guajillo

Deep Chili

/ Ren

Nobody knows for sure exactly when and where chili con carne was first made, but we can generally agree that the original recipes read something like this..

“Cut up as much meat as you think you will need (any kind will do, but beef is probably best) in pieces about the size of a pecan. Put it in a pot, along with some suet (enough so as the meat won’t stick to the sides of the pot), and cook it with about the same amount of wild onions, garlic, oregano, and chiles as you have got meat. Put in some salt. Stir it from time to time and cook it until the meat is as tender as you think it’s going to get.”  –Texas, early 1800s

With deep, dark beef and chile flavors, this is an intensely flavored dish.

Deep Chili

Deep Chili

Smoke onions, garlic, jalapeños and a plum tomato over mesquite for 30 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, roast a variety of chiles such as Guajillo, ancho, arbol and New Mexico in a slow oven for an hour.

Pull the stems from the peppers and shake out the seeds.  Transfer to a food processor and chop into a fine powder.  Add the roasted onion, garlic, jalapeños and a tablespoon of cider vinegar and blend into a paste.

Brown a couple of pieces of pork belly in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat.  Add small chunks of grass-fed beef chuck or bison and sear until seriously browned.

Add 1/2 cup of the chili paste and just enough water to cover the meat.

Add toasted cumin seed, Mexican oregano, a little sea salt, a few shards of true cinnamon and 3-4 whole cloves.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 1 1/2 hours, adding the chopped, smoked tomato during the last half hour.

Add 1 ounce of Mexican chocolate and stir until melted.  Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if necessary.

Serve with beans, cornbread or tortillas on the side if you like.


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White Chicken Chili

/ Ren

Say, isn’t that a lot of peppers? you might ask.  Yes, I’d say.  Yes, it is.  But this is about flavor, you see, not about sending a heat-seeking missile into your nasal cavity.  We’ll do that some other day.  I promise.

Adapted from a recipe by Cooks Illustrated

Onion, cilantro, chicken broth, chicken, white beans, scallions, garlic, cumin seed, corriander, Mexican oregano, guajillo (medium), jalapeno (medium), chile de arbol (hot) and ancho (mild) peppers.

Brown the chicken (in a little olive oil) in a Dutch oven. Set aside.

Soak the dried chilies in hot water, prep the vegetables.

Toast the cumin and corriander in a dry skillet then coarsley grind.

Mince the rehydrated chilies.

Sauté the onions, peppers, garlic, oregano, cumin and corriander.  Add diced chicken and cook another 5 minutes, stirring often.

Add the beans and broth. Reduce heat and simmer until liquid is reduced by half, about 30 minutes.  Adjust seasoning.

Serve garnished with scallions and cilantro.

Rating  ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Pozole Roja with Cornsticks

/ Ren

Pozole Roja is a traditional pre-Colombian stew, adopted as the local cuisine of Guerrero, Mexico. In the US state of New Mexico, pozole (from Spanish pozole, from Nahuatl potzolli) is traditionally served on Christmas Eve to celebrate life’s blessings.

While it looks a little complicated, it really isn’t hard.  As long as you have “mise en place” (everything in place) before starting, you’ll get through this fine, and be justly rewarded in the end.

Pork shoulder, dried ancho and guajillo chiles, garlic, achiote seeds, dark chocolate with chipotle, cinnamon and cocoa nibs, crema (think of Mexican crème fraîche), fresh cilantro, fresh mint, key limes, Spanish onion, Mexican oregano, olive oil, peppercorns and nixtamal (white corn/hominy).

Start by toasting the achiote seeds in a hot, dry skillet until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add good olive oil and infuse over low heat for about 20 minutes. Strain the resulting annatto oil through a coffee filter placed inside a funnel.  Stored in a cool, dark place, annatto oil will keep indefinitely.

Trim the excess fat from the pork, but leave a little intact. In a Dutch oven, sear the pork in a little of the annatto oil.  Add onions, garlic and oregano and cook another 5 minutes.

Add water (or stock, if you prefer) to cover, cilantro and mint (I’ve stuffed the herbs into a cheesecloth bag for easy removal) and S&P. Simmer until pork is fork-tender, about 2 hours.

Split the chilies and remove the stems and seeds. Place on a flat skillet and weight for about 20 seconds. Flip and repeat.

Transfer the toasted chilies to a bowl, cover with boiling water and let stand until soft, about 1/2 hour.

Gather up the ingredients for cornbread.  Coarse-ground yellow cornmeal, all-purpose flour, milk, baking powder, butter, egg, chiles and salt.

Lightly toast the cornmeal on a dry skillet to bring out the flavor, then add it to the bowl with the other ingredients (I’ve added a little shredded cheddar cheese). Mix until just combined, about 1 minute.  Do not over mix.

Blend the re-hydrated chiles with 1/2 of its soaking water until smooth. Transfer to pan and cook until thickened, about 10 minutes. Add the hominy and simmer another 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour the cornbread mix into a pre-heated iron cornstick pan (or muffin tins or 8×8 glass baking dish) and bake at 450 degrees until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

Serve in a bowl garnished with crema, chopped mint and cilantro, and shaved chocolate.