chilli con carne

[ditchman]

everybody does their chilli different,,,mine was made with loads of fresh chilli's flaked chilli and hot powder chilli...spoonful of cranberry ..small ammount of tomatoe and a little onion cooked yesterday and eaten today when it has cooled down and matured

[Gordon R]

Now that looks like a proper chilli con carne, not like the rubbish pub food versions.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Blimey, those kidney beans are actually the size of real kidneys.................................................

[Sprucey]

Have you ever tried it with Stewing beef or brisket slow cooked for 5/6 hours? 😮 

[Yellow Bear]

4 minutes ago, Sprucey said:

Have you ever tried it with Stewing beef or brisket slow cooked for 5/6 hours? 😮 

Yes brisket using leftovers from a large slow cook.   Makes excellent  cottage (shepherds) pie as well.  Both using the vegetable gravy from the original slow cook blitzed as part of base.

[ditchman]

24 minutes ago, Sprucey said:

Have you ever tried it with Stewing beef or brisket slow cooked for 5/6 hours? 😮 

yup.............i have and i have also used goat which is bloody superb.....very original....(mind you the original chilli dosnt contain meat as it was a staple diet by very poor people)

[bruno22rf]

Looks very good, I always cook mince till it's popping and almost burnt (brings out the sweetness) then add the mince to the sauce is a slow cooker for 5-6 hours along with a couple of finely chopped Scotch Bonnet Chillies and a tblsp of Mango Chutney, the meat slowly absorbs the sauce and softens. The BBC good food recipe is very good with a few additions.

[JKD]

Looks absolutely scrumptious 😋 😁 Must try one soon with meat chunks and not mince 🙂

[ditchman]

1 hour ago, bruno22rf said:

Looks very good, I always cook mince till it's popping and almost burnt (brings out the sweetness) then add the mince to the sauce is a slow cooker for 5-6 hours along with a couple of finely chopped Scotch Bonnet Chillies and a tblsp of Mango Chutney, the meat slowly absorbs the sauce and softens. The BBC good food recipe is very good with a few additions.

very similar to the way i do it..i fry the mince not as long as you and i add the dry chilli flakes when i turn the heat off on the frying pan ...to release the oils from the chilli..then traansfer the stuff to the slow cooker ...fry the vedge lightly...add more chilli and tomatoe and spoonful of crnberry...add that to the slow cooker......when you taste it after an hour ...its very bitter ...not nice ..but after 3 hours it has changed completly...then turn off the cooker...the next day it is perfect...

[bruno22rf]

2 hours ago, ditchman said:

very similar to the way i do it..i fry the mince not as long as you and i add the dry chilli flakes when i turn the heat off on the frying pan ...to release the oils from the chilli..then traansfer the stuff to the slow cooker ...fry the vedge lightly...add more chilli and tomatoe and spoonful of crnberry...add that to the slow cooker......when you taste it after an hour ...its very bitter ...not nice ..but after 3 hours it has changed completly...then turn off the cooker...the next day it is perfect...

Very similar to mine indeed, I tend to avoid dry chilli flakes as they vary so much - a good handful of Scotch Bonnets are usually less than £2 and they freeze so easily, they also tend to spread the heat more evenly. One SB is usually enough in 500g of mince but 2 are palatable if you add lumps of butter to the rice and keep ketchup on standby!! Not tried Cranberry but I buy Mango Chutney in  1.5kg bottles for use in Madras so there's always a good supply. A good Chilli con carne is hard to beat and so easy to make far better than pre made sauces (although the Lidl version is pretty good for the price to be honest.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Only thing I do differently is to place the browned mince in to a sieve to allow as much of the fat to drain out.

 

Then build the chilli con carne in the slow cooker.

[Robden]

Why brown the meat?  If Browning the meat (any meat) seals it, to keep the moisture in, then surely it can't absorb flavours?

[bruno22rf]

15 minutes ago, Robden said:

Why brown the meat?  If Browning the meat (any meat) seals it, to keep the moisture in, then surely it can't absorb flavours?

Try frying beef mince till it is popping (you need your pan hot) and all the fat has burned off - about half of it should be dark brown (caramelised) and when bits of meat start cracking and popping out of the pan it's about ready.This needs to be added to a prepared sauce already warming in the slow cooker - around 6 hours later the meat will have become tender again as it swells by reabsorbing liquid. To keep moisture in meat you normally "flash fry" it at high temp for a short time.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

25 minutes ago, Robden said:

Why brown the meat?  If Browning the meat (any meat) seals it, to keep the moisture in, then surely it can't absorb flavours?

Not to seal, but to caramelise, increases flavour and improves the look.

[ditchman]

i buy cheap mince as it contains more fat...fat=taste

[TIGHTCHOKE]

1 minute ago, ditchman said:

i buy cheap mince as it contains more fat...fat=taste

I buy lean mince to help me stay lean, I add the flavour in the cooking and seasoning.

[bruno22rf]

I buy whatever mince Aldi have when it's short dated and 30% off - straight in the freezer.

[ditchman]

we have a very active "eat now or die shelf"...........big mark downs always able to make a good meal from it..