Canadian chili 101

December 16th, 2006 in Howto

chillCanadian chili, in my books, differs from classic American chili as it’s mostly bean-based (rather than OD-my-colon-with-beef-based). Where I grew up, chili was the natural conclusion of a classic pasta meat sauce. Both the meat sauce and the chili are lean on the meats, but fat with flavour.

The meat sauce

  • 1 small package of hamburger (or soy equivalent)
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 5 cloves of garlic diced
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp kosher salt
  • 2 tsp black pepper
  • 4 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
  • 2 large cans of diced tomatoes
  • 1 can of tomato sauce
  • 1 can of tomato paste
  • 3 tbsp dried basil, 4 basil cubes, or both if you like basil

You make the meat sauce in two simple steps:

  1. Brown the brownables. Take the onion and hamburger and brown in a large pot (add some olive oil if the hamburger starts to stick). Add the garlic, salt, and garlic powder, and stir. Brown it all nicely. Remember, browned doesn’t mean cook-the-crap-out-of, it means hot-enough-to-turn-it-brown. Actually turn beef brown, otherwise it adds no flavour.
  2. Simmer the whole lot. Add the balsamic vinegar to the browning meat, and scrape off any flavour stuck to the bottom of the pot. Add the tomatoes slowly, allowing them to sizzle in the pot. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a quick simmer, and drop the heat to prevent a tomato-covered stove top.

Taste the sauce. It should taste good by now, if it doesn’t balance it with sugar, salt, garlic, basil, pepper, and cayenne if you like it hot. Add the final seasonings slowly, stiring thoroughly and tasting before adding more.

The chrysalis (put it in the fridge)

Enjoy some pasta and meat sauce, put what’s left over in the fridge, and let it sit a day or two. Something magical happens in the fridge, and the flavours deepen.

Fly away chili

Turning the sauce into chili is simple. Add a bunch of crap to it. I’ve made dozens of combinations of this dish, and you can get away with many variants. I usually make chili as a ploy to clean out my fridge/cupboards.

  • 2 cans of brown beans
  • 1 can of kidney beans
  • Some veggies/fruits. I usually use 2 of: mushrooms, carrots, corn, peppers, pineapple
  • Some flavourful meat(s). Any of these work: bacon, steak, chicken, sausage, pork chops
  • More tomato sauce, paste, or marinara (I always have some on hand)
  • 4-6 tbsp chili powder
  • 1-4 tbsp cayenne
  • 1 tbsp black pepper

The chili-ization is one simple step:

  1. Add chili stuff. Add the above ingredients (seasoning last, and in steps), and simmer for a while. If you need to pre-cook the meat, do so, and add it at any time. You know you’re done when the lot is spicy, beany, and tasty.