The Ziggurat of Doom

My chili, affectionately called Anchor Leg Chili by my friend from highschool is my very first original recipe. I didn’t know much about chili when I started making this, I only knew what I liked when other people made it. This recipe is also has a place in my heart because I made many refinements to it at Scout Camp, making this over a log fire that had to be tended all day to keep the heat just right. After that, using a stove has been like cheating.

This started out as you would normally expect bad chili to. Ground beef, kidney beans, and a packet of stuff that says “Chilly mix”. Every time I make this, I alter one variable, to see how it works out. Today, I’m making two, but they are easily seperatable. First, I’m using molasses and sugar, instead of brown sugar. I hope to be able to get the deep caramel flavor, without making it too sweet. I’m also making a second “hot pot” with very, very hot stewed chilis. I’m making this at the Zig, and opinions of hot food range from “Taco Bell is very spicey” from my wife to “2nd degree burns on my lips is not very spicey” from the Heiro.

Below the fold, I’ll be updating whenever I have something to say. I’ve always passed this recipe on by example, because its as much about the technique as it is about the interplay between black beans, great northern beans, and corn.

Time: 12:06
Step: I’ve cubed up 2 parts beef chuck and 1 part pork butt steak (in this case, 2 lbs and 1 lbs), and rough chopped 1 large sweet onion. Added to Yeah Olde Gigant Stockpot, added olive oil to coat, along with a good ¼ cup or so of sea salt and ground pepper.
Comments: My recipies are almost all ratio based, and this one is the most so. I brown the meat before hand, because the tightens up the cubes, since they will be stewing for at least 4 hours afterwards. Otherwise, they just sort of go too mushy, like you would want pot roast to do.

Time: 12:27
Step: Cutting up 1 large sweet onion, 2 bell peppers, 1 Anaheim pepper, and 1 pablano pepper. Adding it to the mean when the outside of all the cubes gets browned.
Comments: The blade bit my finger, need to wait for it to clot… and actually, it just did. Just a minor nick, but it slowed me down.

Time: 12:38
Step: Adding 1 28 oz can of whole tomatoes, and 2 12 oz can of diced tomatoes, along with all liquid. Stir, cover, and bring to a simmer
Comments: It doesn’t look, smell, or quack like a duck. It doesn’t look any closer to chili either. I bring this to temp before adding spices, because I found it gives me a better handle on what its going to taste like. The peppers, meat, and onions always taste different. Adding the beans will mellow the spices.

Time 1:09
Step: added garlic powder, paprika, chili powder, cumin, savory, pablano paste, oregano, basil, and half a can of jalapeños in adobo sauce. It should taste like bad soup with chili powder, garlic and cumin in it. Added 1 12 oz can each of black eyed peas, black beans, pinto beans, and great northern beans. Allow to simmer, with the cover on part way. Check every half hour to 40 minutes.

At the same time, I started another pot with the liquid from the chili pot, post spice, pre beans, and added the other half of the can of jalapenos, 2 hot cherry tomatoes, 2 finger peppers, 2 habanera peppers, and a good bit of cayenne pepper. This will be really hot, where the chili will be mild, and then everyone can add as much as they want.
Observation: I make a lot of dishes dirty.

Time: 1:22
Step: A little bit of the heat from the jalapenos is in the liquid now, so its time to add the sweet. 1 cup of hickory flavored barbeque sause, about 1 tbsp of blackstrap molasses, and about 1/3 cup sugar. I’ve always used brown sugar before, so I don’t know how much molasses will be enough.
Observation: That’s about it for the “add stuff to the pot phase”, now its all about letting it simmer, and adjusting the spices, with the exception of the corn at the end. The aroma from the second pot is burning my nose.

Time: 1:46
Step: Tasting and stirring
Observation: Ok, it wasn’t the vapors. You know how they tell you to make sure you wash your hands before you go to the bathroom when handling hot peppers? Well, they never told me not to scratch my upper lip pensively when tasting chili after handling hot peppers. I washed my hands several times, then washed my face. That had the result of lessening the burning, but spreading it around. Its not a bad burn, less than a sun burn, and it wouldn’t even be an annoyance if I wasn’t breathing. Breathing out on it makes it burn a good bit more, but its going away. It was spread to the bottom of my mouth, and the lower lip area, but that’s gone away already. I’m concerned how this will throw off my ability to judge how the chili tastes.

Also, there’s a good bit of liquid, so I’m considering taking the lid off. It too much evaporates, I can always add a half a bottle of beer. Yeah, that sounds pretty good.

