Chili chili chili chili chili....

[Victory Sabre]

I like the fact that you don't put beans into your chili. I'd so love to try your Devil's Ass chili, I'm one of those inhuman types.

Congratulations on your first place.

[Jester]

I was just teasing you on that.

Now I want chili.

I know. And...I know.

I like the fact that you don't put beans into your chili. I'd so love to try your Devil's Ass chili, I'm one of those inhuman types.

Congratulations on your first place.

Thank you.

I actually used to use beans, because I like them, and I have nothing against people who use them, and I will eat chilis that have them.

However, about a year ago I made a conscious choice to try the recipe without the beans and see what happened. Overall I think it was the right choice, but I did have a few bumps in the road, such as the first time I made it without beans, and didn't change any of the rest of the recipe...including using the same amount of liquid ingredients. Which, without the presence of beans, made the chili too damn soupy, so I had to strain off a lot of that liquid.

I do want to try to get the Devil's Ass chili better (such as not burning the damn onions), and if I get it down, I may just post the full recipe, or at least the basic idea.

I will give you a general idea about the Devil's Ass chili, though: it had ground beef, chorizo sausage, thick smoked bacon, jalapenos, serranos, chipotles, habaneros, ghost peppers (I told you I wanted to hurt people!), cilantro, onions, garlic, tomatoes, honey, and various spices, including (but not limited to) cayenne pepper and chipotle powder for spice, and cumin and sage for smokiness. Also, after browning the meat, I used tequila to deglaze the skillet. Steaming tequila is a very.... interesting smell.

[Becks]

I know. And...I know.

You are an evil man.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

mmm... tequila in chili! I never have it in drinks-- it's too gamey, even the super-fancy expensive stuff my (snob) friend loves and wishes for his marriage/ graduation / major life event gift. It's always savory and gross to my (philistine, apparently) tongue. Not even with 'savory' drinks, like martinis.
But with actual food? Sign me up!
Also, I can help with the name suggestions. Describe it to me: color, texture, aroma, density, etc. I love naming things!
Do you live on a cool street name? Favorite numbers/ number(s) that might fit for this delight? What kind of convention would you like for it?

[shankyknitter]

I think we're all missing the clear and obvious answer to 'what to name Jester's Chili'.

Court Jester.

[dalesys]

I think we're all missing the clear and obvious answer to 'what to name Jester's Chili'.

Court Jester.

So who's courting Jester?

From a safe distance, even?

[Treasure]

So who's courting Jester?

From a safe distance, even?

everybody that swings his direction(on this board at least)? (even if he doesn't swing theirs)

[AccountingDrone]

bouillabaisse can be tricky, even boiled fish can be overcooked. Honestly as peasant food, a cheap red plonk would be a bit more appropriate.

The name bouillabaisse comes from the method of the preparation - the ingredients are not added all at once. The broth is first boiled (bolh) then the different kinds of fish are added one by one, and each time the broth comes to a boil, the heat is lowered (abaissa).

American style soup cooking of dumping everything in together and simmering for a while just doesn't tend to cut it.

How about a vichysoisse, or maybe a lobster bisque/shrimp bisque.

[Frantic Freddie]

A few years ago Mrs Frantic & I were at the Fiery Foods Show attempting to sear out digestive tracts (well,I was,she doesn't like it as hot as I do) when we saw a lady with some very interesting containers for her salsa so we decided to give it a try.This lady was from some state not known for hot foods & frankly,her fruity,weird tasting "salsa" pretty much sucked.

Being a polite fellow I casually said "It's interesting what people put in their salsas"

The lady lost it! Load enough to be heard several booths away,she practically screamed "THIS IS THE BEST STUFF HERE!!! EVERYTHING ELSE HERE IS JUST HOT!!!

We backed off & said "This is the Riery Foods Show",but she'd already turned her back to us,grumbling & swearing about all the "hot stuff".

Haven't seen her since.

[Jester]

You are an evil man.

I know.

Also, I can help with the name suggestions. Describe it to me: color, texture, aroma, density, etc. I love naming things!

I'll try, though I'm not all that good at such things. It is definitely a chunky chili, as I used meat that I cubed rather than ground meat. It has a smokey taste to it, with a slow burn that kind of sits with you and grows. It has a deep, dark red color to it. It has a nice smokey smell without being overly smokey. Don't know what else to say about it.

Do you live on a cool street name? Favorite numbers/ number(s) that might fit for this delight? What kind of convention would you like for it?

In order....

I don't think "Duck Chili" would work, as people would assume I used duck in it...which I didn't.
My favorite number is 3, or 33. Don't see how that works, either.
I absolutely don't understand this last question at all!

I think we're all missing the clear and obvious answer to 'what to name Jester's Chili'.

Court Jester.

Honestly? Doesn't work for me.

So who's courting Jester?

From a safe distance, even?

