The Do's and Don'ts of Texas Red Chili
1For some mysterious reason only known to the Cosmos, the archtypal platonic ideal of Texas Red chili has somehow been downloaded into my brain. And it would not be well to disrespect the mysterious forces that have parted my gray matter and implanted into them the quintessence of Texas Red, so with this in mind I am going to 1. embark on my Chili Experiments to try to manifest this platonic ideal into actuality, and 2. post here my list for the Do's and Don'ts of Texas Red. Straight from the Chili Genies or whatever mischievous spirit is responsible.
The TL/DW list of my Do's and Don'ts:
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·Never use ground beef, never even chili grind beef. Use cubed beef only. Around 1" cubes ideally.
·The meat cubes are browned spaced out in a pan, with beef tallow or bacon fat. Dumping a bunch of ground beef into a pan and letting it steam is not an option.
·The optimal fat for browning is tallow. A reasonable alternative is bacon fat. No vegetable oil.
·While beef is the optimal meat to use, goat may be a reasonable alternative or more likely additive. Pork and chicken are not.
·The tougher the meat, the better the chili. Chuck, shanks and oxtails are optimal.
·Chili NEVER has soupy or brothy components. The runniest part of your chili should be no more runny than a thin pudding. If you see anything that looks like broth, you are doing it wrong.
·Chili powder is not used. Chili powder is smashed into a fine powder which means that it is immediately exposed to maximum oxidation and flavor loss. Whole dried ancho, guajillo and possibly pequin chilis are used, steeped, and blended into a puree, which is used as soon as possible.
·Chili must be cooked at a low and constant temperature below 200 degrees, optimally in ironware in an oven, for a very long time.
·Tomato paste may be used in moderation. Tomato chunks, sauce or juice should never be used.
·Contrary to some opinion, onions may and should be used. Garlic must be used.
·If beef broth is used at all, it should only be to deglaze the pan in VERY small quantities. VERY small quantities of wine, say 1 cup for a 7qt dutch oven, may also be used for the same purpose. In either case most of it should evaporate.
·Chili should not be served on the same day it is made. It should cool to a reasonable temperature and then be put overnight in the refrigerator. Excess fat may be skimmed if desired once it has cooled overnight.
·Fresh peppers have no place in chili, nor do any other sorts of vegetables other than onions, tomato paste, garlic and chilis.
In a few weeks. G-d willing and the crick don't rise, I am going to commence my Chili Experiments and I will keep my viewers posted.