Fuck the tedious SPAG debate - that's Spelling Punctuation And Grammar, not spaghetti - let's talk food.
I really approve of the multiple types of meat in your recipe. I recently have (on the recommendation of an Italian) started using half beef and half pork mince if I have chance when making a meat sauce for spaghetti, lasagne or pasta bake, and I was surprised how much nicer it actually has come out. Especially in my "bol" - and I use speech marks, because anyone from Bologna would string me up for suggesting it was authentic. I'm sure they've never even heard of Worcestershire, much less its sauce.
But I do have to ask :
1 pkg Carrol Shelby's chili mix
3 cans Brook's hot chili beans
2 cans Brook's mild chili beans
1 bottle of Yucatan Sunshine habanero pepper sauce (like Tabasco, but hotter,and more flavorful.)
TO TASTE I add the following...
chili powder, red pepper, black pepper, paprika, Ancho chili pepper. salt
So on top of the two varieties of actual chili pepper you've used
clap
, you've got two lots of beans that have been chili flavoured to varying degrees, two types of chilli powder,
and whatever's in the chili mix.... AND some sauce out of a bottle.....
AND THEN you need to throw more seasoning in?
I've got nothing against using a pre-prepared mix or sauce because often it's impossible to recreate the subtleties of a particular flavour organically with what you have in the spicerack, but this really strikes me as over-egging the pudding a bit. I'd be surprised if you've not got some superfluous ingredients there that aren't adding any flavours that aren't already provided somewhere else, at worst you might actually be losing something by heaping lots of extra flavours in there. I can't tell you how many meals I ruined in my youth by throwing about ten different flavours into a pan and coming out tasting three of them, maximum. Makes me think of those sandwiches I see weirdos ordering in Subway with 4 sauces on, and I just think "you're going to end up not really tasting any of those, you're just going to have a jumbled confused mess of a mouthful."
Don't get me wrong, I bet after the hours of simmering you're left with something that tastes pretty wonderful, I just think there's a chance you're using a surplus of different ingredients and could probably achieve the same taste with fewer, thus reducing the cost to make.
I do a pretty simple one. Please don't laugh at my lack of precise measurements, I cook by feel, and these days I never fail to make something taste exactly as I want it and in enough quantity to feed the household (currently 3 adults and an occasional 17 year old that eats less than the average sparrow). The meat quantity especially varies as I don't know whether we'll be using packs or bags of mince, or what size packs - probably depends what was cheapest. I never bother looking at weights, I just look at/handle the meat (oo-er) and think "yeah, that's enough" by envisaging it in my pressure cooker.
BULKY INGREDIENTS
EITHER one large pack/two small packs beef mince OR one bag beef & one bag pork mince
2 onions
2-3 chili peppers from the freezer (either green or red, depends what flavour I want)
3-4 cloves of garlic depending on size
2 tins chopped tomatoes
1 tin kidney beans
1 tin baked beans
1 red pepper/"capsicum" (sometimes)
FLAVOURS
tomato purée (to intensify tomato taste)
tomato ketchup (for sweetening and extra tomato taste as an alternative to adding plain sugar)
mixed herbs (over here mixed herbs is usually equal parts oregano, thyme and basil)
ground paprika (as much for colour as for taste)
ground cumin (OPTIONAL if I want it to taste more Mexican)
HP barbecue sauce (OPTIONAL, not with cumin, only if I want that smoky taste I am unable to replicate through other means)
Worcestershire sauce (NOT optional)
2 x bay leaves
chili powder (OPTIONAL, see method)
METHOD
1. Brown the mince dry in my pressure cooker stirring occasionally on a medium heat. Why meat is browning, chop onions, chilis, garlic and if used, red pepper. Drain off all the fat that has come out of the mince, pour it into a bowl and when it's set solid, let the cat lick it. Add chopped ingredients to pan and continue to cook on medium heat until onions are golden.
2. Add chopped tomatoes and whack the heat up quite high to ensure the tomatoes get fully cooked. I cannot stand the squishy feel of undercooked tomato. At this point it's probably safe to leave the room and watch the day's Pointless final. I got it the other day, it was Bon Jovi singles that cracked the top 40.
3. Once the chili looks thick and most of the liquid has evaporated off, wash the kidney beans to get rid of that nasty brine/bean juice and add them to the pan along with the baked beans along with the flavours in no particular order. Measurements would be "a swirl of X" and "a shake of Y" nothing more complicated than that. Depending how long I have to cook it, maybe a touch of boiled water so it doesnt start to burn after an hour or so. Sometimes a beef OXO (stock cube) if I want a meatier taste gets crumbled in here. Turn it up to boiling then when the pan is bubbling knock it down to simmer.
4. Go watch Eggheads. Argue with mother about if we might have pasta with it. Taste it when it's really thick. If the chili peppers used haven't quite provided the potency required, stir in some chili powder or cayenne. Leave for another 5 minutes. Taste again, repeat until happy. Serve with fluffy boiled white rice. Forget to remove bay leaves from pan, get shouted at.
YEAH. Pretty simply shit. I'd be lying if I said that's how I
always make it... but it's pretty much identical.
Oh, I lied about not mentioning language - as you read the recipe, I can hear many of you mispronouncing "basil" and "oregano" in your heads, the way I've heard Monica on FRIENDS pronounce them, and I want you to stop. Cheers.
EDIT - shit, I forgot freshly ground black pepper and sea salt, I'm sure they go in once the mince is browned too.
