Salsa!

No, I don't mean the dance.

I didn't update this blog when I made my batch of salsa recently, so I wanted to post the recipe, so here you go!

2 Medium Tomatoes
2 Serrano Chile
1 Jalapeño Chile
2 Cubanelle Chiles
1 Orange Bell Pepper
1 Yellow Bell Pepper
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Green Bell Pepper
1/2 of 1 Large Red Onion
16 oz of pureed tomatoes
1/2 Lime
1/2 small bunch of Fresh Cilantro
1 TBSP Kosher Salt

Cut the Chiles in half and scrape out the seeds. Lay them flat, skin side down, and with a knife placed flat, cut out the ribs, leaving the flesh and skin in tact and cut into 1/4" cubes. (For a more spicy salsa, simply chop the chiles whole into 1/4" cubes.)
Cut the Bell Peppers in quarters and cut them the same way as the Chiles, removing the ribs.
Chop the Tomatoes into 1/4" cubes.
Chop the Red Onion into 1/4" cubes.
Separate the Cilantro leaves from the stems and rough chop.
Combine all chopped elements in a large mixing bowl and add the pureed tomatoes (but not the cans).
Cut your lime in half and juice in hand or over a strainer to remove the pulp.
Stir loosely with a large spoon to combine, chill for 2 hours to allow flavours to meld.
Sprinkle in Kosher Salt to taste; about 1 TBSP.

Serve with your favourite dipping chips. I served it with white corn tortilla chips.

Here's the best thing: It gets better as it chills in the fridge; the flavours just get better and better. :)

Enjoy!

Chile Head or Chili Head?

Greetings everyone!

How about an early update, since my updates have been rather sporadic lately, rather than regular? A post at the beginning of the month is certainly a great way to do that! But enough of that...

Health issues aside, I've not had much of a chance to get out and show my passion for chili and chiles recently, since the last chili (Chili with an I, to borrow a phrase) competition I was at was in mid October, and I won't likely get to another one until January at the earliest. This means that I need to find other outlets for my passion for not only chili, but chile (that's Chile with an E) peppers as well.

I follow a number of blogs and websites that talk about the newest things in Chili and Chiles, including Scott Roberts' website, and Dick's Chili World. While I can buy chiles at local stores, and can get all sorts from the web, and I can make chili whenever I want, I've not given enough time to specialty stores such as Pepper Palace, which I ambled into today at Water Tower Place in Chicago, IL. Thusly, this entry will be about that experience.

I've been to enough specialty culinary supply stores in malls to see a nice wall of hot sauces, mild sauces, salsas, and other chile pod creations, usually catering to people who have a desire to collect and show off what they buy rather than to actually take these sauces home and try them out. In addition, in my experience, the staff running such stores may have knowledge about one or two of these sauces, but don't have experience with everything on the wall. When I walked into Pepper Palace today, I wasn't sure what I would find.

First of all, I didn't just find one wall of hot sauces, I found an entire store. In addition,  I found O'Neill Ryan and James Conroy: two very knowledgeable and enthusiastic gentlemen who love to talk about chiles until they turn blue in the face, and who are serious about educating their customers about anything you can find in their store.

(O'Neill Ryan (l), and James Conroy (r))

I wandered in (and my partner wandered away) and was greeted by both of these aficionados, who were more than happy to answer any questions about their store, and even more questions about anything in it. I asked them, after having looked at some of their sauces, and having read a few articles on Scott Roberts' site, if they'd heard about the recent buzz about the Carolina Reaper (aka the HP22B Chile Pepper, article here), to which they answered no and began to research it that moment. After some talk about said chile, O'Neill must have deemed me worthy of some level of chile-head-dom (is that even a word?) and took me over to their tasting table, which included all sorts of hot sauces from the tame to the tail-whipping.

We had talked about the Butch Scorpion, which is used in their Scorpion Stinger sauce, and he asked me to get a spoon. Oh boy, I'm in for it. I politely smiled and asked how soon I'd be dying, talking a little more about my research, and he smiled and simply asked me to hand him my spoon. As much as I'd love to say I woke up later in the ER (for shock value), I'm even happier to say that while there was indeed very significant heat to the sauce, the flavour was absolutely wonderful. Through some sweat, hiccups, and a few screwed up faces, the fruity notes of the chiles came out wonderfully, and the bite, while building and powerful, did its job and then let my mouth rest with a lingering memory of its visit.

