2010 Cooking Club Week 24: Chilli!

Sparks

/weeps at the thought of pulled pork without delicious BBQ sauce dripping over every morsel...

Mr. CooL ICE

I have 2kg of pork shoulder to spare and was thinking of throwing it in to this. Do you reckon that cutting the shoulder into chunks and using it instead of the beef chunks would be a good idea?

Sparks

Hm. If you have that much pork shoulder, I can think of a better use for it, but yes, you could use it in this recipe as well. I might brown it a little less, and most people will be expecting chilli to be a beef dish, but hey, it's poor people food, it's meant to be adapted to what's on hand...

Mr. CooL ICE

That's the thing. I ordered a shoulder for the pulled pork and got a 4kg whopper, but my slow cooker can only fit about 2-2.5kg worth, which is where the spare 2kg of shoulder comes from. I could freeze it for another time, but really wanted to make chilli this week to freeze in batches. But if I freeze the 2kg worth of shoulder, I won't have room for the chilli in my freezer. First world problems, eh?

I'll give it a try and report back.

Paranoid Mandroid

Big thanks to Sparks for all of the information in this thread.
I made this last night in the slow cooker and really enjoyed it today. So damn tasty, we loved it, I'll be cooking this for years, no doubt.

I made enough for 8 very generous meals (or 4 meals for 2). My notes for next time (might as well record them here):

- stick to Sparks recommendation on the amount of beer to add. I added ~700mls Utenos beer and I think it was too much although it certainly didn't ruin things. I'm not sure if this is the right or wrong type of beer to use but the rest of the bottles tasted great.

- Use the dried red chillies as recommended. I used dried chipotle meco medium hot smokey chillies. Wrong ones obviously. It may have been too much chipotle flavour, I'm not sure but I'll definitely try with red chillies next time.

- I noticed, tasting this when it had just finished cooking and then again an hour or two later, it will taste completely different. Much much nicer with time. You lot probably know all of this stuff already but I'm a bit of a newbie to making a decent effort in the kitchen.

- 9 hrs in the slow cooker a low was bang on.

- Was really nice with Jalepenos and Nachos and surprisingly filling.

I also bought dried Piquin chillies for some reason. Any ideas if I could add these in future and if not any other ideas? Cheers.

Thanks again Sparks.

Paranoid Mandroid

:-)

Mr. CooL ICE

LordChessington wrote: »

I'll give it a try and report back.

It was a success. If anything, the shoulder chunks were even more tender than the beef chunks have been in the past, and I always used stewing beef. As I don't have a pressure cooker, I cooked this in my standard stock pot at low for about 5 hours

Muahahaha

A year on and I'm still making large batches of this delicious chilli at least once a month, I just love it so thank you again Soarks👍

Went down to Fallon & Byrne yesterday to get a jar of the chillis in adobo and the New Mexican chilled but they had neither and it could be a few weeks before a delivery. Anyone know of an alternative source in Dublin ? Failing that anyone know any trusted online sellers ?

Sparks

There's a mexican place up near the Dublin Castle end of Dame Street that was mentioned here a while back, you might take a search for that...

In other news, I tried making the recipe using an India Pale Ale. Results are quite good; but I would urge you not to lean over the pot of boiling IPA to switch on the extraction fan if you're planning on inhaling and remaining sober. Turn on fan; then dump half-litre of IPA into the pot...

Muahahaha

Thanks for that Sparks, found it here and will pick up a couple of jars later
http://www.azteca.ie/cafeazteca.php?pg=products

Thank god as I just bought 1.8kg of meat and then couldn't find the secret sauce to go with it !

cuculainn

Ok the first time i made this in the slow cooker and it was savage..

made it again at the weekend and used the bag of black beans/pinto beans.....(the first time I used cans)

I didnt hydrate them first and it turned out way to dry....

Also I forgot to put the slow cooker on timer which meant it cooked for about 10 hours


I added more beer but it is still dry....it tastes great but you need alot of sour cream!!


So I think the beans need to be hydrated am I correct??

Mr. CooL ICE

I never bother hydrating the beans. The one time they didn't turn out well was because I didn't add enough liquid. If they are dry in the end, I reckon it is because there wasn't enough liquid for them to absorb.

