Good Chili?

Patrick, you describe my version of chili perfectly - Texas Red. Love it! We have a tradition of serving up a big batch to friends and family for Halloween.

Question for you -- I've read a number of techniques regarding how to prepare the dried chilies. Some are rather labor intensive (simmer and then remove skins), while others just grind up everything. What's your approach?

My method for prepping dried chiles: wear gloves ( or suffer the consequences ); stem & de-seed the chiles, pop them into a pre-heated 350f oven for about 30 minutes or until roasty, toasty & brittle. ( Not all dried chilies are really completely dried. If they seem a little pliable, there is still some moisture remaining in the chile. Check on them; you don't want them to burn. ) Remove from the oven & let cool; unless you want to do the " Ow, these are really, really hot" dance.
Now since you probably don't own a business that sells "Fine Gourmet Condiments & Seasonings", but, who does? You probably will not have access to an industrial spice grinder, so this will be, at best, a two step process. First throw your toasted chilies into a food processor or blender & process the chilies into as fine a powder as the appliance will allow. Next transfer to a spice/coffee grinder to process into a fine powder. Unfortunately, household spice/coffee grinders tend to be rather small, so it will probably take many small batches to achieve your goal. Your only other choice is to throw your roasted chiles into a mortar & with the pestle mash the crap out of them until your dominate arm resembles that of a French tennis player.
This process will produce a pure chile powder (please note: not CHILI POWDER which is a blend of chile powder & other spices (usually cumin, oregano, black pepper & other stuff.)
When I make chile powder I do not mix the particular chile with anything else. When I make ancho chile powder, that's all it is. Same thing with any other dried chile I may chose to work with. Keeping the chile in it's purest form; I can then start to blend their different characteristics into something, hopefully, special.
BTW Jim, my own recipe for a big o' "Bowl of Red" includes both diced beef & pork, all the usual suspects, lots of chile powder, Mexican oregano, black pepper, one metric ton of cumin, & salt; I never add salt until the end of cooking. My cooking liquid of choice: Mexican beer (Negro Modelo preferred.) Simmer forever; then add a slurry of beer & masa harina (no substitute) to tighten up the mix. I also add fresh chilies to the mix; a big o can of diced green chilies and a heaping handful of diced fresh jalapeno (seeds & ribs removed.)

I didn't know about drying the chiles like that. Now I know why they didn't grind properly when I tried before. Big thanks for that trick.

I'm an all-beef guy. I buy a chuck roast and run it through the food processor, intentionally leaving a mix of sizes. I do brown the beef in a generous amount of bacon fat, however. I also use some of my home-smoked chipotles to get the heat level to where I like it.

While I have great respect for anyone willing to make their own chili powder, that ain't me. As a substitute what commercial chili powder would you recommend and where will I find it?

While I have great respect for anyone willing to make their own chili powder, that ain't me. As a substitute what commercial chili powder would you recommend and where will I find It?

We love the chili powder from Penzey's. They have several different heat levels available as well they makes a call "Chili Con Carne". We create our own mix with 50% of the medium heat level and 50% of the Chili Con Carne mix.

I like rich, rich chilli.

For the past few years, I've been starting my chili with the basic Bloemer's Chilli Powder. You can get it almost everywhere in town for 50 cents a pack. It's a local product. I usually add this at a rate of one pack per pound of whatever meat that I'm using.

You can add various tomatoes and even beans if you want. I like the Rotel 'Hot' variety and the fire roasted salsa tomatoes from Kroger or Walmart for easily adding some heat and sharpness. But usually skip the beans. Then I add some mexican oregano.

Then based on my mood, I'll add ground chilies of various types. Always lots of red. But often add some ancho and pasilla to mole' it up. If more heat and smokiness seems right, then some ground chipotle fills the bill.

Lately, my ground chile and mexican spices have been coming from here. I go through a lot of it. And the ground green chile is fun to experiment with too. But that's a different dish.


You can coat your meat in flour and brown it before starting. These will make the chili thicker and more savory.

