Home-Style Chili Con Carne
Chili con carne, also spelt 'chilli con carne' and 'chile con carne', but normally just shortened to 'chili' or 'chilli', is a type of spicy stew made with chilli peppers and meat, typically diced or minced beef, but other meats, such as turkey, pork, chicken, venison and bison, are also used. Other commonly used ingredients in chili con carne are tomatoes, onions, garlic, dried oregano, kidney beans, sweet corn, beer and spices, namely cumin, paprika and chilli powder, but other spices, such as coriander, clove and cinnamon, can also be used.
The name 'chili con carne' means 'chili with meat' in Spanish, and there are several different types. The type most of us are familiar with in the UK is known as 'home-style chili' in the United States. This is the type of chili made with diced or minced beef, onions, garlic, tomatoes, kidney beans, dried oregano and spices. It is also the type that some people may know as 'hybrid chili'.
Vegetarian or vegan chili is normally based on the home-style type, and some people may know it as 'chili sin carne', which means 'chili without meat' in Spanish. The meat-free version nearly always contains beans of some description, and often times a lot more beans than the meat-based version.
Another type of chili is Texas chili. Authentic Texas chili con carne is the official dish of the state of Texas, and became so when Governor Dolph Briscoe signed House Concurrent Resolution Number 18 on the 11th May 1977. Also known as a 'bowl of red', authentic Texas chili is a different beast to the home-style type, and is a sort of red coloured spicy meat stew. The deep red colour comes from the use of dried red chilli peppers which have been ground into a paste.
Often dubbed America's most contentious stew, a lot of controversy exists over what ingredients should or shouldn't go into a bowl of red. However, the one thing that everyone agrees on is that it should not contain any beans. Adding beans to an authentic Texas chili is considered sacrilegious to most Texans! Although most people just shorten the name of chili con carne to just 'chili' or 'chilli', there are some who like to use the full name to refer to the home-style type and the shortened name to refer to the authentic Texas type.
Another two types of chili con carne, albeit somewhat lesser known, are 'chili verde' and 'white chili'. The former means 'green chili' in Spanish, and is a type of Mexican stew made with pork shoulder cooked in a green sauce made from tomatillos, roasted green chilli peppers, garlic and spices. The latter is a type of spicy stew consisting of chicken, pork or turkey, white beans and green chilli peppers. The idea is to keep the dish looking as white as possible, which is a skill in and of itself.
Chili con carne is so widely popular in the United States that they even have a National Chili Day, which is celebrated every year on the fourth Thursday of February. On this day, chili fans all across the United States pay homage to this much-loved and fiery one-pot wonder by cooking up their own personal versions of it.
Chili cooking competitions, or cook-offs as they're known for short, take place throughout the United States each year. These are social events where contestants cook up their own personal chili recipe and then submit it to a panel of judges for testing. Some cook-offs can be informal gatherings where people just get together to share recipes, enjoy music and have fun. Others can be large scale events where hundreds or thousands of people can be in attendance, some of whom are competitors and others who are just there to enjoy the event. The competitors go head-to-head in one of several categories to see who can cook up the best pot of chili on the day.
The first modern day chili cooking competition was held at the State Fair of Dallas, Texas, on the 5th October 1952. The second one took place in 1967 in Terlingua, Texas, and was created and promoted by Frank X. Tolbert and friends. It only had two cooks — New Yorker Harry Allen Wolfgang Smith and Texas legend Wick Fowler — and was supposed to settle a dispute over who knew more about chili, Texans or New Yorkers. There were three judges, including Hallie Crawford Stillwell, and the competition ended in a tie.
More than 50 years has passed since that time, and the event has now grown into one that sees thousands of attendees flocking to Terlingua each year to help celebrate and keep the tradition alive. Each season, cooks participate in their own locally organised chili cook-offs and earn points towards qualification. The amount of points required varies from state to state, but in the state of Texas it's nine. Once the number has been reached or exceeded the cook is then invited to take part in the annual Tolbert's Terlingua chili cook-off, also known as the 'Tolbert cook-off' and 'behind the store', the original grand daddy of all chili cook-offs — in the world!