Once all ingredients are added to the pot, I make sure the contents are swimming in liquid. Usually turns out fine for me, but if it is too wet, I add half a teaspoon of flour (never bothered with the hasa marina myself).

lonestargirl

Muahahaha wrote: »

A year on and I'm still making large batches of this delicious chilli at least once a month, I just love it so thank you again Soarks👍

Went down to Fallon & Byrne yesterday to get a jar of the chillis in adobo and the New Mexican chilled but they had neither and it could be a few weeks before a delivery. Anyone know of an alternative source in Dublin ? Failing that anyone know any trusted online sellers ?

Cool chile company sell online - I've got them via parcel motel before. Alternatively you can get chipotles in adobo from the Mexican stall at the Meeting House Square market on a Saturday.

emaleth

Muahahaha wrote: »

A year on and I'm still making large batches of this delicious chilli at least once a month, I just love it so thank you again Soarks👍

Went down to Fallon & Byrne yesterday to get a jar of the chillis in adobo and the New Mexican chilled but they had neither and it could be a few weeks before a delivery. Anyone know of an alternative source in Dublin ? Failing that anyone know any trusted online sellers ?

The Asian shops on Moore Street sell chipotle en adobo, and corn tortillas as well as a whole ton of other Mexican stuff - canned tomatillos etc. Counter-intuitive, but there you go

The chipotle does come in a tin, but I just decant to a jar in the fridge after opening it. Also, way the hell cheaper than F&B, and you can pick up your coriander and limes while you're at it

Sparks

cuculainn wrote: »

So I think the beans need to be hydrated am I correct??

Actually, no, it's one of the few recipes I know of where you don't have to; but I normally cook it in a pressure cooker and add a lot of liquid -- the beans will suck it up like little sponges and you need some left over at all times so the meat braises instead of roasting or burning (and you need some at the end to make the gravy too).

Sparks

emaleth wrote: »

The Asian shops on Moore Street sell chipotle en adobo, and corn tortillas as well as a whole ton of other Mexican stuff - canned tomatillos etc. Counter-intuitive, but there you go

They're also fantastic for indian spices...
I've not seen any chipotle in the Asia Market branch out in Ballymount though

beertons

Is this close to yours? Found it in Tesco Extra.

emaleth

Sparks wrote: »

They're also fantastic for indian spices...
I've not seen any chipotle in the Asia Market branch out in Ballymount though

Ah boo. The ones on Moore St and at the Jervis Luas stop usually have it.

FTA69

Sparks wrote: »

Aw, shucks :)Damn near every tex-mex kind of meal I cook.

For example, cut three or four chicken breasts into largish chunks (the main breast should give five or six, the little fillet another one or two bits). In a large mixing bowl mix a tablespoon of the adobo sauce, the juice of one lime (reserve the halves), a teaspoon each of salt and paprika, a half-teaspoon of chilli powder and cumin seeds, a teaspoon or so of tomato puree and about two tablespoons of olive oil (you could use peanut if you have it as well). Whisk all that to a smooth paste and if doesn't have the consistency of a thick tomato soup, add more oil until it does. Then chop the remains of the lime into four quarters, chuck them into the marinade and add the chicken. Toss to coat, cover over and marinade in the fridge for at least an hour, preferably for a few more. Never left it overnight, but it ought to be okay.

Then fry it off in the skillet until it's cooked through (should be ~10-15 minutes, don't use high heat, you want to cook, not sear), and pour off the excess liquid in the skillet. Set the chicken aside on a cutting board to cool for a few minutes, and in the skillet, cook some julienne'd onions and green peppers at high heat until soft; put them in a bowl. Cook a cup of basmati rice; add to another serving bowl. Cook some pinto beans, either from dry (best results) or reheated from a can (meh, it's all good), and put them in yet another serving bowl. Now go back to the chicken, and chop it down from the large chunks to much smaller chunks so it almost looks shredded. You want the bits to be the same size as the bits of onion you get if you roughly chop an onion. Put the result in a serving bowl and put on the table with some sour cream, some salsa and flour tortillas, and you have proper chipotle&lime marinaded chicken mission-style burritos, served family style.
(To assemble, it's a schmear of sour cream on the tortilla, a layer of rice, a scattering of beans, a line of shredded chicken topped by a line of salsa, all rolled up and scoffed).