This led us to talking more about chile peppers, trying more sauces, such as their Chocolate Habañero Sauce, and even talking about festivals such as ZestFest, and local chili cookoffs. I told them both about my involvement in chili cookoffs, and that the next one I was hoping to attend was in Orland Park, the Chilly Willie Challenge Regional. I asked if they'd ever been to any of the local cookoffs, and mentioned how much I'd like to see them at one. I'm hoping that, based on O'Neill's reply, that they can start to come to a few of them as a vendor. They seemed very interested in drumming up some local interest.

All of this being the wonderful experience that it was, I ended up walking out with what they suggested as the best introduction to their line of sauces, their Ghost Pepper Sauce, and a promise to return soon to talk more about chiles, chili, and to try a few different sauces. I can happily say that while they've only been in this store for 8 months, I hope to visit them at least once a month from here on out, especially since I got my partner to finally enter the store with me, and she found something for herself as well!

All in all, I think that in addition to being a Chili Head, I'm becoming more of a Chile Head than I've ever been through meeting O'Neill and James, and through the knowledgeable and friendly service they offer. If you are in Chicago and have a genuine interest in Capsicums, are just getting started in the world of hot sauce, or just want to learn more about sauces in general, stop into their store. You'll not be disappointed.

A Scent of Cumin in the Air

Someone asked me not too long ago why I liked Chili Con Carne so much. To be honest, I'd not given it any real thought beyond the fact that I just happen to like how it tastes. However, I've been giving it some more inspection, and it really is far more complex than that, I think.

I am very much a Pacific Rim girl. Starting there, I was born in California, spent my early life in Hawai`i, have lived in California, Hawai`i, Tennessee, Texas, spent time in Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. I've spent extensive time in Baja, Mexico. All of this before I even hit 25. It is only in recent years that I've moved to the midwest, so you can easily say, without a doubt, that I have the Southwest and Pacific Rim in my blood. I have chile peppers burned into me as part of my native cuisine, and so it comes natural to me to crave foods that not only serve up the heat, but that also bring a lot of the flavours together of the region to make wonderfully savoury dishes. Enter Chili Con Carne.

No, its not Molé, which is more authentically Mexican, and its more than Salsa Mexicana. Its also more than just biting into a Jalapeño or Habañero. It is certainly not entering a "Death By Capsaicin" challenge. Its about flavour combined with a bit of a kick. Chile Con Carne, despite all the mystery around its origin, is a great fit for this craving. There is so much variety in making the dish, so much control a person has over the profiles going into it, that it is easy to make the dish a thousand times and never have an identical experience. Chili (Con Carne) is a wonderful melting pot of flavours, is a great food to eat in any season, and for me personally, is a wonderful comfort food.

I know that my partner thinks I'm obsessed, but really, isn't anyone who really has a passion and love for something obsessed to a certain degree? I've been making Chili since I was 12, and have recently started to compete in cookoffs sanctioned by The International Chili Society, learning even more about the varieties and types of Chili that are out there. I never knew there were people who competed on a national level in the preparation of Chili, and when I found these others, I felt like I'd found a new family. The more I got to know them, the more I realized that many of them have the same passions outside of "Competition Chili", and make amazing Chili for the sake of making a great pot of "red".

Let me say something to clarify my position with my partner:

I love my partner to death, but she has a very midwestern palate, and does not tend to get involved in my more fiery adventures when it comes to Southwestern, Mexican, and spicy food in general. I'd never force her to, naturally, because she's got her own tastes, and we have a wonderful time being foodies and adventurers with the rest of the cuisines out there, especially Middle-Eastern and Indian foods. I'm also introducing her to Pacific fish, which she's never had very much of. She's really loving it. She puts up with my Chili hobby, but its just not her thing. No harm done.

For the rest of you, my adventures in Chili have led me to a whole new world (don't you dare sing it aloud!) of rediscovery of Latin American cuisine, from South America to Mexico and Spain. Having been raised with a green thumb (thanks, grandpa!), I want to start raising my own herbs and spices (when possible) to make some of my own blends, once we live in a place that will sustain a garden. I want to learn to make my own Molé, and thanks to some inspiration from Rick Bayless, try my hand at some Yucatán cuisine.