Both the International Chili Society (ICS) and the Chili Appreciation Society International (CASI) organise chili cook-offs each year to raise money for charity. The CASI organises over 400 chili cook-offs annually.
When reading about the history of this fantastic dish it becomes very apparent that the Americans, especially Texans, take their chili very seriously. What the Americans don't know about chili really isn't worth knowing. Here's an interesting fact. Did you know that in the 1800s, chili was served to Texas prisoners on a regular basis? It became the food of choice for many prisons because it was so inexpensive to make. Apparently, the prison system made such good chili that many former inmates wrote to the prisons and asked for the recipe, stating that the one thing they missed most after getting out was a good bowl of chili.
According to legend, Spanish priests who encountered chili con carne for the first ever time described it as 'Soup of the Devil', as 'hot as Hell's brimstone', and they warned against indulgence! 😈
Have you ever read the story about the mysterious lady in blue? Legend has it that in the early 1600s, Sister María de Ágreda of Spain would apparently enter into deep meditative states and have out-of-body experiences. During one such experience her spirit was transported across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World, where she taught a group of Jumanos about God and Christianity. Presumably, at the same time the Jumanos in question claimed to have seen an apparition which they referred to as 'the lady in blue'.
After returning from the experience, it is said that Sister María wrote down the first ever recipe for chili con carne, which called for venison, onions, tomatoes and chilli peppers. Given how Sister María never left Spain during her lifetime (in physical form at least), King Philip IV of Spain and some Spanish missionaries came to believe that she was the mysterious apparition that the Jumanos referred to as 'la dama de azul (the lady in blue)'.
Nowadays, people who find the white coloured archway, right angled wall and curved white coloured tunnel, like sister María did, either end up being visited by sinister human-looking aliens or working as spooks for MI5, the CIA or any other group with a vested interest in human manipulation. 👽
There are many stories about the possible origins of chili con carne, starting from as early as 1592 with the writings of Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún that mention spicy stews being consumed in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán (now Mexico City); to 1731 and how the women from a group of 16 families who emigrated to Texas from the Canary Islands used to cook a spicy Spanish stew similar to chili con carne; to the famous 'Chili Queens' of the 1800s who sold their spicy stews to customers in San Antonio's plazas; to the records discovered in 1950 by chili lover Everette DeGolyer that describe how the first chili mix was created around 1850 by Texan adventurers and cowboys.
However, the general consensus nowadays is that the birthplace of the chili con carne we've all come to know and love is San Antonio, Texas. In the mid-19th Century and into the early 20th Century a type of stew made with beef and chilli peppers was commonly prepared and sold by Latino women in Northern Mexico and Southern Texas. They became famous for selling their spicy concoctions to customers on Military Plaza in San Antonio, and eventually earned the nickname of 'Chili Queens'. They cooked up large pots of chili con carne at home and then loaded them onto wagons for transportation to the plaza, where they reheated individual portions over mesquite fires and served it to customers.
Some people believe that because San Antonio was a tourist destination it helped to spread the dish throughout Texas and into the rest of the United States. Others believe it may have spread with the cattle drives of the mid to late 19th Century. Throughout the 19th Century, chili con carne became a staple food for cowboys who needed something hearty because of all the hard work and long journeys they had to endure.
There are probably as many recipes for chili con carne as there are cooks who make it, and the one shown below is my version. Most recipes for chili con carne in the UK call for minced beef to be used, but I prefer to use chopped beef brisket with a generous amount of minced beef for good measure. As a rule, I normally serve it with plain boiled, Mexican or Spanish rice and an assortment of accompaniments, such as soured cream, sliced avocado, pickled chillies, salsa, tortilla chips and grated cheese.
Ingredients:
Method:
Notes:
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| Home-Style Chili Con Carne |
The name 'chili con carne' means 'chili with meat' in Spanish, and there are several different types. The type most of us are familiar with in the UK is known as 'home-style chili' in the United States. This is the type of chili made with diced or minced beef, onions, garlic, tomatoes, kidney beans, dried oregano and spices. It is also the type that some people may know as 'hybrid chili'.
Vegetarian or vegan chili is normally based on the home-style type, and some people may know it as 'chili sin carne', which means 'chili without meat' in Spanish. The meat-free version nearly always contains beans of some description, and often times a lot more beans than the meat-based version.
