Best Chile Recipe
Roger Zauner 2013.10.27
All measurements are approximate. This is probably the best
chili I've ever made or tasted. The bison/buffalo meat and
it's fat has much more flavour then the bland beef taste.
Reserving the liquids from canned items and adding later instead of
water also adds flavour. A warning, do not add beef stock as a
substitute for water or liquid. The beef stock will over-power
and give off-flavour tastes to this chili recipe.
32 ounces Dark Red Kidney Beans (2x's 16 oz cans or 1 lb dried beans)
28 ounces Canned Whole Tomatoes
2 Pounds Ground Bison or Buffalo
16 ounce Roasted Red Bell Peppers (or 2-3 fresh roasted & skinned, w/o seeds)
To Taste Cayenne or Tabasco
To Taste Paprika
Optional Chopped or minced Onions
Optional Chopped, minced, or crushed Garlic
If using dried beans, rehydrate according to directions. I
usually find I need to pre-soak and then simmer for 3-4 hours to
acquire the proper tenderness. (If you don't mind having
over-cooked meat, you could also just rehydrate by adding all
ingredients at once.)
Drain the canned or prepared beans. Set aside any liquid
for later usage instead of using water for thinning the final
results.
Chop or puree the whole tomatoes within a blender or by hand.
Add both, the beans and tomatoes, to a pot on a wood stove.
Once the beans are almost tender, add the ground
bison/buffalo. (See Note1)
After everything is brought to approximately 160F, add the roasted
bell peppers, including any liquid if using canned or bottled. (See
Note2)
Add spices; Cayenne or Tobasco, and Paprika. (See Note3)
Simmer without a lid allowing liquid to reduce until the beans are
tender, or pressure can according to the National Center for Home
Food Preservation (HFP) pressure canning instructions for Chile Con
Carne. If pressure canning, basically prepare the beans as
instructed per the NC HFP instructions with two water exchanges and
disposing the water the second time. (I add only half the salt
to the beans.) Once the beans are prepared, add the beans to
the above recipe. No additional liquid is required for the
above recipe when canning. (Removing the fat from the meat
after browning is only suggested to condone a good seal, but I've
never had a problem with the canning seals.) Pressure can
according to the NC HFP instructions.
Note1: If you prefer, you could brown the meat with
onions and garlic. I usually just omit this step as it only
adds a small negligible amount of taste. If you also
remove the fat from the browned meat, you also remove much of the
flavor. As such, I skip the onions and garlic and just toss
the meat in as no browning is seen after tomatoes and paprika are
added!
Note2: It might be preferable to add the canned or jarred
red peppers last, as they pressure canned already and adding them
this soon will loose more taste. So I tend to add the canned
peppers after the chili is finished cooking, which preserves the
texture and robust taste of the red peppers!
Note3: Cayenne and Tabasco are two different
peppers. Cayenne is likely the healthier option?
Note4: When pressure canning according to nchfp.uga.edu
instructions, likely can add an extra 14 ounce can of tomatos for
providing adequate liquid covering chili within bottles, or if
afraid beans will not have sufficient liquid. My first
experience after adding the additional can of tomatos, resulted in a
runny chili while the beans were adequately soft. I also did
not drain any extra fat from browning the beef when canning and the
lids sealed fine.