I'm a cook, have always been, and am really thrilled to be able to have this kind of cuisine at home to share with my partner and with my friends. Chili is a great way to do that, because it is such a versatile dish, and can be made so many different ways. Even as a sauce for, dare I say it, seafood. I've found some great ways to make a Chili Con Carne applicable to so many dishes, and there are so many chile peppers out there, that I am likely never going to run out of things to try. I hope to share more of them with you as I do.

What Happened To July?

Heya gang,

So... I know I missed a month... but what can I say, its been quite the month to miss. July has been full of health issues and family stuff, so I've not had much I could contribute. Things are... well I'm not dead. :P

Ok, so back to cooking. I don't have a lot for you, but I wanted to share some of my more recent forays into the cooking world. Lately I've been working on my Chili, as you know, and I've actually completed a far far better batch... in fact, two batches since the last entry. And in the last week, particularly this past weekend, I got to connect with the competition chili cookoff crew finally, and have been learning a LOT! Thanks to Isaiah Frechette and Jim Stoddard particularly for all their help thus far. I've learned more in the last 48 hours than I've learned in the last 9 months of research and cooking experiments. I'm actually preparing for my next round of recipe revisions, though I don't think we'll see another until September. I'm also hoping to connect with some of these folks in person at one of the upcoming chili cookoffs in the semi-local area. More on that as information becomes available.

We've been eating a LOT of roast pork shoulder. We have a recipe that we based ours on, though I've changed it a bit, particularly due to weight, and have adjusted cooking times appropriately. I've added a few of my own twists as well. One reason for the pork indulgence: The local supermarket has been selling a double pack of whole, bone-in pork shoulder (left and right shoulders, respectively), weighing about 15lb total, and for a very reasonable price. One of these packs lasts us at least a month and a half.

These are extremely useful cuts of meat, very versatile. We've made everything from pulled pork sandwiches to pseudo-carnitas, sliced roast and gravy, cubed pork with a chili sauce... its been wonderful.

Today's lunch, for example, was made from the roast pork we made yesterday, which we shredded, and I reheated in a non-stick skillet today with a chopped up chipotle and its surrounding adobo sauce, as well as some dried ingredients such as cilantro, mexican oregano, roasted granulated garlic, and onion powder. With a little bit of kosher salt to finish it off, I added a little bit of water to the pan and lidded it to let the spices soak in, simmered for about 10 minutes, and then made tacos out of it with some warmed flour tortillas. Great stuff!

I'm afraid that, meager as it is, that is all I have for you this time. I will try to have an entry next time that reflects my usual kitchen geekery. Thank you all again for reading, see you next time!

Holy Macaroni and Chili, Batman!

Ok gang,

Barely making it in for a June entry, but I made it!

Today's adventures aren't as extreme as some of my others, so more just an update or two. I'll work backwards, starting with the most recent bit of cooking. I made Macaroni and Cheese. I found a general recipe that I liked, and of course, I modified the living daylights out of it. I don't have any photos of the making of it, but I do have a photo or two of the finished product. Here's the short list of what I did:

1. Grated 8oz each of extra sharp Cheddar and Colby cheeses, set aside.
2. Chopped up 1/2 of a medium yellow onion.
3. Portioned out some Smoked Paprika, Ground Onion, Ground Roasted Garlic, and Ground Cayenne Pepper.
4. Portioned out about 1 cup of heavy cream and 5 cups of 2% milk.
5. Boiled and drained 1 pound of elbow noodles, cooked to just before al dente, cold rinsed to stop the cooking.
6. Melted 1 stick of butter in a pot over medium heat, let the water bubble out and added about 5-6 tablespoons of flour to it and made a blonde roux. It took about 7 minutes or so to get the color I wanted and that there were no lumps.
7. Slowly added the milk to the roux, whisking to make sure no clumping occurred.
8. Added the spice mix, onions, and 2 bay leaves, and whisked until blended.
9. Cooked this mix for about 10-12 minutes over medium-low heat to thicken.
10. I then whipped up a single egg and used the mixture to temper the egg in, making a custard, and then returned the tempered egg mixture to the pot.
11. Added about 2/3 of the cheese, which had been mixed together to make sure of an even distribution, and stirred in until blended.
12. At this point, I seasoned the sauce with kosher salt and black pepper.
13. Final rinse on the noodles, which had remained hydrated without an issue, shook them good to drain the remaining water, and then added back into the pot and mixed well.
14. Scooped the mix into my favourite trio of ceramic baking dishes (seen below), coated each with the remaining cheese, and a topping made of panko breadcrumbs that had been tossed in about 6/8 of a stick of butter, which I'd melted in the microwave.
15. Uncovered, placed these on a sheet pan in case bubbling over occurred, and baked for 30 minutes.
16. I then pulled them from the oven and rested them for about 5 minutes before cutting it into portions.

