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May 20, 2006
View Comments | Post CommentRecipe: George Orwell's Chili 1984
The versatility of chili is undeniable. It is a food that could easily be a terrible metaphor for America, consisting of a humble mish-mash of meat, beans, peppers, tomatoes, and whatever else comes in off the boat. I first got into making chili when I stumbled across the website for the International Chili Society, which runs the world's championship chili cookoff. The best feature of the site is that they list the recipes of every winner dating back to about 1980.
In the spirit of what most would call "hot sauce culture," the league of world championship chilis are filled with expectedly ridiculous names, such as 1989's "Tarantula Jack's Thundering Herd Buffalo Tail Chili," 1998's "24 Karat Chili," or 1990's notorious "Backdoor Chili." The first chili I made was 2004's "Dog Brath Chili," and it was amazing. I ate nothing but chili in all its forms for the next few days. Chili dogs, chili sandwiches, chili dip, etc.
Today I decided to peruse most of the chili recipes on ICS and pull out the common themes to make a chili of my own. Since 1984 is the year of my birth, I decided to base this mostly off of 1984's championship chili: "Bottom of the Barrel Gang Ram Tough Chili." Oh, and this chili is in no way associated with or endorsed by George Orwell or Big Brother.
George Orwell's Chili 1984
Serves 8. Cooking time: 2 hrs.The ingredients:
- 1 LB. Ground Beef
- 1 LB. Groud Pork
- 2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
- 15 oz. can Hunt's Tomato Sauce
- 10 oz. can Ro Tel diced tomatoes
- 1 Red Onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 can of pinto beans
- 1 can of black beans
- 1/4 c. chili powder
- 1 tsp. oregano
- 2 tsp. cumin
- 1/4 tsp. Tobasco
- 1/2 tsp. Cayenne pepper
- 1 Poblano pepper, 1 Jalepeno pepper, 1 Lime
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese
The Algorithm:
Cook the gound beef and pork in a large pot with the vegetable oil. Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, onion (chopped), and garlic (chopped), and let simmer for 30 min. Add everything else (the peppers should be diced, add only the juice from the lime) and let simmer for one hour. When simmering for the last hour, add water to acheive the taste and texture that you desire. Add salt and pepper to taste, top with cheddar cheese.
Economic Analysis:
All of the ingredients cost about $20, but some of the more expensive spices (like cumin) you will have leftover for future chili endeavors. You should get approximately 7 or 8 bowls of chili out of this, and it should be delicious.
Posted by Chris Santoro at May 20, 2006 11:11 PM | Comments (0) | EatFoo 1.0 Posts
