Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Tons of Chili

A couple of weeks ago there was a chili cook-off at my work place to help fundraiser for United Way. We were initially supposed to make 2 quarts of chili, then another email said 4 quarts.  I didn't follow a recipe, nor did I measure the ingredients that I put in.  I ended up making probably a couple of gallons of the stuff...the most chili I've made in my life. 
Here's a picture of the two chilis Mike and I made. My chili is on the right; his is on the left. I call his "man chili" because we threw in a lot of strong coffee, beer, and cocoa powder to it and it had a deep, brown(?), rounded flavor to it.  His meat to bean ratio was higher than my chili because I like a lot of beans in chili. Mike took his chili to work to share with co-workers. 
My chili had more of that typical canned chili flavor that I thought most people would like. I didn't win the competition, but I thought that my final chili came out pretty good, considering this is probably the fourth time I've made chili in my life.
Look at all the cans of tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and beans we used!

Here's a list of the ingredients that ended up in  my "no recipe chili." Ground beef, ground pork, chorizo, kidney beans, chili beans, pinto beans, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, chili powder, chili flakes, cumin, soy sauce (for the umami flavor), brown sugar, salt, pepper, jalapenos, bell pepper, garlic, onions, beer, coffee, cocoa powder, italian seasoning. I'm sure we put other ingredients in the chili but I forgot what else was thrown in there. 

3 comments:

K and S said...

that is a LOT! sounds delicious even if you don't use a recipe :)

suraya said...

i never use a recipe for chili. i find it best to make on a whim and use what i have so it's always different and fresh. my chili tends to be high in black beans and a variety of colors of bell peppers.

genkitummy said...

Thanks Kat!
Suraya-See, that's my philosophy on chili too. Plus then you have to measure things. I rather just throw random stuff into my chili. Mmm...black beans in chili sounds delicious!