I'd given my partner a taste of the sauce before I portioned the casseroles out, and she was ecstatic. I'm amazingly happy with how this came out! I've not made a Béchamel Sauce in ages, and I'm only so-so when making a Roux. But even so, this came out amazing. A photo of it follows below.

The other thing to note is my first attempt at a competition red chili. I'm not posting this recipe, though I will say that I started by writing a recipe based on my experience with making homestyle chili, and then went to town in the kitchen. I ended up modifying the heck out of the thing, making notes all throughout the process, and making my recipe sheet look like an insane grand unification equation gone berserk. But in the end, it came out amazingly good, but not at ALL red.

In fact, it came out brown. :(

*SIGH*

However, the people I served it to, at one of our annual meat festivals, bear hugged me. And these are grown men, who are professional heavy metal rockers. I think it was a taste success. But it isn't where I want it yet. A photo of it follows as well.

And now... the photos!

The Mac and Cheese right out of the oven.

Extreme closeup!

*sigh* Brown, but amazingly good chili.

Keep cooking, everyone, and I'll see you next time!

Another late update... I need to get better at this...

Hi gang!

Ok, I know I'm posting in a rather sporadic manner, and I'm rather overdue, but here's something new for you.

I've been spending a lot of time on a cast iron forum that I found, and am really excited to have made that connection, because there is just so much good information! I know I showed you all my "catch" from Michigan, and even the pan that I cleaned from that batch. That pan was cleaned using "The Oven Cleaner Method", which involves setting out a tin roasting pan with a garbage bag in it, and the pan inside of that. You spray it down on both sides and then leave it to soak in, wrapping the bag tightly so that the oven cleaner doesn't evaporate. It takes a few coats of the toxic smelling stuff, and its messy and hard to deal with, and takes a few weeks of sitting and reapplying coats, smelling up the house and possibly doing damage to your lungs.

The gang on the forum have other methods that are much more effective, and less dangerous to your lungs: using electrolysis to clean the pan, and using a bath of water and sodium hydroxide, or lye. Because I live in a small apartment, and I don't have room, nor money, to invest in an electrolysis rig, I decided to research lye even more.

First of all, its caustic stuff. Lye is used in soap making, and believe me, it will get you clean, but in its pure form, when added to water, it can eat away at your clothes and skin. I did a lot of reading online both at this forum and in other areas on the internet, and found that while it can be dangerous, so is a car, if you are irresponsible with it. Be cautious, and respect your tools, and you'll be fine. I decided to do this.

I got myself a nice lime green Sterilite tub/bin, and ordered lye from a chemical supply store. I researched the proper labeling and safety precautions, and made some labels for the bin, added my water, and then added my lye. While I don't have photos of any of the results yet (and I apologize for that, life has been kinda insane lately), I do have photos of the lye bath being setup and the pans resting inside of it, being cleaned nearly immediately upon entering the tub.

The tub, ready to accept water and lye.

The tub, full of 5 gallons of water.

Adding lye to the tub.

Two pans, already coming clean from the bath.

I'll have more photos next time of the results of this cleaning. Enjoy all, and sorry for the late update. Happy cooking!

Late update!

Hi gang!

This will be a simple update, but here is the latest. I've not been doing a lot creative lately, so I don't have as much as I'd usually put here, but there are two things I'd like to share.

The first is cast iron. I've been working on the small Griswold #3 pan, and am really happy with how its come out. Here's a before and after for you, top and bottom:

This is the bottom of the pan, before cleaning.

And the top/inside of the pan, before cleaning.

And now, drum roll!

The bottom of the pan, after cleaning.

And the top/inside of the pan, before cleaning.

Amazing, no? I'm really really excited about how these are coming out! I've only had the chance to work on the one, and I was using the oven cleaner method for this pan. I plan to try a lye bath for the next couple of pieces, I'll let you know how that goes.