Thanks for the suggestions! Steve, Chimayo looked nifty but I will never go through a pound of chili powder! I'm wondering if anyone has bought spices from the Mexican grocery next door to El Mariachi? I seem to remember a variety of spices there in smaller amounts.

In Louisville, it must be Check's Cafe. Although others such as Cumberland have good chili. Check's is classic. Add everything to the chili.

We agree with Steve about Chimayo chili powder, although we order it from http://www.ranchodechimayo.com/tienda/tienda.htm

(We have eaten at the restaurant there, which is great!)

As far as getting in a pound, it goes surprisingly fast. The chamayo chili isn't really "hot" per se, but a tad maybe 'spicy'? We put in almost everything (you can even sprinkle it on ice cream), and it adds almost a umami touch that nobody can exactly identify.

Just to be clear, the Bloemer's packets are chili 'powder', e.g. they have ground chili and other spices already in there.

The stuff I buy by the pound are pure ground chili peppers of various varieties. Using this allows adding a depth of flavor without having to overload with salt, garlic powder, and whatever else might go into chili 'powder'.

I probably go through 3-4 pounds of ground red chili peppers a year and a similar amount of ground green chili peppers. It can go pretty fast! The other ground chilies don't get used as much.

D'oh!

I should point out that you can get smaller sizes too.

The Chile Shop

Chimayo To Go

And I now see that The Chile Shop has lowered their prices, so I may have to send them some more of my business!

Bloemer's chili base is mostly fat. As you said, I do like their chili powder.

Zina at Gavi's Restaurant on 7th Street downtown makes a mean bowl of chili. She gave me her "secret recipe" and mine is nearly as good as hers now.

My husband, on the other hand, makes "orange chili" using Bloemer's chili base. Tastes okay but I have trouble getting past the color and all the soy filler.

I've seen Bloemer's chili base in the store and have never been even remotely tempted to buy it. Since I add my own meat of varying types, I don't see any reason to add extra fat.

However, I actually like the Bloemer's chili powder. It's makes a good foundation IMHO. I like my chili rich, rich, rich, in the sense of red chili. Bloemer's is not expensive, so I can add as much as needed. Usually though, I like to add straight ground red chili after getting started with the Blormer's. Don't forget a little chipotle either.

I know this is an old thread. I haven't been around for a while. This is a chili recipe I developed over 25 years of experimenting.

Doogy’s basic Chili

2 pounds lean ground beef, bison, venison, etc.
1 pound hot Italian sausage
1 6 oz can tomato paste, thinned with a tad of water
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
3 15 ½ oz cans Brooks chili hot beans (Any type of chili bean will suffice)
1 1/2 tablespoons Bloemer’s chili powder (or whatever brand you prefer, Bloemer’s is a locally made product), or more to taste
1 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
1 1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
Plenty of fresh ground black pepper
A few generous splashes of red wine vinegar infused with garlic
3 to 4 medium onions, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 head (a head, not a clove) of garlic, minced
3 chopped chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce
2 sliced Serrano peppers and 1 sliced habanero (or whatever you like, I like mine HOT HOT HOT)
Season to taste after the cooking is underway

1. In a 6 quart pot, brown meat until no longer red. Drain excess fat.
2. Add seasonings, tomatoes, tomato paste, the liquid from the beans, the vinegar and simmer with the lid on.
3. After 30 minutes add the veggies. 1 hour after that add the beans and let simmer 1/2 hour with the lid on, stirring occasionally.

Makes 8 servings. This recipe doubles very well.

If you ever need extra hot chili powder, get some Ziyad brand extra hot from ValuMarket. Don't know whats actually in it, but they aren't kidding around. Usually when they say that I take it with a large grain of salt, this stuff is actually the real deal.

Penzeys also has some really good chili powder. They have it in 3 levels of heat so you can make it as hot as you like and they also have a very good Chili Con Carne spice mix. They also have a couple of different ones that I think are called chili 3000 and 9000 or something like that but I really haven't tried them.

We've been using Penzeys for a long time, even before we moved to Louisville and before they had a store locally. We found them to be a very dependable source of spices at reasonable prices.