Recipe#5508

Title: Con Carne 03

From: MODOM@nospam.BOISDARC.TAMU-COMMERCE.EDU (MICHAEL
 ODOM) 
 Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking 
 Subject: Chilli con Carne 
 Date: Fri, 07 Mar 1997 17:35:19 GMT 
 Message-ID: <33204735.8711371@NEWS.TAMU-COMMERCE.EDU> 

Here's our family recipe for Texas red chile, which originated (so my
 wife says) with Dallas County Sherrif Bill Decker.  I assume you can
 convert the US measurements to metric-- 1 kilo= 2.2lbs and such.
 3 lbs chili meat (this is coarse ground beef and pork in a 50-50 mix)
 1 qt of water
 8 dry chile pods, rinsed and crushed (red New Mexico, ancho, pasilla,
 cascabel, etc.) 
 ---OR---
 6 Tblsp chili powder ( a blend of ground chiles, oregano, cumin, etc.)
 3 tsp salt'
 2 tsp cominos (cumin)
 1 tsp ground red pepper (cayenne)
 1 Tblsp sugar
 1/4 cup olive oil
 10 cloves of garlic
 1 tsp oregano
 1/2 tsp black pepper
 3 Tblsp paprika
 8 Tblsp masa harina (corn meal will do in a pinch)
 Sear the meat in hot oil, stir until gray, not brown.  Add water and
 cook covered for 1 1/2 hours.  Then add all ingredients except masa
 and cook another 30 minutes (bubbling simmer).  Mix the thickening
 with enough cold water to make a thick liquid and add it to to the
 chili, stiring to prevent the thickener from lumping.  Cook another
 five minutes to see if you need more water, stirring to prevent
 sticking.
 Notes:  
 1. If you first toast the dried chiles a few seconds in a warm oven,
 they get a better flavor.  But don't burn them or they'll get bitter
 and useless.
 2. It's a good idea to drain some of the fat that renders from the
 meat before adding the water.  This recipe dates from the time before
 we worried much about fat in our diets.
 3. After using this recipe for years, we never follow it anymore.  For
 example, I put the chiles in with the water at first--what the
 heck?--to let them flavor the meat more thoroughly.  And I leave out
 the sugar all together.  It's another bit from the past.  The basic
 idea is to use this as a starting point and to make it yours.  So you
 might try putting a chipotle into the mix, or venison instead of beef.
 But please, no beans or tomatoes, just chiles and meat.
 4. If you use prepared chili powder and not dried chiles, check the
 label to see if there is salt in the blend and adjust your salt as
 needed.
 5. As I get older, my taste for heat increases, so I usually put in
 more chiles than this recipe calls for.
 6. This recipe makes very good leftovers.  The next day it tastes much
 better than at first.  So you might make it a day ahead and reheat it
 (with a little water to thin it back down if necessary) the day of the
 race.
 M.Odom