The next update isn't anything spectacular, just sharing my latest breakfast meal: Chorizo and Egg Burritos with cheese and potatoes. Generally, I make my meals for a week, and I've been making these for a couple of weeks now, slightly varying the recipe as I go along. I am afraid I don't have any pictures, but here's how the recipe generally rolls out with variables in parenthesis:

5 flour tortillas (preferably made with lard and not too thick)

10 oz of loose Chorizo, pork or beef will do (loose meaning not chorizo links, but loose like you'd find breakfast sausage)

5 eggs

Grated Cheddar Cheese to taste

(3 small red potatoes)

(1/4 of 1 white or yellow onion)

If using potatoes, par-cook the potatoes, either in the microwave or by boiling. If boiling, cut beforehand into around 1/4 inch squares. If using microwave, cut after they cool a bit. Cooking time will vary depending on your microwave.

If using onions, cook onions on medium-low heat until they become translucent in a nonstick pan. At this time, add the chorizo into the same pan, and continue to cook at  medium-low to medium heat, letting it loosen in the pan until it becomes fine and slightly caramelized. Set aside to let cool. (if not using onions, cook chorizo as above)

Break the eggs into a small mixing bowl and whip together, either with a fork or whisk. I usually lightly wipe out the pan the chorizo was cooking in and then dump the eggs in to scramble, also on medium-low to medium heat until just barely done.

Heat each tortilla either in the microwave or using a pan on the stove, until the tortilla is pliable. (I generally put them in the microwave one at a time, for about 15 seconds) Combine your ingredients and roll as you would roll any tortilla, either as a burrito or a taco.

That's it for this round! Everyone stay cooking and stay tuned for updates. I'll try not to go so long between updates next time.

Happy cooking!

Antiquing In Michigan, February 2012

Antiquing? What does that have to do with kitchen stuff? Well, I'll tell you...

It has to do with getting some vintage cast iron! I made out like a bandit this trip, and ended up with 6 different pans, which I'll show you below. I didn't pay more than $15 for any one of these items, and they're all in completely restorable condition, and will look amazing when done. For now, here are each of them (click on image for larger version):

Pan 1:

Pan 2:

Pan 3:

Pan 4:

Pan 5:

Pan 6:

That's it! And that's also it for this entry... I don't have any new adventures in cookery to share yet, but I'll have something more interesting next time. For now, enjoy the pans, and I'll let you know when I have them cleaned and seasoned. I'm hoping to try a few new techniques as well, so will let you know more about that when the time comes. 

Happy cooking!

Delays, delays...

Sorry for the delay gang, I know its been a while since my last entry.

I have to admit that there's not been a lot going on here lately, January has been a rather low key month, though I assure you I've been coming up with more ideas. Most of them involve meat, and a few involve chili, though I'll not give away too many details. In another turn of events, there will be a lot more meat to do things with if all goes well this February. Its looking like there may even be some venison to talk about! I'm very excited about that possibility, I really do love venison. Its such a versatile meat, and I can't wait to bring new things to the site with some of my ideas. In the meantime, I'll try to post here and there with some of my ideas or with some of my experiments with what I do have around. Maybe even bacon, because it just makes everything better. ^^

For now, keep cooking, and see you next time!

Winter Chili Festival MMXII (2012)

Hello food fans!

Tonight's entry is about something near and dear to my heart: Chili. I love making chili, likely more than I love eating it, though I do love a well made chili. So much so, that I've gone to some great lengths to learn more about chili, its origins, and its varied styles, before settling on my own make, which is a Texas style chili con carne, which I can't get enough of.

About a month ago, I met a newcomer to my workplace, who had brought chili to a staff meeting that I wasn't sure I wanted to be at. His chili made my night, because even though it wasn't a traditional Texas style chili, it was made well and had wonderful flavour. I spent most of the night, in between staff meeting topics, asking him a bunch of questions and discussing my love of chili with him as he did the same with me. Well needless to say, we shortly thereafter determined we needed to get together to cook some chili.

This proved to be more of an adventure than we thought, and took about 2 months to really figure out. While we were trying to work out the logistics of work schedules and time off, and time to dedicate to a proper batch of chili, I happened upon a rare find at the grocery store: A Bhut Jolokia Chile. Many of you know this chile as a "Ghost Chile Pepper", and may have heard this name tossed around on the internet or on several popular cooking shows on various cable network shows. I was so surprised to see it, that I bought it immediately.

I told my coworker about this find while we were at work together, and suddenly not only did he want to try it in a good batch of chili, but so did a wide variety of people at work, both carnivores and vegetarians alike. This was the start of what turned into tonight's events: Winter Chili Festival 2012.

