First: There have been lots of requests for our chili con carne recipe. You will find it (in Norwegian since you Americans probably think your chili is better than anyone else´s). And now:

It seems appropriate to say “We´re back”. Our last appearance at Gladmat was in 2010 and in just a few days we will return to our old stomping grounds. The main reason for our reappearance is a project we have been working on the last several months: making a dish we have been preparing and eating for over forty years, even better. We are talking about Chili con Carne, one of planet Earth´s ten best dishes (along with fried chicken, pecan pie and a couple of barbecue classics). We are thrilled with the results; this Chili kicks butt!

What is so special about our “Chili”? Well, a lot of things. The meat we are using is half coarsely-ground beef and half big chunks of top quality beef chunks. The most important Chili ingredients otherwise are onions and chiles. We are using both Ancho and Chipotle chiles, two classic ingredients in this traditional dish dating back to the Chili Queens in San Antonio, Texas in the 1800s. We´d have shoot you (or wrap your head in plastic, or introduce you to the workin´ end of a stiletto) if we gave away too much of the recipe, but suffice it to say that we use beef stock instead of just water, ground cumin, some tomato and well, that´s all we are willing to reveal.

We had a Pop Up Chili Parlor a couple of months back and we have tweaked the recipe even more after that. And speaking of tweaking, we have also been working hard on our Veggie Chili, which we will also be serving. We are using no meat substitute made of soy or lentils; our Veggie Chili is made of great vegetables and it is spiced similarly to our regular Chili. The big difference is that we are using fresh poblano and jalapeño chiles for the Veggie version. “Make it a Vegan” by asking us to “Hold the cheese”.

Here is our Gladmat menu:

CRAIG´S CHILI con CARNE  

Salsa Fresca, grated Farmhouse Cheddar, flour tortilla from Cómo Mexico

CRAIG´S VEGGIE CHILI  

Salsa Fresca, grated Farmhouse Cheddar, flour tortilla from Cómo Mexico

GLADMAT RETT  

Your choice of Chili con Carne or Veggie Chili

Salsa Fresca, grated Farmhouse Cheddar, flour tortilla from Cómo Mexico

HOT SPOT (for spicin´ up your Chili)

Salsa Roja and Salsa Verde from Salsitas (Stavanger)

Midsummer´s Flagship (Stavanger; habanero fermented for 9 months)

Tapatío hot sauce (California; blended red chiles)

Duckbutter hot sauce (Texas; tabasco chiles)

El Yucateco (Mexico; chipotle chiles)

(and a few other favorite hot sauces)

We would like to shout out our good friends Lety and Eirik from Cómo Mexico, makers of Norway´s best tortillas (don´t forget to visit their stand at Gladmat), and Patricia from Salsitas. Patricia is preparing a red and a green salsa for us and the flour tortillas we are serving are made by Eirik and Lety. Also a big Howdy! to the folks at Midsummer, Stavangerites making some killer hot sauces. Thanks all!

As you see both Chilis are served with a Salsa Fresca (tomato, red onion, fresh jalapeño, lime and cilantro – prepared daily), grated English Cheddar and a tortilla. You can make your Chili your own at our Hot Spot station. Add some Salsa Verde or one of our hot sauces and you are ready to roll.

Drop by for a visit and a bowl of Chili. We look forward to seeing you and talking about one of America´s greatest traditional dishes. For those of you visiting Den Spiselige Byfesten, the QJF boys (Noah, Odin and Jon) will also be serving both regular Chili and Veggie Chili at their stand. Welcome One & All!

Her er en veldig god chili-oppskrift for dere som vil imponere venner og familien:

CHILI con CARNE 2018

solsikkeolje (alt. bacon- eller storfefett)
1 kg vanlig løk, skrelt og grovhakket
2 kg grovkvernet kjøttdeig (jeg bruker kjøttdeig kvernet på 5mm istedenfor den vanlige 3mm; også med ca. 22% fett)

2 kg okse-høyrygg, skåret i terninger (og for guds skyld, ikke fjerne alt av fettet fra kjøttet)

salt og pepper (totalt 15 g pepper)
25 g malt spisskummen (enda bedre med samme mengde spisskummenfrø, ristet og knuste)
50 g chilipulver (fra Ancho-chili hvis mulig; ellers vanlig fra butikken)
50 g malt paprika
oksekraft (alt. vann)

1,5 kg hakkede hermetiske tomater
150-200 g hermetisk chipotle-chili, finhakkede (etter hvor sterk du vil ha chilien)
500g tørket, og så kokte, pinto- eller kidney-bønner (alt. 2 kg hermetiske “chili beans” (kan sløyfes; jeg serverer vanligvis bønnene ved siden av chilien)

Først:Mål opp pepper og krydderet. Ha dette klart i små skåler.

