Confession time. Until about 2 weeks ago I’d never made chilli con carne. Weeeellll not strictly true as I bet you me and my wife cooked a packet mix a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. I digress (I’m quite good at that).
Off I went, searched for a few recipes and yep, plenty of generic chilli offerings and I thought I’d take bits of each and sort my own. I saw one that matched 500g of minced beef with 4 x 400g tins of tomatoes – that seemed like a bit too much tomato action so I dropped that to 2 tins. I was right.
Each to their own but this turned out just how I wanted it – like it had been cooking for all eternity. And I don’t mean in a ‘stick the veg on 2 months before Xmas day’ way either. It’s not a case of ‘it’s good for slow cooking’ – I’d argue that it’s essential.
“Oh but I don’t have time.” Bolleaux. Want a good chilli? Read on…
Ingredients
4 generous portions here.
- 500g minced beef – your call on the fat content. I prefer more fat and then to pour off the excess.
- 2 x 400g tins of tomatoes. Peeled plum for me every time. Passata might be a bit too much.
- 1 x 400g tin red kidney beans
- 1 x 400g tin Heinz 5 mixed beans (or any mixed beans or even just baked beans if that’s all you’ve got in).
- 1 x medium / large carrot – finely-grated
- 1 x large onion finely-chopped
- 2 x sticks celery finely-chopped
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 x beef stock cube or pot
- 2 x bay leaves
- 3 x garlic cloves, finely-chopped or grated
- Worcestershire Sauce (not much, just a quick shake)
- 1 tbsp honey (any)
- 1 tsp birds eye chilli flakes (amount is to preference). You could use fresh chilli if you wanted – either instead of or in addition to. Your call.
- 300ml water
- Optional – 1 tbsp of chilli honey rather than the regular honey & chilli flakes. It’s got enough of a kick.
Method
Oven slow cook 120 degrees for 5 to 8 hours.
To start off with, fry the beef in a frying pan. You’ll likely need to do this in 2 batches so you don’t end up with a wet pile of boiled beef. Get the pan hot, add in half the beef and keep the pan hot. Use a flat ended strong spatula to break the meat down a bit. Don’t worry too much as it will break down in cooking but it helps to get rid of the stringy bits at this stage. If your beef has a bit of fat in it – great because you should let it pop and crackle a bit (you can turn the heat down to medium / low once you start to hear it pop). It will look like you’re over-cooking it but no, it benefits from this. You wouldn’t put a steak in the pan and only let it get to the ‘just brown’ stage would you? No, the flavour comes from the scrozzly bits (technical term). If you’re used to just sticking everything in together while the meat is ‘boiling in its own water’ then this will feel alien to you. Boiled minced beef – how, ughh… pops and crackles = taste. At the same time, don’t kill it but since you’re slow cooking, it will not end up as crunchy chilli.
Put the beef into a large pot or pan once you’ve done both batches. I like a big cast iron oven dish with a lid.
Now put the frying pan back on low and gently (GENTLY) sweat off the onion, celery & carrot. I’ve seen too many folk destroying the onions here – they shouldn’t change colour. 5 to 10 minutes should do it and chuck in the garlic half way through. I can’t stress the low heat enough as burnt garlic is the end of it.
Add in the tinned tomatoes, give it a stir and gently crush them with a potato masher. If you now have tomato adorning your hob / kitchen you ignored the word ‘gently’. Once that’s starting to bubble, chuck the lot into the big pan with the beef. You should set your oven pre-heating now to 120 degrees as you’re nearly ready. Slow and low.
Into the mix with the beans, cumin, paprika, stock pot / cube, bay leaves, Worcestershire sauce, chilli flakes, honey and water. If it looks nice and loose – great. If not, just add a bit more water because you don’t want it drying up. Stir that gently and stick it in the oven. Stir every hour or so to start with and then every half hour. I’d go with anything from 5 to 8 hours.
Keep an eye on the water level – it should be looser than you want right up until near the end of cooking. If it’s a bit wet and you’re hungry, hopefully you’ve got an oven dish that can go on the hob – do that and bubble it down for 20 minutes with the lid off stirring so it doesn’t stick.
No idea if this is authentic or not, I don’t care, it was really very nice though.