Another type of chili is Texas chili. Authentic Texas chili con carne is the official dish of the state of Texas, and became so when Governor Dolph Briscoe signed House Concurrent Resolution Number 18 on the 11th May 1977. Also known as a 'bowl of red', authentic Texas chili is a different beast to the home-style type, and is a sort of red coloured spicy meat stew. The deep red colour comes from the use of dried red chilli peppers which have been ground into a paste.
Often dubbed America's most contentious stew, a lot of controversy exists over what ingredients should or shouldn't go into a bowl of red. However, the one thing that everyone agrees on is that it should not contain any beans. Adding beans to an authentic Texas chili is considered sacrilegious to most Texans! Although most people just shorten the name of chili con carne to just 'chili' or 'chilli', there are some who like to use the full name to refer to the home-style type and the shortened name to refer to the authentic Texas type.
Another two types of chili con carne, albeit somewhat lesser known, are 'chili verde' and 'white chili'. The former means 'green chili' in Spanish, and is a type of Mexican stew made with pork shoulder cooked in a green sauce made from tomatillos, roasted green chilli peppers, garlic and spices. The latter is a type of spicy stew consisting of chicken, pork or turkey, white beans and green chilli peppers. The idea is to keep the dish looking as white as possible, which is a skill in and of itself.
Chili con carne is so widely popular in the United States that they even have a National Chili Day, which is celebrated every year on the fourth Thursday of February. On this day, chili fans all across the United States pay homage to this much-loved and fiery one-pot wonder by cooking up their own personal versions of it.
Chili cooking competitions, or cook-offs as they're known for short, take place throughout the United States each year. These are social events where contestants cook up their own personal chili recipe and then submit it to a panel of judges for testing. Some cook-offs can be informal gatherings where people just get together to share recipes, enjoy music and have fun. Others can be large scale events where hundreds or thousands of people can be in attendance, some of whom are competitors and others who are just there to enjoy the event. The competitors go head-to-head in one of several categories to see who can cook up the best pot of chili on the day.
The first modern day chili cooking competition was held at the State Fair of Dallas, Texas, on the 5th October 1952. The second one took place in 1967 in Terlingua, Texas, and was created and promoted by Frank X. Tolbert and friends. It only had two cooks — New Yorker Harry Allen Wolfgang Smith and Texas legend Wick Fowler — and was supposed to settle a dispute over who knew more about chili, Texans or New Yorkers. There were three judges, including Hallie Crawford Stillwell, and the competition ended in a tie.
More than 50 years has passed since that time, and the event has now grown into one that sees thousands of attendees flocking to Terlingua each year to help celebrate and keep the tradition alive. Each season, cooks participate in their own locally organised chili cook-offs and earn points towards qualification. The amount of points required varies from state to state, but in the state of Texas it's nine. Once the number has been reached or exceeded the cook is then invited to take part in the annual Tolbert's Terlingua chili cook-off, also known as the 'Tolbert cook-off' and 'behind the store', the original grand daddy of all chili cook-offs — in the world!
Both the International Chili Society (ICS) and the Chili Appreciation Society International (CASI) organise chili cook-offs each year to raise money for charity. The CASI organises over 400 chili cook-offs annually.
When reading about the history of this fantastic dish it becomes very apparent that the Americans, especially Texans, take their chili very seriously. What the Americans don't know about chili really isn't worth knowing. Here's an interesting fact. Did you know that in the 1800s, chili was served to Texas prisoners on a regular basis? It became the food of choice for many prisons because it was so inexpensive to make. Apparently, the prison system made such good chili that many former inmates wrote to the prisons and asked for the recipe, stating that the one thing they missed most after getting out was a good bowl of chili.
According to legend, Spanish priests who encountered chili con carne for the first ever time described it as 'Soup of the Devil', as 'hot as Hell's brimstone', and they warned against indulgence! 😈
Have you ever read the story about the mysterious lady in blue? Legend has it that in the early 1600s, Sister María de Ágreda of Spain would apparently enter into deep meditative states and have out-of-body experiences. During one such experience her spirit was transported across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World, where she taught a group of Jumanos about God and Christianity. Presumably, at the same time the Jumanos in question claimed to have seen an apparition which they referred to as 'the lady in blue'.