No one that I'm aware of, frankly!

bouillabaisse can be tricky, even boiled fish can be overcooked. Honestly as peasant food, a cheap red plonk would be a bit more appropriate.

American style soup cooking of dumping everything in together and simmering for a while just doesn't tend to cut it.

How about a vichysoisse, or maybe a lobster bisque/shrimp bisque.

"Tricky," huh? Sure, it probably is. But half the reason I keep doing these cookoffs is to try new things and to challenge myself. Just because something may be hard to do has never stopped me from doing it, and won't stop me now.

And by the way, unless it's the right way to do it or I'm doing crock pot cooking, I DON'T just dump everything in a pot and simmer it for a while. I don't know why you call this "American style" cooking, as I have not seen a single American chef do this on Food Network or anywhere else on tv. Sure, some lazy people may certainly do this, but no one worth their salt in the kitchen is going to do this for everything. I certainly won't. Hell, my chili involves 3 different cooking vessels, as well as several different cooking techniques, including oven-roasting, browning, sauteeing, and simmering, thank you very much.

And while one day I may try my hand at those other soups you mentioned, I most certainly am not going to do so as a fallback plan.

Tricky? I have three words for that:

Bring. It. ON!

[teh_blumchenkinder]

What I mean about convention can be demonstrated thusly:
"Adjective Noun" --- "Yellow Stew"
"Posessive Noun Noun"-- "Devil's Ass Chili"
Do you want "chili" or "stew" or something directly describing the type of dish it is? ... parts of speechy-type stuff
some stuff I thought of, feel free to modify for your use/taste, just tell me the result because I am curious: "Jester's Smoke"; "Floridian (Or other place you favor) Meat Chili"; "Sun Devil Day Chili" (similar I know to one you rejected... but it might still work); "Eat-Me-with-BBQ Chili" (I figure the smoke might be good, but feel free to put in more appropriate "huge" dish, like turkey, brisket, whateves, point is, suggesting a food to eat it with-- or not...); try foreign-language for it, I am no good at el Espanol, otherwise I'd try. "Noob Street's Smoky Beef (or whatever meat you used) Chili", because you are relatively new at the chili'ng business; "Smoky, Beefy Devotion" (if you feel like a bit of drama, whut? ); you could go with a ridiculously funny long name... I'd have to stew on that for a while, not usually doing those. XD (for good reason. I sound Victorian when I do, which is BAD, m'kay?) Do you have slang you like to use-- like I used "Noob," 'cuz I'm pretty much from the internet.
More Names: Sonoran-Devil-(City in Key-west you live in) Smoke Chili" (or other ingredient you wish to emphasize, as Americans tend to do well with brief, evocative names on menus...); "Vegtable-Beantype-Meattype-Placename Chili", can tack on "of Tasty Doom" if you so desire...

[Becks]

I know.

Modest, too.

[Jester]

Do you want "chili" or "stew" or something directly describing the type of dish it is?

In that sense, I am not at all particular about the convention I use, as long as the name sounds good. Then again, I might be shooting at the moon, as I doubt I am going to come up with a name as brilliant as "Devil's Ass" any time soon. But I can keep hoping!

el Espanol

I could always call it Chili del Oro, which has meaning for me, but (A) I already have a pasta dish I call Spaghetti del Oro, and (B) even here in this town 90 miles from Cuba, a lot of people would still need the name explained to them. Damn gringos!

(City in Key-west you live in)

Heheheh...um, Key West IS the city I live in. There is no "city in Key West" other than Key West itself.

Modest, too.

I've been accused of being many things, but modest has not often been one of them.

To be fair, I don't bother with false modesty, because I like being upfront and honest, but if I suck at something, I'll be the first to say it. So while I can be humble, modest, not so much.

[Jester]

Some things to consider....

I just got this PM:

I was wondering if I could get the recipe/ingredients for your signature chili?

And if the answer is no it's cool, it just sounded good and I thought I'd ask.

The answer is no, but. And the but is where things get interesting.

I have given out the basics in the thread, but as this person said themselves, it IS my signature chili. Do I think it's the best chili ever? Well, it's the best I've ever made, but despite my occasional arrogance and price, I am not going to have the audacity to say it's the best, period. It's good, sure. But more importantly, it's mine, something I spent literally years working on periodically, and a recipe that has evolved over that time. And for that reason, I will not simply break out the recipe for all to see. Hell, I have not even transcribed my own notes and written up the full recipe for myself yet!

What I will do, however, is make a few suggestions about chili, but I highly encourage this person, and any of the rest of you interested in making chili, to go about doing some personal chili exploration and find what works for you. After all, palates vary. The fact that my roommate found my other chili, the Devil's Ass, to be somewhat spicy, but my friend Little Red thought of it more as the flames of hell itself is but one example of this. The important thing here is that each of us has a different palate, and has different ideas of what makes a good chili. Not everyone who tasted my signature chili was as high on it as myself, the judges or some of the other people in attendance.

