Chili Champ No More

I only managed to place 2^nd in the 3^rd annual Capricorn Chili Cookoff last night. Thanks to Terri and Patrick for hosting and everyone who showed up to compete and judge. As always it was a lot of fun.

Up Front Chili

2010 Capricorn Chili Cookoff runner-up
(c) 2010 Bryan Davis some rights reserved

• 3lbs Beef chuck/shoulder cut in 1/2" cubes
• 1.5lbs Beef brisket (trimmed)
• kosher salt

• 4 red bell peppers (seeded, cored and halved)
• 6 Anaheim peppers (seeded, cored and halved)
• Kosher salt
• Fresh cracked black pepper
• Vegetable or peanut oil

• 3T Chili powder (preferably homemade)
• 1t Cumin
• 1t Coriander
• 1.5t Garlic powder

• 3 Sweet onions
• 10oz Mexican chorizo (beef or pork)

• 12oz Beer (light ale or good quality lager)
• 56oz Whole peeled tomatoes (drained)
• 4oz Tomato paste
• 3T Dark brown sugar
• 3 Bay leaves
• 10 Sprigs fresh thyme

• 2oz Baker's chocolate (100% coco)
• Beef stock

Salt meat liberally and let set at room temperature for a half and hour or so to draw out juices.

Heat oven to 350°. Place red and anaheim peppers cut side down on a foil lined baking sheet. Drizzle with oil and salt lightly. Roast peppers in oven for 20-30 minutes until softened. Remove from oven and puree in food processor.

Toast chili powder and other spices in a small dry pan to activate oils and bring out flavors.

Blot meat with a paper towel to remove excess moisture that the salt has drawn out.

Coat one side of brisket with half of pureed peppers. Roll and tie with kitchen twine. Season outside with salt and pepper. Bake in 350° oven for 1 hour on foil lined baking sheet. Remove from oven, wrap in foil and return to 300° oven for another 1 to 2 hours. Remove from oven and let rest in foil until called for later.

Season chuck with fresh cracked black pepper and 1T toasted spice mixture. Heat enough oil for sauteing in large cast iron casserole or dutch oven until shimmering. Brown meat on all sides in batches removing browned meat to a bowl to be used later.

Puree onions in food processor until coarse paste. Drain oil from casserole and render chorizo. Add onion and remaining peppers to pan. Season with salt, black pepper and 1T spice mixture. Brown until they are very dark and a crud has formed on the bottom of the pan, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Scrape the crud and let it reform. Brown and scrape for a third time.

Add tomato paste, brown sugar, beer and browned chuck. Hand crush half of the tomatoes into the pot. Add thyme and bay leaves tied in cheese cloth for easy removal. Simmer for 2 hours.

Chop chocolate and add to chili. Crush remaining tomatoes into pot. Cube cooled brisket and fold into mixture. Adjust to taste with remaining spice mixture and salt and use beef stock to adjust consistency. Simmer for another 30 minutes to blend all flavors.

Serve with Queso Fresco, tortillas and cold beer to a large gathering of hungry friends.

Chili Reign Continues

The second annual Capricorn Chili Cookoff was last night. I managed to win 1^st place again this year, but it was much closer than last time. The 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place winners were only separated by 4 votes. Thanks to everyone who voted for me and congratulations to all who participated.

Pork Rock Chili

2009 Capricorn Chili Cookoff winner
(c) 2009 Bryan Davis some rights reserved

• 4lbs Pork shoulder/butt cut into bite-size cubes
• Kosher salt
• Fresh ground black pepper
• Vegetable or peanut oil

• 2T Chili powder (preferably homemade)
• 1T Chili flake (preferably homemade)
• 1t Cumin
• 1t Coriander
• 1t Paprika
• 1.5t Garlic powder
• 1t Onion powder

• 4 Anaheim peppers, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 Poblano peppers, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 large Sweet onions, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 Carrot, peeled, cut in 1/2 lengthwise, then cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 Celery ribs, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

• 12oz Beer (light ale or good quality lager)
• 56oz Crushed tomatoes
• 3 Chipotle peppers in adobo, chopped
• 2T Honey
• 1.5T Dark brown sugar

• 1 bunch Cilantro
• 45oz Cannellini beans (optional)

Salt the pork liberally and let set at room temperature for a half and hour or so.

Toast chili powder, chili flake and other spices in a small dry pan to activate oils and bring out flavors.

Blot pork with a paper towel to remove excess moisture that the salt has drawn out. Season with fresh pepper and 1T toasted spice mixture. Brown 1/4 of pork with 1T oil in large cast iron casserole or dutch oven over high heat. Remove browned meat to a bowl and repeat.

Rough chop peppers, onion, carrot and celery. Puree all the vegetables in a food processor until it forms a coarse paste. Coat the bottom of same pan with fresh oil and add the pureed vegetables. Season the vegetables generously with salt and 1T spice mixture and brown until they are very dark and a crud has formed on the bottom of the pan, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Scrape the crud and let it reform. Add the beer and half of the tomatoes and scrape the bottom of the pan. Lower the heat if things start to burn. Reduce the mixture by half.

Add chipotle, honey, brown sugar, 1T of spices and your pork to the pan. Simmer for 2 hours.

Pick the leaves from the cilantro and reserve. Chop the stems finely and add to pan along with remaining tomatoes. Taste mixture and add salt and spice mixture as desired. Simmer for another hour until pork is tender but not falling apart. If you want beans in your chili, add at this point as well.