 

1. Varm olje og stek løken til den er myk (ikke brun). Ha på litt salt og pepper under stekingen. Hell løken i en stor, tung gryte.
2. Ha i litt mer olje og stek begge typer kjøttet i flere omganger, igjen med bittelittsalt og pepper på under stekingen. Dryss også litt spisskummen, chilipulver og malt paprika over hver bætsj med kjøtt. Ikke stek for mye kjøtt om gangen slik at det blir stekt og ikke kokt. Hell kjøttet over i gryten med løk. Gjenta prosessen med resten av kjøttet.
3. Hell i resten av pepper, spisskummen, chilipulver og malt paprika. Ha på sterk varme og rør godt sammen i ca. 5 minutter.
4. Tilsett tomatene og nok kraft eller vann til å dekke over kjøttet. Ha i chipotle-chili. Rør godt sammen.
5. Kok opp, reduser varmen og småkok i ca. 2 timer (til kjøttbitene er akkurat møre). Rør godt av og til (men du trenger ikke å stå der hele tiden og røre i gryten). Smak til med salt under kokingen.
6. Ha bønnene i gryten (hvis ikke du skal servere dem ved siden av) ca. en halvtime før chilien er ferdigkokte.

Du kan godt “skumme av” underveis hvis nødvendig, men ikke fjern alt av fettet som flyter på overflaten – her er det mye smak!

Tips:Du kan godt bruke andre chilier i tillegg til chipotle hvis ønskelig; favoritter er jalapeño (2-3 stykk finhakket og stekt sammen med løken), eller “rehydrated” tørkede chilier som Ancho, Guajillo eller New Mexico.

NB!Denne chilien er glutenfri så lenge bønnene som brukes ikke inneholder gluten!

Serving the chili

I generally serve my chili with rice on the side if it´s gonna be dinner, but of course nothing tops a big bowl of chili – stark naked as Jamie would have called it. My Dad loved saltines crackers or corn chips with his chili, and so do I. Warm tortillas are also a favorite.

Approved garnish: Salsa, good cheddar cheese, chopped onions, chopped jalapeños, sour cream and totopos (tortilla chips).

I nearly always eat beans with my chili, but I nearly never put beans IN my chili – unless I´m making chili-for-the-masses (and the said masses have a limited budget.

There are three approved beverages for chili comsumption: Water, iced tea and of course beer. And for those of you who would suggest that wine will never work with spicy food, I´ve got a few words of wisdom a bit further down.

Other really important chili info:
Chili isn´t really about recipes. It´s a dish that requires patience and a willingness to learn. My chili has gone through many phases during the last 30 or so years (the garlic phase, the tomato phase, the beer phase, the stock phase, etc.), and I am sure that today´s version is the best ever. Here are a few important things to remember:

– I use both ground meat and cubed meat. This is to give the chili a certain texture. Think of the ground beef as a sort of background (taste-wise), while the cubed beef gives you something to bite into.

– You may need to add more stock or water during the cooking process, but do not use too much. You will want the chili to thicken right before it is finished.

– It is important to use good spices. Old cumin is bad cumin.

– I use regular (sometimes called sweet) ground paprika because I prefer the heat coming from the chiles.

– I use the chipotles because I love their smoky flavor. Yes, it is possible to make good chili without chipotles.

– I like to add the jalapeños just before the chili is done. This is also a texture (and ok, a freshness) thing. As you see, all the chiles are “roughly” amounts. This is to give a flexibility as far as how hot you want the chili to be.

– It is not really that important how hot your chili is. Some days I want a scorcher, but other days I want a mellow heat. It´s flavor that is important.

– And finally: You can´t make good chili without first having made bad chili. And with the right attitude, you will make better and better chili by using good ingredients, and by being focused. It is critical that you experiment with your chili. There are lots and lots of different chiles out there. Use ´em!

– And (really and truly) finally: All this nonsense about wine not “working” with spicy food is to be ignored. A beer or a glass of iced tea is great (and yes, best) with chili, but if you are a wine drinker, as well as one who is used to spicy food, it is no problem to serve wine with your chili. Try a good zinfandel, a solid Southern Rhône wine (Chateauneuf-du-Pape or a big-boned Côtes-du-Rhône), a good Barbera-based wine from Piemonte, or a favorite sangiovese-based wine (what about a Chianti Riserva?).