To start with, the chili shown at the left is not from this recipe. That is what real chili looks like. If this is what you want, sorry. I just thought I’d show it for contrast.
So I was sitting around last night thinking to myself what to make for some food. Chili sounded good but I had so few typically chili-type ingredients (ie. onions, green peppers, meat or the like). I browsed around for a bit. . considered all my unconventional ingredients.. until I came across the parts of what could only be described as a kind of jerk sauce meets Cincinnati style (Skyline if you will — and I do). I dubbed it Apple Butter Black Chili. Here’s how it goes.
Note: This would be the first recipe I’ve tried to transcribe from my usually overly hectic cooking methods. My apologies for the lack of proper abbreviation, regard for spelling, profanity, lack of precision while measuring and the second guessing what might have made it better . Oh well.
1 large can of whole tomatoes, pureed. Or tomato puree. Or about 5 fresh tomatoes peeled, cooked, pureed.
1 medium sauce pan of tomato puree — however you can get it
1 small can of tomato paste
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon salt or however much you like
2 tablespoons cumin powder
1 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 shot of pickapeppa sauce (I think the bottle said something about “Goes well with chili”. A shot = however much you think will work)
2 teaspoons chipotle pepper powder — perhaps whole chipotles would work?
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper powder
1 can of black beans, undrained
1/2 to 1 cup of apple butter
To begin with, combine the tomato paste, puree, salt and sugar. Cook it so it boils off the bubbly froth. Add the spices including the cocoa powder and stir until homogenized into a bubbling slurry. At this point add the beans. It is important to not drain the beans in my opinion because the thick soupy liquid really adds to the mess. Once you’ve added them you may be thinking to yourself, “Goddamn this is kind of gross looking”. At this point, ignore this notion and keep going — I often have to suppress the urge to abandon my efforts while blazing new culinary territory.
Ok, back to the pot. You may have had to switch to a larger pot at this point. That was a mistake I had made originally. Sorry for not telling you earlier but I feel like I’ve accomplished more if I have more dishes to clean at the end. Now the final coup-de-grace for this recipe is the apple butter. In my situation, we had this left over deer sausage that my girlfriend’s dad had made. Not sure if people are down with the deer meat, if not, substitute onions maybe? Point is: Time to add some grilled grease. Why not eh? A little oil, some sauteed whatever you have… then slop on the apple butter. It will sizzle like mad. Be sure to toss it often and perhaps stir up a little flame because it will make it look like you know what you are doing. Once this separate concoction is nicely browned, throw it in the chili and let it all simmer for a while. Whenever you’re tired of waiting, go ahead and scoop a bowl.
I had mine poured over some rice. Oddly good — sweet and smokey. Any suggestions for improvement? I promise the next recipe I try to record will be for something a little less disgusting in appearance:
We’ll also be having our launch party/fundraiser this Sunday, Feb 28th, 2010 at 1pm at Barrio downtown. Join us for some complimentary mimosas, and a great brunch! Proceeds benefit the Mid-Ohio Foodbank as well.
19th century mathematician/inventor, Charles Babbage once contacted the poet Alfred Tennyson in response to his poem “The Vision of Sin”. Babbage wrote, “In your otherwise beautiful poem, one verse reads,
So the plans are in motion and the beer has been brewing. Come the 16th, we should be ready for an exciting cookout event complete with chili, lots of homebrew, and room to camp out (to avoid that pesky drive home). More details to come as they get solid (I mean I just came up with the chili idea about 30 seconds ago).