Time: 2:05
Step: Unity!
Comments: At the point that the meat just starts to feel like its done, and you can only find this out by eating a piece, the chili goes into its most critical step. It’s here at Unity that it turns from soup to stew. The connective tissues in the meat are just beginning to break down, and the diced tomatoes have pretty much turned to sauce. The beans, whole tomato, meat, onions and peppers still have their full integrity. At this point, I add about as much spice again as I did in the beginning. Maybe more. Start out with about 1/3 cup of garlic powder, and the same amount of taco seasoning mix. Yes, that’s kind of cheating, but I don’t care. I’ve gotten good results with it every time. Stir. It should have a strong garlic flavor. Next add enough black pepper to turn the top black. It should taste equally of pepper and garlic. You could stop here if you really like it, but I like to round out the flavor. Next add cumin, about half as much as the pepper. It should taste equally of the three. Now is the tricky part. The savory flavors show themselves right away. The sweet need 10 minutes to begin to kick in. Guess how much molasses and sugar are needed. Stir them in, and wait. If you add too much, you need to start balancing from the garlic forward. Too little, and you need more sugar and molasses. Err on the side of caution.

At this point, you could jump to the last step, and it would be a tasty meal. However, for every hour, the chili improves by about 10% of the original taste and texture. It will take about 3 to 6 hours to break the whole tomato chucks down. I don’t know why the variation is that high, I’ve really tried to tie down this variable more, but haven’t had much luck. We plan on eating around 6, so hopefully they will be broken down by then, but you never know.

The ‘hot pot’ as I began to call it was getting pretty shallow, because I didn’t have too much liquid. I put just a drop on my tongue, and my mouth caught fire. Perfect. I added about a third of bottle of beer. I like lighter, cheaper beers for chili. I don’t know why, but I’ve had better luck with them. The best I’ve ever used was Coors Light. I have about a case of Yeungling here, and if you are from the east coast, you’ll know what that’s like. It’s a medium lager that Beer Advocates would call a “macro brew”. The quality is miles above Bud or Coors, and it’s about $15 a case in Pittsburgh. Its also my beer of choice, and unavailable in Cleveland.

Time: 2:33
Step: Stir and taste
Comment: Slow and sure wins the race with the sugar. I had to do it 3 times, but I have the right amount of sweet in there now. Not enough molasses yet, and its taking a lot more than I would have expected. No big deal though. I’m confident it will turn out well today.

Time: 3:10
Step: Stir and taste
Comments: Everything is going well. The tomatoes are still whole, but limp and weak. The spice is right. The chili’s a little hotter than I intended, but shouldn’t be a problem. It should also be muted by the final step.

Time: 3:40
Step: Adding corn
Comments: With about 2 hours to go till serving, I added 2 8.75 oz cans of corn. This gives a good contrast to the rest of the chili. I add it later so it retains more of the ‘snap’. I’ve decided to take the lid off, and let more of the water vapor escape, since its still comparatively thin.

Time: 4:20
Step: The final step! Slowly add flour till its close to thick enough
Comments: Here’s the final step. I add around third of a cup of flour at a time, remember, this is a huge amount of chili I’m making. I want it to still be looser than the final product at this point, but I do want it to be thicker than regular stew. Don’t attempt this till the flavor is right, and the meat has the right texture. Beef should tender but needs a chew, the pork should just melt away in your mouth.

Time: 4:35
Step: The final step
Comments:What a difference that flour makes. It went from stew to chili in no time flat. It’ll still be about an hour and a half or so till we serve it. If it gets too thick between now and then, I’ll add a bit of beer and drink the rest.

Time: 4:50
Step:the final step
Comments: Well, the flour really killed the heat of the dish, wich is a good thing. I detected the slight aroma of char, and that’s not so much a good thing. The chili was getting too thick, and was burning to the bottom of the pot. The heat was already as low as it would go, so I had to add more liquid. I used a half a bottle of Yuengling again, and now I’m stuck with another half bottle to drink. Bother.
EDIT: Oh yeah, the real indicator is the steam. If the steam doesn’t dissipate when you open the lid, its too thick. Its now dissipating just fine.

Time: 5:44
Stage: Sit and rest
Step: Heat goes off, lid goes on, and just waiting for everyone to get here. I like to let it rest for about 20 minutes, so its not too hot. Even on the lowest heat possible, its still going to be really hot, thermally.

I serve this with a choice of 3 starches, tortilla chips, tortillas, or rice. Good thing I have enough time to make those right now.

Beano and cheese are on the counter for those who want those, too.

I usually have a small bowl of salad when I’m done too. It really alleviates a portion of the anchor leg effect, and you’ll be glad for the fiber, too.