Holy Mother of Poultry!!!

I made this last night and it was unbelievable, the whole house was in awe of it and it was much better than the Old El Paso sh*t that normally gets used.

Have you any other Tex Mex ideas Sparks?

Sparks

Well, there's my workaday enchilada recipe...

Make the chicken the same way (if you have cooked chicken already as cold leftovers that's good too, or you can just buy a rotisserie chicken from the shop and shred the meat from that).

Take a saucepan, add a roughly-chopped onion, a little salt and a little oil (vegetable/corn/peanut/whatever, just not olive oil) and sweat the onion down for a few minutes over low heat. Add a chopped clove or three of garlic according to taste, and cook for another minute or so. Now add a teaspoon of chilli powder (bonus points for making your own), cumin and about a half-teaspoon of smoked paprika, and turn up the heat to medium and let that all fry for 30 to 40 seconds (no more or you'll burn the garlic). Then add a can of chopped tomatoes and a splash of alcohol (white wine is what I normally use, but tequila works really well too - don't go overboard, you're not making a cocktail, you just need the ethanol to dissolve some of the flavour compounds out of the tomato). Stir, then add in some thyme and oregano (about a heaped teaspoon of both, but that's up to your own tastes really), and turn the heat down so the sauce simmers. Leave it simmer for about ten minutes, then take a stick blender to it (or pour it into a food processor and blitz it) until it's a smooth liquid about the consistency of really thick cream. Pour a few tablespoons worth into a pie dish. Grate some cheese.

Now, take a cassarole dish and some tortilla wraps. Microwave the wraps for 30 seconds if you have a microwave, otherwise wing it. Lay the wrap in the pie dish and coat both sides with the tomato sauce, then put it in the cassarole dish, put a line of the chicken in it, some of the cheese and some salsa or diced jalapenos if you like that stuff, then roll it up and shove it to one end of the dish. Get the next wrap, do the same thing with it. Continue until the dish is full of sauce-covered, chicken-and-cheese-stuffed rolls. Pour the remaining sauce over the rolls, sprinkle all the remaining cheese over the top of the sauce, then bake in the oven at 160C for about 30 minutes or until the cheese is golden and bubbly. Take out, leave cool for ten minutes, and serve with rice.

Takes a lot more time to describe what to do than to do it, usually it's about 20 minutes of work and 40 minutes of doing something else while waiting for stuff to cook. Unless you have to cook the chicken from scratch in which case it can take a bit longer (this is really a recipe for leftover chicken, if you want to do it from scratch and it's a weeknight, I'd recommend getting a rotisserie chicken from whatever deli's closest to you).

FTA69

A1 man thanks very much, this will be made at some stage next week.

Sparks

Welcome, hope you enjoy it...

Neyite

Have been wanting to make this for ages but never found the chipotles in adobo.

So finally I'm in Dubland and go to F&B but they didn't have it

If I get the chance ill try Moore st or jervis- if I get off the luas at jervis where do I go to find the Asian shops likely to have it?

Sparks

South side of the platform at Jervis had an asian market last time I was there, not sure if they'd have chipotles though. There was a mexican cafe/shop mentioned earlier that was on the upper end of dame street too. Failing that, there's always online...

Neyite

Thanks Sparks!
We are tied for time tomorrow so dunno if I can go to Dame st but I'm very near jervis so that might work. And if not ill order online.

MissFlitworth

There is a bit of a chipotle drought on in Dublin at the moment, it's really annoying! The last time I checked the Asian Market at Jervis didn't have chipotles but they are definitely worth a gander, other possiblities around there are the burrito bar in the Epicurean food hall (it's near the door on Liffey Street, about 2 minutes walk from Jervis luas stop) or the Turkish shop just across the Liffey Street door to the Epicurean. Cafe Azteca on Lord Edward Street (so, just up towards Christchurch) definitely have them as do Picado Mexican Pantry on Richmond Street in Dublin 2 (big tins too! huge!) but those are possibly a bit of a hoof away from you if you are tight for time and based near Jervis

Muahahaha

Yeah I've found the supply of chipotles in adobo to be fairly sporadic at times, I'd say I've been in there about 10 times over the last two years and they were out of stock on at least 3 occasions which was pretty annoying as I'd taken the meat out of the freezer to defrost before I went shopping for chilles and other bits.