Just before serving, chop the cilantro leaves finely and add 2T to the chili. Serve with grated monterey jack cheese, chopped cilantro, sour cream and your favorite corn bread to 8 to 10 of your hungry family and friends.

A Major Award

My wife and some of her friends put together a chili cookoff/chili feed party last night. The idea came from a conversation with Laura and Ben over a batch of tasty but too hot to eat comfortably chili I made a month or so ago. Five of us have January birthdays, so we decided that a chili cookoff would be a fun way to get together and celebrate.

The turnout for the party was great. There were 11 batches of chili up for judging submitted by nine cooks. The judging was a head-to-head taste test with everyone at the party voting for their top three picks. A first place vote was worth 5 points, second favorite got 3 and third got 1 point. The entries varied from cookbook recipes to custom creations. There were ground beef, beef, pork and chicken entries. Since these were eating chilis rather than professional competition recipes, every entry contained beans or rice. If I had it to do over, I think I'd leave the beans out of one of my submissions.

I made two batches of chili to enter in the contest, one was a Texas style red chili and the other was a chili verde. The green chili won the contest by a landslide. I think this was a combination of the uniqueness of the recipe among the other entries, which were all some red chili variation, and my secret weapon: a cilantro lime crema topping.

Several people asked for the recipe, so I'm going to try an record what I did to make the winning entry. I used the pinch of this and dash of that method to put it together, but I think I can still remember all of the key ingredients. If you're interested, use the instructions below and lots of tasting and tweaking to put together a batch for yourself.

Turkey Chili Verde with Cilantro Lime Crema

2008 Capricorn Chili Cookoff winner
(c) 2008 Bryan Davis some rights reserved

• 4c Chopped Sweet Onion (2 big onions)
• 2T Vegetable or peanut oil
• 1t Kosher salt
• 1t Ground coriander seed
• 1t Ground cumin
• 1t Ground thyme
• 1t Garlic powder
• 1T Chili powder (homemade is best)
• 2t Crushed chili flake (green if you can find it)
• Fresh ground black pepper

• 1 - 1 1/2lbs Dark turkey meat (I used legs, see notes below)
• 2t Kosher salt
• 4T All-purpose flour
• 1t Ground coriander seed
• 1t Ground cumin
• 1t Ground thyme
• 2t Garlic powder
• 1T Chili powder (homemade is best)
• 2t Crushed chili flake (green if you can find it)
• Fresh ground black pepper
• 2T Vegetable or peanut oil

• 2 cans Whole tomatillos (or 10-12 fresh tomatillos if you can find them)
• 2 cans mild green chilis
• 1T Brown sugar
• Vegetable or poultry stock

• Small bunch of cilantro
• 1 Lime
• 1c Sour cream, plain yogurt or crème fraîche

• 2 cans white beans

Saute onions in oil in a heavy sauce pan with salt, coriander, cumin, thyme, garlic powder, chili powder, crushed chili flake and a few cracks of fresh ground pepper. Cook onions until they start to take some color and about half the water has cooked out of them. Dump the cooked onions into a crockpot to wait for the rest of the goodies.

Chop turkey into bite size pieces. I used turkey legs because I wanted a lot of connective tissue for the deliciousness that a long stewing can give. If you use legs, be prepared for a lot of knife work. You need to bone out the leg to get the meat. A turkey leg has 7 or 8 large tendons that will need to be removed and several tough layers of connective tissue. I think you could substitute turkey thighs or chicken thighs instead if you want to save some time. Don't use white meat though because it won't survive the stewing process; you'll just end up with a bunch of turkey dust in your chili. Once the turkey is chopped, salt liberally.

Mix the second batch of spices and the flour and toss with the turkey to coat. Add some oil to the same sauce pan you cooked the onions in and cook the turkey in batches until lightly browned (4 or 5 minutes). Cook in batches so you get frying and browning instead of stewing or steaming of the meat. Dump each cooked batch in the crockpot with the onions.

Dice the tomatillos and add to the crockpot. Add the cans of chilis and the brown sugar as well. Give the pot a good stir and add some stock if it doesn't look moist enough. The onions still have a lot of water in them that will cook out as everything stews in the crockpot, so don't go too crazy. The contents should look moist, but not be standing in liquid.

Turn on the crockpot, put on the lid and take a break. Very the temperature of the pot depending on how long you have to cook it. Leave it on low if your going to let it stew all day. If you want to eat in a couple of hours, turn it up higher. The slower and longer you leave it to cook the better the turkey will taste.

When you've caught up on your tv watching, make the crema. Pick the leaves off of the cilantro stems and finely chop them. Don't throw away the stems because we're going to use them in a minute. Add the cilantro to the sour cream in a small bowl. Zest the lime and add that as well. Finally juice the lime and add that to the sour cream mixture. Stir well and season with kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste. When I make it, it comes out looking like a loose spinach dip.

Very finely chop the cilantro stems you reserved during the crema step. Add these to the slow cooker about an hour before you want to serve the chili. Rise, drain and add the beans at this point too if you're using them.

Taste your chili at this point and add any of the seasonings to balance the flavor. The hardest part for me is putting in enough salt. Tune the spices in small increments, because you can go from bland to overwhelming really quickly, especially with the chili powder and flake.