From Flatbush Avenue to Beacon Street...
Jay Rose was born in Brooklyn and moved to Boston in his late teens. He also spent a year at an Ohio graduate school. With a culinary background like that, you'd expect him to know maybe a little about fish... and leave the rest to those gourmet chefs at Dunkin´ Donuts.
Despite it all, he whomps a mean chili.
INGREDIENTS
- 1-1/2 lb lean beef, such as top round steak*
- 1 bulb garlic
- 2 large sweet onions
- 1 each large red and green pepper
- 1 16 oz can each dark and light red kidney beans. The beans are optional, and subject of great debate among chili lovers.
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp sugar if needed to mellow onions
- 1 28 oz can each crushed and fresh-pack diced tomatoes
- 1 tsp Liquid Smoke
- 1 tbsp beef soup base*, available from restaurant suppliers
- 1/2 cup corn meal
- 1/2 to 3 tsp hot sauce. I prefer Crystal brand, a mellow table sauce (which is, incidentally, very good on vanilla ice cream). You can use something hotter, or omit entirely. It's your chili. Heck, you can even use catsup.
[* - see vegetarian option]
NOTES
You can do all the chopping with a knife, but a food processor will give you a more consistent result that still has a good chili texture.
One hour before starting preparation, put beef in freezer.
RECIPE
- Separate garlic cloves and remove dry leaves and ends. Chop by hand or shred in food processor. Saute in 2 tbsp olive oil in a large heavy pot.
- While garlic is cooking, remove beef from freezer. It should be firm but still cuttable with a knife. Trim fat from edges and discard. Cut meat into strips about 1-1/2" wide, then into slices about 1/4" thick -- this is easy in a food processor with a wide slicing blade while the meat is still semi-frozen.
- Sear beef in garlic and oil. Add 1/2 tsp cumin and 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, and brown beef. If beef is very lean, you may need to add more olive oil.
- While beef is cooking, slice onions into very thin strings. Or peel and quarter them, and food process with a thin slicing blade.
- Remove browned beef and place in colander to drain. Heat more oil in pot if necessary, add onions, toss to distribute oil, and start them cooking over medium heat.
- Clean and quarter peppers. Slice into strings as you did the onions, and add to pot. If onions weren't particularly sweet, add sugar.
- When onions are golden, add cooked beef, tomatoes, hot sauce and Liquid Smoke.
- Rinse beans in colander and add to pot.
- When chili is boiling, remove 1/2 cup liquid. Dissolve beef base in it, and return to pot. Set to simmer.
- After about a half an hour, check seasoning. Slowly stir in corn meal as necessary -- no more than half a cup -- to thicken and mellow.
- Simmer half an hour more, or until peppers are very thin red and green strings.
Serve with chips, sour cream, and shredded cheese. Beer is optional.
VEGETARIAN OPTION
- Delete the beef.
- While garlic is sauteeing, cut 1 lb firm tofu into 1/2" cubes. Dust with curry powder, and microwave about seven minutes until slightly tough. Set aside, and add to pot after onions and peppers are cooked.
- Vegetable soup base may be substituted for beef soup base.
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16 June 2000