Has anyone being buying it online? I'm not sure of the shelf life of it as I'm all out right now but I'd be better off just buying 4 or 5 jars rather than wondering if Fallon & Byrne have stock it every time I go in.

TheKBizzle

I get the 2.8 kg tin on Amazon for around £9.50 and just use what I need and put the rest in freezer bags and defrost for when I'm making chilli. Works out way cheaper

sammyjo90

http://www.mymexicanshop.ie/22-tinned-chilies

This place! Awesome shop,they have a shop in Dublin. I buy all my chipotles from them( I buy dried though) my sister showed me them and I haven't looked back since

Sparks

Muahahaha wrote: »

I'm not sure of the shelf life

Y'know that honey they found in egyptian tombs that was still edible?
Kinda like that Seriously, it's vinegar and chillis and salt, there's not much capable of living in it, and even then the chillis are smoked

lonestargirl

I've gotten Mexican products from 'Cool chilli' online via Parcel Motel before.
http://www.coolchile.co.uk/categories/view/sauces-salsas-2

The Mexican stall at the Meeting House Square market also has them.

squonk

I finally got around to making the chilli last week. Normally I make big batches of food to freeze and bring into work each day. Chilli is ideal for that. The taste is fantastic and it's without doubt the best chilli I've every had (I can't believe I actually made it). I've not been lucky enough to have Chilli the two times I've been across the pond but most of what you get here is a fairly poor substitute.

I recently got an Instant Pot. It's an electric pressure cooker and is one of the best kitchen items I've ever bought. I'd been living with a slow cooker for the past year and while it's great, it just took too long to be practical especially as I'm not a morning person. I'd never have attempted the chilli in that. With the Instant Pot I bunged everything in for the 90 minutes required. It was only my second use of the Instant Pot so I was a bit afraid of getting mush after 90 minutes but I got stewing beef that had amost distinegrated but was still pretty intact and a gorgeou chilli. I was also afraid of putting in too many black beans but next time I'll throw in the whole bag (500g).

I didn't have the bacon to hand but used Pancetta from Aldi. It worked out pretty well but I've a feeling it was just a bit too fatty and salty. Next time I may use the Aldi ham pieces instead. The Chilli comes out incredibly rich. I think it'll be my go-to chilli recipe for entertaining but I'm not sure I'll make it for lunch again. I think it's a bit too extravagant for that and, my god, it's filling! I'm also going to get my hands on the proper dried chillis. I have some dried red chillies that I picked up in an asian store so I ground them and bunged them in. One fresh chilli I used was quite hot, and probably hotter than what is needed so I'll be avaoiding those again too. It's not bad, it's just that the chilli tastes slightly metalic at times because of it. I think it's the wrong style of chilli. I was blown away the first time I got a few cans of Chipotle en Adobo so I knew that would be great with the dish. Incidentally I used the Aldi O'Shea's golden ale and it did a great job. Great Recipe OP! It's one I'll be coming back to again for sure!

Ponster

Sparks, if I don't have Chipotle in Adobe Sauce can I just rehydrate some dried chipotles? I've looked at making my own sauce but it doesn't look like there would be any point in making the sauce just to make the chilli.

Sparks

I've made it with chipotle powder Ponster. It's not quite the same really. It's still quite good though.

I did go off a little while ago to an online shop (google for "site:.ie chipotles" and you'll find it) and ordered six cans of the stuff, it's fairly cheap that way and will keep for over a year.

Meself

Hi Sparks... Just came across this recipe and in process of making

I got jar of chipotle in adobo. When you say t spoon of adobo sauce is it just slthe sauce ? Not the whole chipolesin the jar as well ?

Cheers mate. The smells already are spectacular!