Ken Wolman <wolman@NETCOM.COM>
Ken's Chili
- 1/2 lb. pinto beans
- 5 cups canned tomatoes (fresh is better!)
- 1 lb. green pepper, chopped (I use yellow or red, too)
- 1 1/2 tbs. salad oil
- 1 1/2 lb. chopped onion (hot stuff!)
- 1/2 cup butter (I won't do this, and don't miss it: it's a ticket to a
cardiologist's office)
- 2 1/2 lb. ground chuck
- 1 lb. ground pork
- 1/3 cup chili powder
- 2 tbs. salt
- 1 1/2 tsp.. pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed (I just cut 'em real small)
- 1 1/2 tsp.. cumin
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley
Soak the beans overnight. Simmer until tender. Drain the water. Add
tomatoes and simmer another 5 minutes (longer, I guess, if you use fresh
ones). In another pan, sauté green pepper in salad oil for 5 min. Add onion
and cook until tender. Add garlic and parsley, then set aside.
In another pan (this is a messy kitchen recipe), melt the butter (if you
use it) and sauté the meat for 15 minutes. Add the meat to the onion
mixture. Stir in chili powder and cook for 10 minutes.
Add the meat mixture to the beans. Add all the other spices. Simmer
uncovered for 1 hour. Cook uncovered for 30 minutes more. If there's fat,
skim it. I usually put the meat in a plastic colander and squeeze out the
fat before I add all the stuff to a big pot and cook it.
We eat it over rice, but you can just pour it into a bowl and stuff your face.
The measurements tend to become approximate after a while, as you know. The
hard part is keeping everything coordinated. I love cooking this because of
how it makes the kitchen smell.
Cooking Hint:
Chili Peppers -- A fine satiny surfaced red pepper. Grown in Mexico and
Southwest U.S. Used to make chili powders for chili con carne, tamales,
pickles, cooking dried beans. Both green and ripe peppers pickled and used
to make hot sauces.
Chili Tepines -- Very, very hot tiny red peppers. Grown in Mexico. Used in
preparing hot Mexican foods such as meat and egg dishes.
Chili Powder -- A blend of chili, red peppers, cumin seed, oregano, garlic
powder, salt, etc. Most widely used in chili con carne. Also used in
cocktail sauces, gravies, stews, appetizers
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