After returning from the experience, it is said that Sister María wrote down the first ever recipe for chili con carne, which called for venison, onions, tomatoes and chilli peppers. Given how Sister María never left Spain during her lifetime (in physical form at least), King Philip IV of Spain and some Spanish missionaries came to believe that she was the mysterious apparition that the Jumanos referred to as 'la dama de azul (the lady in blue)'.
Nowadays, people who find the white coloured archway, right angled wall and curved white coloured tunnel, like sister María did, either end up being visited by sinister human-looking aliens or working as spooks for MI5, the CIA or any other group with a vested interest in human manipulation. 👽
There are many stories about the possible origins of chili con carne, starting from as early as 1592 with the writings of Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún that mention spicy stews being consumed in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán (now Mexico City); to 1731 and how the women from a group of 16 families who emigrated to Texas from the Canary Islands used to cook a spicy Spanish stew similar to chili con carne; to the famous 'Chili Queens' of the 1800s who sold their spicy stews to customers in San Antonio's plazas; to the records discovered in 1950 by chili lover Everette DeGolyer that describe how the first chili mix was created around 1850 by Texan adventurers and cowboys.
However, the general consensus nowadays is that the birthplace of the chili con carne we've all come to know and love is San Antonio, Texas. In the mid-19th Century and into the early 20th Century a type of stew made with beef and chilli peppers was commonly prepared and sold by Latino women in Northern Mexico and Southern Texas. They became famous for selling their spicy concoctions to customers on Military Plaza in San Antonio, and eventually earned the nickname of 'Chili Queens'. They cooked up large pots of chili con carne at home and then loaded them onto wagons for transportation to the plaza, where they reheated individual portions over mesquite fires and served it to customers.
Some people believe that because San Antonio was a tourist destination it helped to spread the dish throughout Texas and into the rest of the United States. Others believe it may have spread with the cattle drives of the mid to late 19th Century. Throughout the 19th Century, chili con carne became a staple food for cowboys who needed something hearty because of all the hard work and long journeys they had to endure.
There are probably as many recipes for chili con carne as there are cooks who make it, and the one shown below is my version. Most recipes for chili con carne in the UK call for minced beef to be used, but I prefer to use chopped beef brisket with a generous amount of minced beef for good measure. As a rule, I normally serve it with plain boiled, Mexican or Spanish rice and an assortment of accompaniments, such as soured cream, sliced avocado, pickled chillies, salsa, tortilla chips and grated cheese.
Ingredients:
- 3 teaspoons cumin seeds
- 3 teaspoons paprika
- 3 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon chilli powder (see notes)
- 1 teaspoon garlic granules or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon cocoa powder (not drinking chocolate)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 500g onion, cut into 1cm dice
- 3–4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons coarse sea salt or salt to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 400g lean minced beef
- 800g beef brisket, cut into 1cm pieces
- 1 x 400g tin plum tomatoes, blended
- 1 tablespoon tomato puree
- Chopped fresh chillies, to taste (see notes)
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (see notes)
- 2 teaspoons Ancho chilli flakes (see notes)
- 2 teaspoons Chipotle chilli flakes (see notes)
- 100ml hot water
- 240g cooked kidney beans
- 10g dark chocolate, roughly chopped (see notes)
Method:
- Place the cumin seeds into an electric coffee grinder and grind until fine. Add the paprika, smoked paprika, chilli powder, garlic granules, dried oregano and cocoa powder and pulse a few more times until everything is well mixed. Set aside.
- Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat and add the onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix well and fry for 8–10 minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the minced beef. Mix well and cook for a further 10–15 minutes, breaking up any large clumps into smaller pieces.
- Add the ground spices and mix well to ensure they are incorporated into the oil. Next, add the beef. Mix well and cook for 15 minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking. If at any point the spices start sticking to the bottom of the pot before the meat has started releasing its juices then just add a tablespoon of hot water and scrape them off with your spoon. Do not allow the spices to burn or it will ruin the flavour of the chili.
- Add the blended plum tinned tomato, tomato puree, fresh chillies, brown sugar, ground cinnamon, Ancho chilli flakes, Chipotle chilli flakes and hot water. Mix well, cover and then place into a preheated oven at 180C/350F/Gas 4 and cook for 2 hours.
