down on my ingredient count, smelling the spice bottles with scrutiny and adding them generously in between tastes. My reduced list of ingredients was:<\/p>\n

1\/2 Pound 85% Lean Beef<\/span>
\n 1\/2 Pound Coarse Chili-Specialty Beef<\/span>
\n Can of Kidney Beans<\/span>
\n 4 Green Onions<\/span>
\n 1\/4 Red and White Onion<\/span>
\n 6 Stems of Cilantro<\/span>
\n 1 Jalapeno<\/span>
\n 2 Limes<\/span>
\n About 4 tbsp Italian Seasoning<\/span>
\n About 4 tbsp Garlic and Herb Blend<\/span>
\n About 2 tbsp\u00a0Southwest Chili Blend<\/span>
\n About 2 tbsp Medium Habanero Hot Sauce<\/span><\/p>\n

Sue looked all smug with her fancy crockpot, but who needs a tub with an electrical cord?! I improvised with an oversized glass lid and made sure to keep my chili covered in-between tastes to lock in the moisture. I went against the grain and still cooked the meat on its own, but I stole a bit of her ideas by sprinkling a generous amount of all four spices during the cooking process. This was still lean chuck, so I decided to keep the oils and fluids in lieu of a broth, this time. Something else I did differently was to keep the vegetables in a separate bowl, adding seasoning to them on their own though it would be much more difficult to imagine the containers’ flavors once combined. I added them in towards the last 15 minutes and tried to adjust the spices accordingly.<\/p>\n

Round 2’s Comparison<\/span><\/p>\n

Sue’s chili still LOOKED more like chili, the reddish color being both appetizing and aesthetic. Mine retained the grayish-brown palor, but my greens spruced up the presentation a bit, especially since they weren’t wilted from long times in the heat. I may have been jaded, but our consistencies looked exactly the same as the first time around, though I had personally bent over backwards to make a more moist result. The proof\u00a0was in the taste. Hers tasted great as usual (not perfect, but damned near close), while mine was a real surprise. I had spent the majority of my time sniffing, comparing, sniffing again, but I wasn’t prepared for the distinctly ORIENTAL style of chili that rested in my bowl. Sue said she loved it and insisted it was the truth, but I was taken aback. I agreed that it was good, but the mild sweetness pervading with a bit of spice followed by a twinge of sour certainly wasn’t as expected, my usage of limes leading to a curiosity to make my chili more salsa-like.<\/p>\n

Still…. inadvertantly interesting flavors will just propel me into the next Chili Cook-Off!<\/p>\n

Official Round 2 Winner: Sue<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The wife and I have a good system. She cooks great food and I eat it. I OFFER to help occasionally, but more often than not I am either in the way, stir-obsessive, or inept. Culinary Arts is not my … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-skills-and-creating-things"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=830"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2388,"href":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830\/revisions\/2388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/skullduggery.us\/rants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}