Yanqui Mike's Chili

This blog has a couple of resolutions for the new year; one of them being to try a couple of things that I've never done in these pages.  Toward that, I'll offer here the first recipe ever: Yanqui Mike's Chili.

How appropriate, really.  We've never shrunk from controversy ...and offering a chili recipe is the culinary equivalent of trying to tell someone how to mix a martini: you'd better get ready to duck!

Maybe barbecue is more controversial ...maybe not!

Fist fights have broken out over even how to spell the word: chile, chili, chilli, CHILLY, for crissakes.  Then there's the bean thing:  beans in it, beans on the side, no beans.

The Shank loves to stick his neck out and has never before offered a recipe ...so, not being a martini drinker ...why not chili?  To spice things up even further, I promise to publish each and every comment, no matter how inane, glib, smug, or stupid and insulting.  I'm hoping to get lots of intelligent comments from cooks and chile lovers alike.  We'll see!

So lemme tell you a little bit about my chili:

The influences of this chili are wide. 

It is adapted from an old New Orleans recipe, hence the bay, cloves and worcestershire, although I have never served it over rice nor with the copious beef a la original.  This is not "Cincinnati" chili, the cloves contribute very, very discreetly ...there is no cinnamon.

A nod to the Mexican roots of this dish is found in the spices.  In Chicago, it was fairly easy to obtain freshly dried Mexican oregano and epazote so those became my source of the herbal component all good chile must have.  I substitute them with regular dried oregano and a small bit of some other ground aromatic herb such as rosemary and thyme just to lend a little complexity to the ordinary oregano.

As this recipe slowly evolved in my head and my kitchen, I began to wonder about all the "secret ingredients" you hear about of the champions of many regional chile cook-offs in North America.  A little research showed me that the two most common "secrets" were coffee and chocolate.  If those don't scare you off completely from preparing my chili, do yourself a big favor, don't let anyone know that you are adding them.

Chocolate and coffee are essential.  Most chile is too "bright" and acid; it becomes boring.  Good chile of any recipe always has a "darker" cast or a "base-note", if you will.  That can be achieved in other ways but these two "secret ingredients" will bring it to you immediately.  They are also a nod to Mexican mole.

The role of hot pepper can not be overstated.  My use of the best cayenne probably comes from the New Orleans original and because it is easy to understand and control.  If you are an aficionado of another capiscum (and know how to keep a handle on it) any good hot chile pepper can be substituted.

Chile without garlic will not work, no matter what recipe you choose to follow.  Use lots of it, more than you think is wise.  If the other flavors are there it will blend seamlessly and provide a great "middle-range" between the "base notes" and the sparkling "highs" of the tomato and the chile peppers.

Most crucial of all is the cumin.  No chile recipe, bad or good, omits this spice.  No doubt you have many doubts regarding the tremendous amount of cumin that I use in this recipe.  If you like, you can add my prescribed quantity of cumin slowly, adjusting it upward as you simmer.  Don't be surprised if you eventually add all that I recommend.

The result will be a chili that is quite thick and rich and satisfying.  Most people don't notice that there is no meat.  It will have aspects of mole sauce and, upon refection, can be described as something of a New World curry in its powerful and dense spiciness that curves gracefully from darkness to sunlight, from base to treble.  When successful, its spices are greater than the sum of their parts.

Yanqui Mike's Chili:

This is my chili; I spell that with an "i" because it can not claim any authenticity.  Further, it is vegetarian although it is a wonderful compliment to meat and can accept meat wonderfully.  It contains beans, anathema to some, however I claim that IF authentic chile does not contain beans... authentic chile MUST be served with beans on the side.  Your call.

I'm using an "essen" 2.5 liter heavy pot with lid.

1 part space
4 parts chile
It's good if you look at your pot in this way.  If you don't, you're liable to make so much that you overflow it.  Of course, the "tablespoon" measured ingredients will have to be adjusted for a larger or small cauldron.

Of the 4 parts chile:

1 part chopped onion
1/2 part thickly sliced green and red pepper mixture
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons of dried Mexican oregano
1 tablespoon of dried Epazote
More finely minced garlic than you think possible
(sweat together until reduced to 1 part)

3 cups strong stale black coffee
1 or 2 ounce dark chocolate
dash of worcestershire
4 tablespoons unsweetened chocolate or cocoa
(add to mixture and simmer)

10 cloves of clove
5 bay leaves
cayenne to taste
5 tablespoons cumin
2 cans tomatoes or their cooked fresh equivalent
2 tablespoons triple tomato extract
cooked beans to taste (or not!)
(simmer slowly 1 hour, stirring gently occasionally, don't break the bay leaves.  Poking the cloves into the bay leaves will help in their retrieval after the 1 hour simmer.)

Remove the bay and cloves.  Adjust to taste and simmer the adjustments accordingly.  This will allow aromatics to plump and macerate.

Deadly Variables: 

When cooking any dish that relies so much on tomatoes and onions, you will run into variations in sweetness (good Italian cooks always mention this.)  Good chile needs a sweet component and it usually can come from those two vegetables.  However, the judicious adjustment of the triple extract tomato paste can sometimes compensate for the lack of sweetness in them.

Variations in the quality of the cumin is the biggest bane of this recipe.  If for nothing more than the sheer quantity of it that I call for, your cumin needs to be fresh and low on the bitter index.  I buy lots of it ...and throw away any of it that has more than its share of bitterness.  The trouble is, I think, spice merchants don't have much respect for cumin and people don't buy enough of it for it to be continuously refreshed on the shop shelves.  Price doesn't seem to be a good indicator, either.  I've bought the cheapest cumin on the supermarket shelves that has been marvelous ...and I've bought expensive cumin in specialty shops that I've had to throw out.  Hit and miss, hit and miss, but when you've gotten hold of good cumin, you'll know immediately.  If my chili comes out too bitter for you it is probably due to the unavailability of good cumin.  Sorry, try again with different cumin.

Dig it:

This dish cries out for something of corn.  With the recent addition to our porteño diets of REAL Mexican corn tortillas to-go-by-the-dozen from Restaurant Mole in Belgrano (and NOW from Tortillas de Pancho Villa!) ...your dreams are fulfilled.  There are some REALLY good tortilla chips available in town from a factory in Avellaneda (clear plastic bag, CBC serves them) which are wonderful, as well.  Some good beer that can stand a little lime is the perfect quaff with this dense, gravy-like chili.  It should be so strong, and so wonderfully dense that it could stand in as a dip for tortilla chips.

Much love and good wishes for this new year,
Mike