2015 Chili Cook-Off ~ People’s Choice Award - Texas Style

Authentic Texas-style chili contains no beans and is usually made with diced beef. Some purest use only beef and spices in their chili. We use brisket that has been smoked for 24 hours. Once the brisket has cooled, it is finely diced before being added to the remaining ingredients.

Ingredients:
2 pounds (or 1 kilo) smoked brisket (“Pecho” en español), shredded and trimmed of fat. We smoke the brisket for 12 hours and then finish it in the oven for another 12 hours. (If you don’t have brisket, you could use ground beef, browned and drained, or chuck roast (posta) that has been diced into ¼” cubes. You will need to increase the liquid smoke to 1/3 cup.
1 pound Italian sausage, browned and drained
1 medium onion, diced small
1 – 14.5 cans of diced tomatoes
1 – 6 oz. cans of tomato paste
2 cups of chicken stock
¼ cup liquid smoky broth from the brisket, with all fat dripping removed. Alternately, you can use “Colgin Liquid Smoke” sold in most grocery stores, including AutoMercado in Costa Rica
1 cups of water
½ pint of Pace salsa picante (medium) or 1 can of La Costeña Salsa Mexicana
1 tablespoon of beef stock concentrate 
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon of salt
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoon masa (corn flour) dissolved in ½ cup of water for thickening
2 tablespoons homemade chili powder (more, or less, according to taste)

Directions:
Brown the ground sausage and drain.  Add the meat and sausage to the pot with all the onions, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, chicken stock, beef concentrate, salsa, garlic, oregano, chili powder, salt, pepper, and 1 cup of water. Bring mixture to a steady boil, stirring frequently for at least an hour.  Mix the masa (corn flour) with enough cold water to create a thick batter and add it to the pot.  Simmer for 4 hours, or more.
Top with grated cheddar and diced onions before serving. Corn tortillas or chips go great with a bowl of chili.

Yield ~ 1 gallon

*Homemade Chili Powder
4 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili de árbol powder (Tree chili is a small Mexican Chili with a woody stem that is sometimes called bird’s beak chili.) 
2 whole chipotle chili peppers with stems removed, minced, and ground to a powder (Chipotle chili is a smoked Jalapeño chili pepper used primarily in Mexican and Tex-Mex cooking.)
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons smoked Spanish paprika
2 tablespoons garlic powder
3 tablespoons fresh finely minced oregano
1 tablespoon fresh ground coriander seeds
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground clove
4 tablespoons Hot Chili Powder (Purchased from MySpiceSage.com. Ingredients: Chile Pepper, Salt, Cumin, Oregano, Garlic, Cayenne Pepper, and Crushed Red Pepper)

Chilero or Hot Sauce

I created this recipe during our episode of "social distancing" when we ran out of chilero, or hot sauce. I would call this a cross between the popular Cholula Hot Sauce and Banquete Chilero. It's easy to make and it's a good substitute when you can't get to your grocery store.

Ingredients:

• 1½ cup apple cider vinegar
• 1½ teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper
• 2 cups of V8 juice
• 1 cup of finely diced carrot
• 4 Dried Chipotle chili peppers (seeds and stems removed)
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons of honey
• 1½ tablespoons of cornstarch
• 1½ teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1 teaspoon of salt

Directions:

• Blend the cornstarch in the cup of water.
• Add all of the ingredients to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
• Remove from the heat and using an immersion blender to finely grind the carrots and peppers until they almost disappear in the sauce.
• Return the saucepan to the heat and bring it back up to a boil for another 15 minutes.
• Pour into sterile bottles, allow the bottles to cool and store in the refrigerator.
  

Pimientos - Preserved Smoked Sweet Peppers

The Costa Rica Sweet Peppers are delicious raw or cooked without the bitter after taste of the common Bell Pepper. Whenever I find them in season at a great price I pick up about 3 kilos to make smoked and roasted peppers and preserve them for pimiento cheddar cheese, roasted red pepper dip, in meatloaf or soups, or as a sandwich or salad topping. These peppers are amazing.

Ingredients:

• 8-10 large sweet red peppers
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ cup vinegar (any kind)
• Kosher salt
• 1-pint canning jar

Directions:

• Fire up the smoker with your favorite wood chips; coffee, pecan, apple, cherry, or hickory chips. If you don't have a smoker you can still smoke these with indirect heat on your barbeque grill. Just place the peppers on the grill away from the heat source and place a disposable tin pan filled with wood chips directly over low heat. 
• Wash the pepper and split them in half.
• Smoke them in the smoker for 90 minutes, turning at the halfway point.
• Remove the peppers from the smoker and place them on a cookie cooling rack in a baking sheet.
  
  
  
• Roast the peppers in the over at 400°F until the skins are charred and blackened. It will take about 40-50 minutes, and you should turn them over from time to time so they blacken evenly. 
  
  
  
  
• When the peppers are mostly blackened, place them in a large bowl with a tight-fitting lid, or a paper grocery bag and roll up the bag to seal in the steam. Let the peppers steam in their juices for about 30 minutes and the skins will soften for peeling. 
  
