BoonvilleForum.com was a sponsor of the Owen Lee's 5th annual poker walk this year which was held right in the middle of the 2009 Fall Arts festival in Boonville New York.* While we were there, we entered the chili cook off and to our surprise, actually won first place!
The judging took place at around 11 a.m. with the three judges trying each entry.
I have to admit I was a bit nervous.* I started BoonvilleForum.com a year ago and we have not actively promoted it.* We put the site up so residents could have a decent forum to discuss local happenings and issues as opposed to the vile Topix site that allows slandering and filth.* My hopes were just to place in the contest so we could give the site a little exposure, but wouldn't you know it, we won!* Here I am sporting one of the BoonvilleForum.com shirts when they called me up to get the trophy.
All of the chili that was submitted to be judged was sold to benefit the Chamber of Commerce and the festival.* I never even got a chance to taste any of the other entries; the chili sold so fast.* I think this can only mean that all entries were excellent!* I promised everyone there I would post my recipe here.* I enjoy cooking chili so this recipe is a bit long, please bear with me:
Ingredients list:
- 1 - 1/2 pound beef brisket, cut into 1 inch cubes
- 20 - 25 medium Roma tomatoes
- 1 large red onion, small dice
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed into a paste using the side of a chefs knife and kosher salt (video how-to here)
- 2 large Pablano peppers diced, seeds removed
- 2 large Cayenne peppers diced, seeds removed
- 3 large Jalapeno peppers diced , seeds removed
- 64 ounce can dark red kidney beans, drained
- 1 large carrot, pulverized in a food processor to the consistency of coarse horseradish
- 1 - 1/2 cups of red table wine.* I used a local wine by Lucas Vineyards called Tug Boat Red 2007
- 1/4 cup cumin seed
- 1/8 cup chili powder
- 2 teaspoons Cayenne pepper
- 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
- canola oil
- 1/2 cup flour
- salt and fresh ground pepper
Note, there are a lot of steps, please read the entire recipe before you cut or cook anything.* Preparation makes this go a lot easier.
Preheat oven to 425
Wash the tomatoes and when dry, place them on a large baking sheet.* Drizzle canola oil over them then roll the tomatoes around the pan so as to coat them, and the bottom of the pan.* Sprinkle with fresh ground pepper.* (Why fresh ground?* Because it is FRESH.
)* Roast the tomatoes in the oven for 10 minutes, then turn them and roast for another 10 minutes.* Remove from oven and let cool.
Set oven to 250
Grind the cumin seed in a spice or coffee grinder or if you cannot find cumin seed, measure out about 1/8 cup ground cumin.* In a large resealable plastic bag, add HALF of the fresh ground cumin, the flour and about 3 tablespoons of salt.* Add fresh ground pepper (about a teaspoon).* Mix together and then add the cubed brisket.* Shake the bag making sure to coat all the meat.* At some point you are going to want to get a lot of the air out of the bag and then press the flour mixture right into the meat.** Let sit a couple minutes, then shake again and repeat.
While you are waiting for the flour mixture to set in on the meat, you can begin carefully peeling the skin off the tomatoes.* The skins should be cracked and peeling on their own at this point, but be careful not to squeeze the tomatoes too much as all the juice will come out.* Remove as much of the skin as possible.
(In the next step you can use a dutch oven or any other heavy sauce pan that has a lid and can go in the oven)
In a large dutch oven, add enough canola oil so that there is about a 1/8 inch layer on the bottom of the pan.* Heat the pan to medium high.* The oil should not smoke, but be close to the smoke point.* Once the oil is to temperature, begin adding the meat in small batches making sure you do not over crowd it.* Shake off any excess flour mixture before adding the meat to pan.* Brown for about 1 minute then turn all the meat brown for another minute.* Place the meat on a plate lined with paper towels and then repeat until all batches are done.
Reduce the heat under the dutch oven to medium low.* Make sure the oil is not still screaming hot, and then add the onions and cook for about 1 minute.* Add all the peppers and cook for 1 minute.* Stir in the garlic paste and let cook for about 15 - 30 seconds and then SLOWLY add the wine.* While you are adding the wine, use a wooden spoon to stir it in, scraping the bottom of the pan and incorporating all of those burned on bits into the wine, otherwise known as deglazing (
video how-to here).* As soon as about a 1/4 of the wine evaporates off (reduces) gently stir the brisket back to the pot.
Take each tomato and cut the top off and then add the tomato to the sauce, repeat for each.* Gently stir the tomatoes into the chili, do not over work them.
Add the pulverized carrots.* These carrots should be beyond minced.* You do not want to taste a chunk of carrot in the final chili.* If you pulverize them small enough, It will dissolve into chili.* Carrots add sweetness and even better, balance out the acidity in the chili reducing, if not eliminating chili induced upset stomach.
Gently add the beans to the chili.
Gently stir the paprika, chili powder, Cayenne pepper, and remaining ground cumin to chili.* Add salt and pepper to taste.
Cover with a tight lid and place in the oven.* Let cook for 5 hours.* When finished, you will have to taste the chili and adjust to your liking.* No two pots of chili ever come out the same so this is somewhat a crucial step.
This can be served immediately but tastes even better if you let it cool to room temperature, then refrigerate overnight.* Reheat the chili in a crockpot, or slowly in the oven.
As you can see, there are a few steps but that is a good thing.* Each step in a recipe is where you can change it and make it your own!* Try different peppers, tomatoes, spices, techniques or cuts of meat.
I would like to thank those at the
Chamber of Commerce and the judges!* We had a great time.
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