Originally Posted by frozenchief
(Post 13333017)
I don't have "a" chili. How I cook really depends on my mood and what I have. Being from Alaska, I frequently use game* for chili. I have a fair amount of sheep in my freezer right now and I expect next time I make chili I will dice the meat and season it with salt and various peppers - chipotle, ancho, guajillo and maybe more - then sous vide the meat until finished and tender.
Make the base with tomatoes (combination of fire-roasted diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and a bit of tomato paste), onions and probably some smoked poblano that has been pureed with a bit of chicken stock. I start out by browning my onions (sometimes I add jalapeņos to the onions. One of these times I'll dice some mushrooms) then add dried seasonings as the mood hits and then my garlic. Usually anchovy paste, too. Anchovy paste is a great source of umami. You won't taste the anchovy paste but you will definitely notice a deeper, richer flavor.
I then de-glaze the pan but what I use depends on my mood/time of year. Might be beer or tequila in the summer or wine/dark beer in the winter (Alaskan Brewing Company Smoked Porter adds a great smoky flavor without having to smoke the meat itself but its only available in the winter**). Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste to the de-glazed vegetables. Brown the meat after the sous vide and combine meat, juices and tomato base. Serve with bacon cornbread.
I sometimes add beans. If I do, it varies between black and pinto. Sometimes I add diced hatch chilis if I can get them.
So I use a basic structure of tomatoes constructed just like a sauce - brown vegetables, add aromatics/seasonings, then de-glaze the pan with whatever I'm going to use and then add the tomatoes. Browned meat is frequently cooked separately and then added to the base. If going with a green chili you can use the same methods but use tomatillos instead of tomatoes. De-glaze with chicken stock or a lighter beer and use pork or black bear for meat. Use more green chilis and not dried. But the process is quite similar.
This thread has gotten me to thinking and I will likely make some chili in the not distant future. I'm thinking smoked porter/chipotle/sheep chili with some porcini mushrooms. I'll report back on how it goes.
* moose, caribou or sheep so far. experience says to NOT use marine mammals such as seal or walrus or whale (although beluga was decent) but I would use porcupine or beaver (no beaver jokes, please) if either I harvested them or if I trusted the person who did. Beavers have a castor gland in their hind legs that they use to rub on logs to mark their territory. It is really helpful if you want to use it to trap beaver because the scent lures in other beavers to see who is invading their territory. But it smells terrible and if the person harvesting the meat isn't careful to avoid contaminating the meat, it will make the meat inedible. Also have to be careful with caribou. Rutting caribou is just not edible so don't eat bull caribou taken between September and November. Bear? Early black bear can be decent. Just out of the den and before fish are prevalent, black bear eat a lot of vegetation and berries. Once fish get into the river, though, bears start eating them and meat is bad. Brown bears are walking garbage dumps. Meat is terrible and if it is kept it is given to dogs. Never eaten brown bear and have eaten some spring black bear. It's a lot like pork.
** an excellent beer. If you get the chance, you should definitely grab a bottle. They come out around Christmas and are labeled by year made. Because of the smoke, they actually age well but mine never seem to stick around. Alaska Brewing Company is generally an excellent brewery and their products are available throughout the West. Don't know if they're in KC area or not.
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