- After 2 hours, increase the heat to 200C/400F/Gas 6 and cook for a further 45 minutes.
- Add the kidney beans, mix well and then return the pot back to the oven and cook for a further 15 minutes.
- After removing the pot from the oven, sprinkle the dark chocolate pieces over the top of the chili and leave for a minute or so until the chocolate has melted and then stir it in.
Notes:
- The temperatures listed in this recipe are for standard ovens and not fan assisted or convection ovens. Typically, when cooking with a fan assisted oven one would reduce the temperature by 20C/50F, but given how ovens do vary slightly I'll leave it up to you to decide. After all, you know your oven much better than I do.
- As is the case with most one-pot wonders, chili con carne will taste much nicer if left overnight for all of the flavours to develop. In fact, Wick Fowler recommened that chili should be left in the refrigerator overnight to help seal in the flavour.
- When grinding the cumin seeds you can also add one or two of your own dried home grown chilli peppers if you wish. This will add a bit more flavour and heat to the dish. However, I would only recommend using Capsicum annuum or Capsicum frutescens varieties because Capsicum chinense varieties will alter the flavour too much.
- The type of fresh chillies you decide to use in this recipe will obviously depend on you. Capsicum annuum, Capsicum frutescens and Capsicum pubescens varieties are all very good choices. Some of the classic Mexican chillies work very well, such as Jalapeño, Serrano and De Arbol. My personal preference is a combination of Capsicum annuum and Capsicum pubescens varieties. I tend to avoid adding Capsicum chinense varieties when making this because they alter the aroma and flavour too much by becoming a dominating top note in the dish. If I want to add extra fire then I just sprinkle my portion with chopped Habanero. This adds a nice fiery kick but doesn't alter the aroma and flavour of the actual chili itself.
- The recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of chilli powder to be added. The type of chilli powder I'm referring to is the one you'd use when making Indian food, which is made from dried chillies that have been ground into a fine powder. Whether you use mild, medium, hot or extra hot chilli powder is entirely up to you. I normally use a combination of commercial chilli powder and my own homemade chilli powder, made from Capsicum annuum varieties.
The 'chilli powder' sold at most supermarkets in the UK is normally a seasoning mix used for flavouring chili con carne, and typically consists of ground cumin, salt, Cayenne pepper, garlic powder, dried oregano and anti-caking agent. This is not the one to use. If in doubt, always read the label. Cayenne pepper is the supermarket equivalent of the chilli powder I'm referring to in this recipe, so if you can't get hold of regular chilli powder then just use Cayenne pepper instead.
The recipe also calls for two teaspoons each of Ancho chilli flakes and Chipotle chilli flakes to be added. Ancho (dried Poblano) is a mild chilli that will provide a smoky, fruity, raisin-like flavour, and because of its black colour will also make the dish a little darker. Chipotle (smoke-dried Jalapeño) will provide a smoky, sweet earthy flavour. Chipotle and Ancho are sometimes used in artisan chili con carne seasoning mixtures and in barbecue sauces for their smoky characteristics. Both are mild chillies and will therefore not contribute very much to the heat profile of the dish. - The recipe calls for 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon to be added. The type of cinnamon I'm referring to is true cinnamon, which is the type most commonly sold at supermarkets in the UK. When in whole form it looks like tightly packed quills of thin bark. If all you have available is cassia cinnamon then you should reduce the amount to 1/8 teaspoon instead, otherwise it may be too overpowering. Cassia cinnamon is much stronger than true cinnamon, and when in whole form it looks like pieces of thick bark. If in doubt, more information and a photo showing both types can be found on my herbs and spices page.
- The recipe calls for 10g of dark chocolate to be added. Use the darkest chocolate you can find, one that ideally contains between 75–85 percent cocoa solids. The darker the chocolate the more bitter it is, but this is what you're looking for. Some dark chocolates, such as cooking chocolate or Cadbury Bournville, are too sweet and are therefore not ideal. Remember that the chili con carne already contains a teaspoon of sugar.
- Always use the best quality beef that you can afford. Chili con carne made with poor quality beef will always have an inferior flavour.
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