There are many decisions you need to make when it comes to cooking chili. One of the most basic, and one that causes a lot of debate, is whether or not to use beans. I used to use beans, but about a year and a half, I decided to eliminate them from my recipe. While I have nothing against beans in chili, and actually rather enjoy them, I just decided to go in a different direction. Unlike many Texans, though, I will not say that beans don't belong in chili. That's for each cook to decide on their own.

One thing to consider about beans is that if you eliminate them, you are going to have to reduce the amount of liquid you use, otherwise your chili will be far too runny. I found this out the hard way--the first time I made chili without beans, I followed my recipe exactly, other than that. And when you take two pounds of beans out of a pot of anything, that pot's contents are just going to be more liquidy. Something to consider. Learn from my mistake. (In my signature chili, I halved the amount of liquid ingredients from the with beans chili to the no beans chili, and that worked out well for me. But you may want your chili thicker or thinner than mine.)

Another thing with beans is, if you use them, what kind should you use? Most people favor kidney beans. I myself am not a great fan of kidney beans, and when I was putting beans in my chili, I went the Mexican route, and used black beans and pink beans. (Anyone who has eaten in Mexico knows that real Mexican refried beans are not that brown dreck you get out of a can, but light, airy, fluffy pink beans, usually sprinkled with some light cotija cheese.) I like both black and pink beans, and they served me well. You may prefer another kind of bean. (My friend Cookie and I used a totally different bean, a white bean, for our white seafood chili.) Also, do you want to use fresh beans and cook them yourself, or canned beans? I used canned beans, as I figured I had enough on my plate. If you do use beans, some of you may want to use fresh beans and cook them yourself. Personally, I found that the canned beans were just fine for me...again, individual opinions will vary on this.

The next most important question is, what kind of meat? I use four different kinds, but I have heard of both more and less. Most chili uses ground beef. I used that in my Devil's Ass Chili, but that was as much for economical reasons as anything else. You see, I was making the Devil's Ass simply to make a hot chili and make a point (which I did), and I didn't want to spend the same amount of money on it as on my signature chili. In my signature chili, though, I used sirloin steak, pork tenderloin, chorizo sausage, and smoked bacon.

And there is of course the question about spice. After all, there are a million ways to spice up your chili. There are dry spices, hot sauces. extracts, herbs, and hot peppers. I myself do not use hot sauces or extracts for spice, but I have nothing against people who do. (The person who took third place in the Traditional category at my recent chili cookoff did use hot sauces in her chili.) There are countless options and combinations you can use. I prefer fresh peppers and dry spices myself, such as serrano peppers, chipotle peppers*, and habanero peppers, in addition to cilantro and various dry spices. (In the Devil's Ass, I used jalapenos, serranos, chipotles, habaneros, AND ghost peppers.)

*(I use chipotles not just for their spice factor, but because I like the smoky flavor they bring, and I like my chili smoky. These peppers, in addition to the adobo sauce they come in--in Key West, you can't find fresh chipotles, so must use the canned ones in adobo sauce--and the bacon and chorizo I use give my chili a smokiness that I like. While I have liquid smoke, I do not use it in my chili.)

Tomatoes are important to red chilis, and I find that canned ones work for me, using a combination of crushed and whole, though for the Devil's Ass I used a combination of crushed and diced. Fresh tomatoes are always an option, but as with beans, I find the canned versions work for me, and as much as I love fresh tomatoes, I don't taste a discernible difference between fresh and canned when used for this kind of dish.

I also use cilantro, garlic, and a couple of milder peppers (red bell and poblano) for balance. Again, individual preferences will vary on this.

And then there is the sweetness angle. Many people, myself included, feel that chili should bring both heat and sweet. Chocolate is a classic chili ingredient that a lot of non-chili cooks aren't aware of. "But I've never tasted chocolate in my chili!" Well, that's the point. If you use the right amount of chocolate, it melts into the chili, imparting a sweetness and a richness, but without making the chili "chocolatey." Be careful with chocolate...it is easy to over-chocolate your chili, which I have been guilty of on at least one occasion.

Other ingredients I have used or have heard of others using, some for sweetness, some for other reasons, are: white sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, cola, other kinds of soda, beer, whiskey, wine, various citrus juices, rum, scotch, vodka, liquid smoke, vinegar, hot sauce, veal, beef stock, chicken stock, turkey, and on and on the list goes. While I am not going to give away all my secrets, it may shock some of you to know that I do not actually use any of my favorite liquor, rum, in my chili.

I hope this gets you thinking, and more importantly, I hope this gets you cooking. Chili can be both lots of fun and very exasperating. It's been both to me. But more than many dishes, it has an amazing flexibility to go in so many different directions.

So...chili anyone?

[shankyknitter]

I'm making chili next sunday since Boyfriend will be in town and it's his birthday. I'm thinking of doing a bacon/beef/elk chili. I've never used Elk before but the farmer's market has it and Elk chili just sounds good.