Chili Cook-off: Christmas edition

If there's one thing we Selleck's can get excited about, it's food. If there's one thing the Holidays are about, it's sharing. Why not mash the two up a bit and enjoy sharing food?

This year for our little(?) family gathering we decided on a nice informal chili cook-off to serve as the centerpiece chow. It's something we've done once before, and we all enjoyed it. Why not once more?

All in all there were four entries, and all were very different. The great thing about this cook-off is that we all win because we're also the judges. Presented with 4 pots of steamy goodness to test and re-test, the judges always win.

With so much family time to spend, and children underfoot to entertain we didn't do much quizzing of each other on our pots this year. We had my entry, which always ends up rather thick and meaty, a venison entry, a multi-bean and corn entry and a sweet-spicy entry with chick peas in the mix. Quite a zesty variety.

I thought I would plop down what I did this year (partially for my own edification, since it is different each time).

This time around I crutched out and used a store-bought spice packet: Uncle Shelby's. It's a pretty good baseline for what I like. It's what I used when I first started making chili for myself, before I got adventurous with my spice rack. Sadly, once I ventured out of the packet I was never one for recording how much of what I put in, so I will leave a small note afterward of some rough sketches I did once, which might serve as a baseline of sorts.

Uncle Shelby's packet is suited for approx. 2 lbs meat and about 16 oz. liquid ingredients (8 oz tomato sauce, 8 oz water). What I gathered for this year's pot:

1 Uncle Shelby packet
2 lbs 80/20 ground beef
8 oz chorizo gound sausage
3/4 or 1 large white onion
1 red pepper
1/2 green pepper
2 jalapeno peppers
red pepper... ever so careful, but enough to notice
tad cracked black pepper
some salt... shake until it feels subtle
a couple pinches chipotle powder
a couple shakes of ground white pepper
white sugar - small pyramid in the palm (necessary? silly? I don't know)

Browned beef in a wide pan and used a baster to remove most drippings from the pan. Tried not to be too thorough because hey! that's moisture and flavor. Dumped meat into end pot. I sweated the diced onions in the same pan the beef was browned in. The left-over grease on the pan cooked in with the onions, or that was the idea. I dumped them in with the beef. Added 8 oz can of tomato sauce. Mix and put on low heat.

In a cast-iron pan I cooked up the chorizo, browned well, then added to the pot without draining. In the same pan I added red pepper, green pepper and jalapeno. I sautee'd them (with a bit more onion, because I can't help it) and then added to the pot.

Add about 8 oz water to the whole (where all in the end pot now). Add spice and cook down. At this point it was a bit thick so I added another 4-5oz tomato sauce. Done, sort of.

At this point the "thing" is sort of on simmer. I just keep it from burning to the bottom with stirring and giving it a loving taste now and again... which sometimes causes me to add a dash of this or that and continue cooking.

The above makes a pretty thick chili apparently, but it is to my taste. And it gives a lot of room for play. Once upon a time I tried measuring out some spices for what I might do instead of the Shelby packet and they go like this (keeping in mind I usually add more of whatever as my whimsy demands later):

2.5 tbs Chili Powder
.5 tsp garlic powder
.5 tsp cumin
shake oregano
.5 tsp onion powder
1 tsp paprika
.5 tsp cayenne

The above is no guarantee of anything. I know this is a bit much for 1 lb of beef, but might be light for 2 lbs of meat. The ratio's I feel are pretty solid though.

Lastly, I often add a can of chili beans which usually have their own spice and liquid. I didn't add any in this year's competition but I make sure to add them late if I plan on letting it cook through a while.