chili

(i created a "chili" label for all of my chili recipe testings)

Yesterday's recipe:

1/2 lb spicy pork sausage 

1/2 lb steak, cubed

1 red pepper

2 red onions

6 garlic cloves

few pinches of cumin

handful of ancho chili powder

1 bottle of beer

1/2 can red beans

1 can of black beans

2 habernero peppers (from my garden), whole

1 16 oz can of fire-roasted diced tomatos 

2 tablespoons brown sugar

12 oz chicken stock

Thoughts:

I like the recipe. Nice heat, putting the habernero's in whole seems to give it good heat without over powering. And I don't have to chop them up, which my contact lenses appreciate later in the evening. 

I think I want to try and chop the meat a little smaller, such that the meet chunks are about the same size as the red beans, maybe slightly larger, but not much. I think this would give the chili a nice consistent look/feel. 

As always, I add the black bean immediately before serving. This provide the Chili with good texture. Overall, the cooking time for this chili was good, about 2 hours. I judge the best time to cook the chili by the doneness of the meat. Too much cooking, and the meat has nothing left; not enough, the meat is still not tender enough. 

I don't like the look of the red pepper. I'll go back to using a green one next time. 

chili log...update

How did I like the chili? (See previous post below). It was....below average. I like heat in my chili, but in this recipe I didn't like the chipotle peppers - the smoky flavor over-dominated. I also didn't like the tortilla chips. They were used as a thickener, but I feel they added too much salt. I prefer tomato paste as a thickener.

What I learned for next time: no tortilla chips, no chipotle peppers. If smoky undertunes is what you're after, use a couple dashes of smoky tabasco sauce.