Cookin again

[Dannyalcatraz]

A couple days ago, I made some cavitappi pasta to be eaten with 2 different sauces.

The first night, we had it with a butter wine sauce with sautéed shrimp & lobster tails. We killed that day 1.

The second sauce was a butter wine sauce baked with a variety of mushrooms & garlic cloves. We’ve worked on that for a couple days now. (I made lots of it.)

Tonight, I decided to pair the pasta & sauce with some hatch chile sausage links. Mom simply mixed hers in with her pasta. But I decided to make a sandwich with mine.

The sandwich was fairly simple: 1 link, sliced open and placed on the toasted sourdough with mayo…with a generous layer of tabouli. The tabouli in this context almost works like dill pickles or a dill relish*- giving a tartness to the sandwich- while simultaneously giving you that herbal kick.

* yes, you could substitute tabouli for dill relish on a hotdog or in an egg salad

 

[Zardnaar]

Satay Chicken hand pie. Was pretty good local bakery.



Meatballs first time in an air fryer.


Minds eye it was a Meatball sub in a burger.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Looks good, Z,

I just realized, we’re closing in on this thread’s 10 year anniversary!

 

[Jahydin]

Been shopping around for a good Texas chili and think I found a winner here!:

Susan’s Terlingua International Championship Chili | Chatty Gourmet

Thousands of cooks from all over North America work each year to qualify for a spot in the granddaddy of all chili cook-offs – The... [more]

www.chattygourmet.com

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Been shopping around for a good Texas chili and think I found a winner here!:

Susan’s Terlingua International Championship Chili | Chatty Gourmet

Thousands of cooks from all over North America work each year to qualify for a spot in the granddaddy of all chili cook-offs – The... [more]

www.chattygourmet.com

That looks like a solid core of a chili recipe. You could easily customize that with your own secret/alternative ingredients. These days, my chilis often include some chunks of chuck and a variety of fresh and smoked, dried chili peppers. I know some people include a splash of beer.

One thing- I’d DEFINITELY look for either saltines or corn chips (like Fritos or tortilla chips) instead of oyster crackers. I’ve almost never seen those served with chili.

 

[prabe]

That looks like a solid core of a chili recipe. You could easily customize that with your own secret/alternative ingredients. These days, my chilis often include some chunks of chuck and a variety of fresh and smoked, dried chili peppers. I know some people include a splash of beer.

One thing- I’d DEFINITELY look for either saltines or corn chips (like Fritos or tortilla chips) instead of oyster crackers. I’ve almost never seen those served with chili.

I agree. My own chili recipes contain two bottles of beer, a wide selection of dried chiles, a couple of weird ingredients, and at least four pounds of meat. I haven't made chili in years, it feels like, though.

EDIT: We've also taken to serving Fritos or something similar alongside, instead of crackers.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think that recipe is probably a little fiddly, with too many ingredients that don't do much.

I would check the International Chili Society (the rival chili contest organization to Terlingua), which used to have a bunch of champion recipes posted there. I developed my recipe (also a championship recipe, although not the ICS or Terlingua) after looking at those and figuring out what I wanted to include and what I didn't.

In general, I think chili recipes succeed with fewer ingredients, rather than more, so that the flavors you typically want -- cumin and chili powder -- are front and center.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Sometimes, streamlining will give you superior results.

 

[Jahydin]

I think that recipe is probably a little fiddly, with too many ingredients that don't do much.

MSG, MSG, and more MSG!

I would check the International Chili Society (the rival chili contest organization to Terlingua), which used to have a bunch of champion recipes posted there. I developed my recipe (also a championship recipe, although not the ICS or Terlingua) after looking at those and figuring out what I wanted to include and what I didn't.

Never heard of it, but certainly will! I don't think I've ever cooked the same chili recipe twice. So much fun to hop around and try new ones. Even... Cincinnati variants!

Oooh... for others that are interested, these look amazing:

ICS Chili, Inc.

www.chilicookoff.com

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think this is the recipe I used as my starting point for my competition chili recipe: Title Page

I got rid of the hot sauce (pointless in those quantities, IMO), added two other ingredients and tweaked the quantities of a lot of the other ingredients.

I belatedly came around to using Gebhardt's after I stopped competing and can certainly see why so many chili chefs prefer it. It's very, very good and a huge step up from what one might get from McCormick's, etc.

Also, if you are trying to do competition chili, note that the timing of some of these ingredients is very important, especially when you add salt and in what quantities. A lot of competitors do the somewhat dirty trick of salting with a lot of extra salt immediately before the judges get it, so the flavor is intense, making the other competitors' chili taste bland in comparison.