Every autumn, I make a batch of chili and bring it in to work to share with my coworkers. This past autumn, I made two batches, in deference to my vegetarian coworkers, and soon found that both chilis were gone in less than 4 hours. What a hit! I'd discussed having a second batch for the winter, though wasn't sure if I was actually going to do so, until I really started coordinating this chili event. Well, after getting everything worked out, it so happened that my coworker was able to come over this evening, albeit a bit later than I'd hoped, but who cares, we were getting together to have some wonderful chili, and explore the potency of this "Ghost Chile". What follows is the events of the day surrounding my making two batches of chili simultaneously. Here is where we start:

I began by getting out a half sheet pan and oiling it rather well, setting the oven to about 550 degrees, and putting out 2 Poblanos, 2 Anaheims, and a Jalapeño on said pan and letting these chiles roast in the oven until the skins were charred and black.

While the chiles were roasting, I chopped up a large onion, which turned out to be 2 cups per half:

By the time I was done with the onion, it was time to flip the chiles the first time, so using tongs, I did just that and let them continue to roast. I then set the two pans out on the top of the stove: my cast iron dutch oven and my medium stockpot, and put a little oil in them to get glistening over low heat. I kept turning the chiles in the oven until all sides were well charred, and I had this to look forward to:

I covered these and let them rest, while putting the onions into the cooking vessels to caramelize over medium heat, and adding a little salt. 

While these were going, I prepared one pound of stew beef for the one batch of chili, cutting it into chunks of a little larger than 1/4 inch each. After putting the beef back into the fridge, I opened up the canned, diced tomatoes I had been saving, a total of about 28oz per batch of chili, drained them, and waited. Once the onions were caramelized, I added the meat to the first batch, let it brown, and then immediately dumped each batch of tomatoes into their respective vessels.

While these were stewing up, I rinsed, de-seeded, and chopped up my roasted chiles and portioned them out for each batch: 1 Poblano and one Anaheim per batch, and the Jalapeño for the beefy chili.

As it turns out, the combination of the two larger chiles came out to about a cup each, which was perfect for what I was trying to accomplish: roasted chile flavour without overdoing the burn. After letting some of the water evaporate from the stewing tomatoes and onions, I lowered the heat to low so that the chili would continue to stew, but nothing would stick to the bottom. I then dumped each of these roasted chiles into their respective vessels.

I let these stew for about 20 minutes while I prepared my special spice mixes for the chili. Here is where I deviate a bit. I will tell you the recipe for these batches because its not something I've finalized, and I have a few more adjustments to make. This is not my competition chili, so I am ok with letting you know what is in the mix. See the recipes at the end of this entry for details. When the mixes for the first spice dump were finalized, this is what I ended up with:

I'm afraid I got a little lazy and didn't take photographs of the second spice dump, but since you are getting the recipe for this chili, you're not really missing out on anything. Anyway, the second spice dump isn't for a while yet, as this spice dump needed to get distributed throughout the stewing food. Once these were added, however, I am very pleased to say that the kitchen suddenly bloomed with aroma, as the colour of the chili also changed to that beautiful mahogany red that I love to see in a good batch of chili.

I let this stew for about 30 minutes. In case you haven't noticed, by the way, there are two spoons sitting on the stove. The reason for this is, again, that the chili on the right is a vegetarian chili, and I didn't want to mix up the spoons between the two when cooking. Veggie stays veggie and gets no mix of the content from the meat chili on the left.

I'm afraid that I'm a little shy of photos for this next section, but I imagine that you're tired of seeing photos anyway. The next step was to put in the stock for each batch. One cup of stock per, for that matter. Now generally, you can use either chicken stock or vegetable stock in the meat chili, because both are neutral enough to only add just the right amount of flavour to the chili without overtaking it. In the case of these batches, I used chicken stock in the meat chili and vegetable stock in the veggie chili.

I let these stew uncovered for about another 30 minutes, watching the liquid reduce, and then added spice dump part 2. I then covered both of the vessels and let them stew for about another 30 minutes. By the time I took the lids off, the aromas were amazingly fragrant, and I ended up with chili that looks like this:

Now I know what you are all wondering: What about the "Ghost Chile"? Well, the fact is that my company hadn't arrived yet as of the time that the chili was nearing its completion, so I uncovered the chili again and created my Masa Harina slurry, which I use as a thickener in all of my chili. Since I don't have a photograph of that, I will post a photograph of the ground/dried spices I used to compose my mixes:

With the thickener in, I again covered the chili for about another 15 minutes and then uncovered it while I let the remaining excess of liquid reduce. About this time, my coworker finally arrived, and I removed the "Ghost Chile" from its bag, put on rubber dishwashing gloves, washed my hands with the gloves on, grabbed my favourite paring knife, and cut into the chile.