  
  
• When the peppers are cool enough to handle, remove the skins, stems, and seeds, and place them back in the bowl. Don't rinse the peppers in water, but try to remove as many seeds as you can. Save the juice in the bottom of the bowl!
• Pour the vinegar in a shallow baking dish. Dredge each pepper in the vinegar to thoroughly coat each one and place them in another bowl.
• Sprinkle the bowl of peppers with the salt, and very gently mix the peppers with the salt. 
• Pour about a ¼ inch of vinegar and ½ in of olive oil into the bottom of the jar. Pack in the pepper, leaving at least an inch or two at the top of the jar. 
• Use a butter knife to run down the side of the jar to release any air bubbles. Pour in the leftover pepper juice.
• Pour about a ¼ inch of oil on top of the peppers, and screw the lids on.

These peppers will keep at least a year in the refrigerator without traditional canning methods, like a water bath, etc. But, as good as these are, they'll be gone in no time.

Use them in pimiento cheese spread, sandwiches, roasted pepper dips, meatloaf, soups, salads, etc. 

Ghost Pepper Salsa... Smoking Hot!

John has this thing about growing chili peppers that are actually too hot to eat. Last year he was tremendously successful at growing Ghost Peppers. The bushes went dormant during our dry season, but now that is's raining again, the peppers are back with a vengeance. I picked up additional varieties of seeds for him when I was in Texas this past November. John now has lots of young pepper seedlings including Carolina Reapers, Hatch Red Chili, Hatch Green Chili, Big Jim Chili, and a couple of others.

The Ghost Pepper, or bhut jolokia, is a hybrid chili pepper first cultivated in India. In 2007, Guinness World Records certified that the ghost pepper was the world's hottest chili pepper, 400 times hotter than Tabasco sauce. The ghost chili is rated at more than 1 million Scoville heat units. However, the ghost chili was shortly superseded by the Infinity chili in 2011, followed by the Naga Viper, the Trinidad moruga scorpion in 2012, and the Carolina Reaper on August 7, 2013.

Last year, we smoked the batch of Ghost Peppers you see in photo, and then ground them into a fine powder. The powder is actually too hot for most folks to tolerate, including me. I finally came up with a salsa recipe for the peppers that is actually quite tasty.

It is not for the feint of heart! I dare you to try this!

Ingredients:
Step 1: Prepare the following ingredients listed and add them to a large sauce pan:
1 cup shredded carrot
1 cup diced ripe mango
1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes
1/2 large onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup raw sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon turmeric

Step 2: Open all the windows and turn on the fans, or you will be overcome by the peppers.

Step 3: Put on a pair of gloves to protect your skin from the peppers.

Step 4: Quickly process the peppers!
6 Ghost Peppers (bhut jolokia), cut in half with stems and seeds removed (use fewer peppers if you can't take the heat)

Step 5: Quickly toss the peppers into the sauce pan and cover it.

Directions:
Once all the ingredients are in the saucepan, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and allow to simmer about 20-30 minutes to soften. Transfer contents to a food processor/blender and process until smooth. You may need to do this in batches because the hot liquid will expand in the food processor. Transfer to a container. Seal and allow to cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until ready to use.

NOTE: The flavors will grow more intense the longer you wait.

Cream of Green Chili Soup

Ingredients:
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1 lb.(2 medium) baking potatoes, peeled and chunked
1/3 cup whipping cream
2 cups chopped onions
2 cups grated Monterey Jack, or mozzarelle cheese, or combination of both
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 bay leaves
6 long green chiles (1 cup or canned chopped green chiles can be substituted)
3 1/2 cups chicken broth homemade or canned

Directions:
In a 4 qt. saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Add the onions, garlic, oregano and bay leaves and cook, covered stirring once or twice, for 10 minutes. Stir in the chicken broth, potatoes, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, partially covered, stirring twice, until the potatoes are very tender, about 25 minutes. Cool soup slightly, discard bay leaves, and puree in food processor. (This is really messy, but careful not to do too much at a time). Return soup to pan, stir in green chiles and set over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook, uncovered, stirring frequently until the soup has thickened, about 15 minutes (Don't worry that it is not really thick). Stir in the cream and adjust seasoning if desired. (This can all be done up to 3 days ahead and rewarmed over low heat, stirring frequently.) Ladle soup into bowls, sprinkle with cheese (and crumbled tortilla chips if desired).

Originally posted 2/17/08

White Chili

Ingredients:
2 1/2 c water
1 tsp lemon papper
1 tsp cumin seed
3-16 oz cans Great Northern white beans, undrained
4 skinless chicken breast halves
1 tsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 med. onions, chopped
18 oz frozen white corn
2 4-ounce cans chopped mild green chilies
2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsps dried oregano
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
6 cups chicken stock or canned broth
2/3 c shredded jack cheese

Directions:
Boil chicken in water with lemon pepper & cumin seed. Simmer approx. 20 mins. Remove chicken and cut into bite size. Heat oil and saute onions & minced garlic in oil. Stir in chilies, cumin, oregano & cayenne and saute 2 mins. Add undrained beans, white corn, broth and chicken and bring to a boil. (Optional: to serve, put 1 T cheese in bottom of bowl and pour chili over.) Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bon appetite!

Originally posted 1/11/08