[RECIPE] Ben's Famous Eight-Chile Chili

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I made this up today, and while people throw the words "best chili ever" around like so many illegal Mexican immigrants, I nearly fell over when I tasted it, because I realized that no chili could ever be this fantastic, and if this is all I ever had to eat for the rest of my life, I would thank the heavens.

It's also quite simple. You could probably even make it seven or even SIX-chile chili and it would still be wonderful, so if you don't have all the ingredients, just roll with it.

I will STAR the ingredients you can leave out or replace, and will NUMBER the chiles as I list them, to prove there are eight.

INGREDIENTS
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2 pounds round or chuck steak, fat removed, 1/2-inch dice
1 large onion, 1/4-inch dice
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 14oz can kidney beans, drained
2 tablespoons flour
2 red jalapenos, seeded, finely diced (1)
3 chipotles in adobo sauce, chopped (2)
1.5 tablespoons "chili powder" (3) (* -- can replace with more ancho)
1.5 tablespoons Ancho chile powder (4)
1.5 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper (5) (*)
2 teaspoons garlic powder (* can replace with real garlic if you want)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (6)
1 teaspoon paprika (7) (*)
Tabasco sauce (8)
Some vegetable oil
Water

DIRECTIONS
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- Heat a big ol' pot to high with some veg oil in there until shimmering.
- Throw in the beef to brown.
- When browned, throw in onions and jalapenos, cook until softened.
- Throw in all dry ingredients and chopped chipotle. Stir and cook for one minute.
- Add tomato sauce, and enough water to fully cover everything.
- Add several healthy shakes of the Tabasco sauce.
- Lower heat to bring the entire mess to a light bubbling simmer.
- Wait for like an hour and a half or two hours, until enough water is gone to make the ingredients plainly evident, but not dry.
- Take out about a quarter cup of the liquid, mix with flour into a paste, and add the paste back in.
- Add the beans.
- Turn heat up to get to a decent bubble, so the flour can thicken.
- Lower heat to a simmer again and leave for another 20 minutes or so.

It sounds complicated but it isn't. You can leave the beans out if you want, even.

Oh my Christ.

[Tdarcos]

I think this would exacerbate my diabetes, presuming the spoon didn't melt while stirring. Then again, I could use a little extra iron in my diet.

[ILikePorkPie]

How can you make an 8 Chile Chili and not include roasted poblanos. For shame!

[RetroRomper]

How can you make an 8 Chile Chili and not include roasted poblanos. For shame!

I'm curious how he could include Tobasco sauce? For general heat its OKAY, but I've fallen into the impression that its basically just a thinner, hotter, ketchup. Aka, a generic condiment to give a uniform consistency and overpowering taste to food (condiments usually overpower spices and intrinsic flavors).

There is little issue with throwing tobasco on say, cheese fries, but a key ingredient in a chili? I wouldn't be surprised if even a small amount nullifies the cayenne pepper and flavors the garlic. May also not sit in harmony with the juice from the other peppers... Hmm...

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BAD QUESTIONS!

How can you make an 8 Chile Chili and not include roasted poblanos. For shame!

I seem to remember this line from the recipe:

Code: Select all

1.5 tablespoons Ancho chile powder (4)

Guess what an ANCHO CHILE is, smart guy.

I'm curious how he could include Tobasco sauce?

A. "Tabasco."
B. The ingredients in Tabasco sauce are: Tabasco chiles, salt, and vinegar.

Tabasco chiles are delicious, and the vinegar and salt are key in brightening up the flavors of the entire dish. I would put in all three ingredients separately, but they already come together in one convenient package! JOY!

[RetroRomper]

Tabasco chiles are delicious, and the vinegar and salt are key in brightening up the flavors of the entire dish.

I was thinking of tobasco as a condiment and less an ingredient. Your point does make sense, but I'd argue that being able to directly control the amount of each (especially the vinegar and salt) are crucial in a dish.

I would put in all three ingredients separately, but they already come together in one convenient package! JOY!

For the majority, I don't think having full control over all the ingredients would matter and your right, Tobasco is a convenient package for this end. But the uniformity of the taste still irks me.

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Tabasco chiles are delicious, and the vinegar and salt are key in brightening up the flavors of the entire dish.

I was thinking of tobasco as a condiment and less an ingredient. Your point does make sense, but I'd argue that being able to directly control the amount of each (especially the vinegar and salt) are crucial in a dish.

I would put in all three ingredients separately, but they already come together in one convenient package! JOY!

For the majority, I don't think having full control over all the ingredients would matter and your right, Tobasco is a convenient package for this end. But the uniformity of the taste still irks me.

A. TABASCO, god dammit.

B. When used in a big pot of chili, it doesn't have the overwhelming "uniformity of taste" you are talking about. It acts purely as a flavoring ingredient, like all the other spices and chiles in the dish. It ends up being as overpowering as, say, the garlic powder. As in, not at all.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

So is it safe to say that someone can still ask the first good question in this thread?

[Flack]

I don't have a question, but I am always impressed when people have recipes that take 2 hours to prepare. Most of the things I cook include either a microwave, or scrambled eggs.

I wish I had the time to put 2 hours into preparing a single dish because it sounds like this chili would be worth it.

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It is worth it, Flack! It IS! But the great part is, the two hours? You don't actually have to DO anything. Although I recommend drinking heavily during that time, that two hours is yours to spend however you'd like, confident in the knowledge that the dish is in GOD'S HANDS now, as it burbles away on the stove.

So get your hookers, get your blow, donkey punch away at the back of those whores' skulls for 120 minutes, and then at the end, you just tell 'em, enough of this, let's have some delicious eight chile chili!

Now that's a meal!

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

I really do want to try the chicken recipe you told me about in IM the other day, Ben. Should that be its own thread?

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I really do want to try the chicken recipe you told me about in IM the other day, Ben. Should that be its own thread?

TOLERABLE QUESTION!

It should, and I have created same. Thank you for participating.