I have to say, that while there was only a mild scent of the fruit, the non-scented fumes from the capsaicin were airborne within seconds, and we had a very mild bit of coughing to deal with before we stripped the seeds from the inside and saved a few, then sliced the chile into ribbons and dumped it into the veggie chili. After letting that cook for about 10 minutes, I turned off the burner on the meat chili, and then added drained black beans to the veggie chili. After letting this cook for about 15 minutes, we were ready to eat.

I had everyone (except my partner) sample both chilis, and the responses were overwhelming. I'm rather self conscious about my own cooking at times, even when I know its good, and I found that my self confidence, while humble, was justified. I got rave reviews on this chili, both batches. I was very surprised, too, because this was the first time I'd ever bothered to write down my chili recipe as I made it. Usually I just guesstimate as I go, and it comes out good. But this time, I made a recipe. I'll share the recipes for these chilis in their raw form, since you already have the cooking guidelines in the entry.

I have to say that after eating this with my friends, and having lots of fun conversation and story telling afterwards, that Winter Chili Festival MMXII was a smashing success! The chili was a hit, and I think I'm ready to take the next step in preparing a competition level chili for the next Chili Festival. As I sign off, I'll leave you the raw recipe as I jotted it down. 

Happy cooking, everyone!

Spectral Chili:

1/2 tsp Ground New Mexican Chile

1/2 tsp Ground Chipotle Chile

1/2 tsp Regular Chili Powder

1/2 tspx2 Ground Cumin

28oz diced tomatoes, drained (if canned)

2 cups of yellow onion

1 roasted Poblano Chile, seeded

1 roasted Anaheim Chile, seeded

1 diced/chifonade Bhut Jolokia Chile, seeded

1 cup vegetable stock

1/2 cup of hot water & 1/2 tbsp of Masa Harina mixed well

1 can of black beans, drained

Kim's Kickass Chili Kon Karnal:

1/2 tsp Ground New Mexican Chile 

1/2 tspx2 Regular Chili Powder

1/2 tspx2 Ground Cumin

28oz diced tomatoes, drained (if canned)

2 cups of yellow onion

1-2 pounds of stew meat of your choice (in this case, beef)

1 roasted Poblano Chile, seeded

1 roasted Anaheim Chile, seeded

1 roasted Jalapeño Chile, seeded

1 cup vegetable OR chicken stock

1/2 cup of hot water & 1/2 tbsp of Masa Harina mixed well

Cast Iron Update

Hello again, food people!

So I found out another reason why I was getting that mottled coating in my cast iron skillet. I was cleaning today and decided to do a slight experiment after having let my skillet sit a little too long before cleaning: I cleaned it out and re-wok'ed it, and then set it upside down in the hot oven to dry a bit after a very light coat of oil. I checked it in 10 minutes and I found out why this is a bad idea. I quickly remedied it, but here's the gist of why this has been happening in the past.

Many of the methods for curing/seasoning the pan suggest that when you wipe your pan down, you then invert it and put it in the oven. While there's nothing wrong with putting it in the oven, putting it in upside down is the issue. When you put the pan in upside down, even if you have the thinnest of oil coatings, it doesn't drain evenly over the rest of the pan, and you get patches where there is oil and where there is not oil. If you leave it like this, it will bake in that way, and you will have an uneven surface.

One thing that Black Iron Dude recommends is that if you have a skillet with an uneven surface, make certain that you wipe it down regularly during regular cleanings and reconditioning to make certain that oil doesn't pool. This is indeed important, especially when you consider that to avoid the mottled surface we're trying so hard to get away from, you need to have the pan upright in the oven. Oh yes, the oil will pool, and if you simply put your pan in there with a coat of oil, and the cooking surface facing up, you get deposits of gummy oil in odd places on the pan (depending also on how level your range is), even if your oven is at 500+ degrees, that you will have a royal pain cleaning out later on.

Anyway, that's it for this little escapade, hopefully I'll have some actual food to show you next time I write, I'm hoping to do some photo-worthy cooking this week, so we'll see if that works out.

Happy cooking!