Weekender Chili!

Chili is the perfect summer meal. You only need one stovetop burner or a Crock-Pot to cook it, so it generates only a little additional heat inside the house. It can cook deliciously on its own, completely unattended, but it won't be ruined by extra attentive cooks either. It's filling, flexible, and tasty to people of all ages - my two-year-old loves it.

Here's the recipe (really more of a loose framework) for my home-cooked chili. Try it out for yourselves and let me know what you think!

Materials:
large pot, Dutch oven, or Crock-Pot
skillet
spatula
stirrin' spoon
measuring cup: 1 cup
14 - 16 oz cup or jar for mixing tomato sauce
strainer or colander, if using dried beans

Ingredients:
1 lb - 1.5 lb ground hamburger, thawed or fresh
1 medium-sized onion
1 lb (2 cups or 2 14.5 oz. cans) beans, of 2 or 3 different kinds - I use kidney, Great Northern, and small red. (Whether you use dried beans or canned beans depends on how you plan to cook the chili; see "IF YOU ARE USING A CROCK-POT" below.)
14 - 16 oz. tomato sauce (details below)
seasonings - I use generic chili seasoning packets from the local Kroger, which contain chili pepper, dried onion, dried garlic, and sugar, as well as the slightly spooky "other spices" ingredient. I also use whatever hot sauce I have on hand and, occasionally, garlic salt.

IF YOU ARE USING A CROCK-POT: Black beans may stain the inside of your Crock-Pot, so use them at your own risk. It takes longer for chili to cook in a Crock-Pot, meaning if you want chili for dinner tomorrow, you'll have to start cooking it tomorrow morning - but the ceramic liner is easier to clean than a large pot or Dutch oven. Crock-Pots are much better at cooking dried beans than standard stovetop pots, in my experience, so if you ARE NOT using a Crock-Pot, you may want to use canned beans in place of dried.

So you've decided to make chili. Dried beans take forever to cook, but they taste much better than canned beans, which tend to soak up a lot of the metallic flavor from their cans. Those beans will need to soak overnight to get softened enough to cook properly the next day.

Crock-Pot Preliminary Step One:

- Select your dried beans.
- Pour 2 cups' worth into a large pot (such as a Dutch oven or the Crock-Pot you intend to use).
- Add six to eight cups of water.
- Cover and place inside the fridge. Allow to soak for eight hours or overnight.

Crock-Pot Preliminary Step Two, to take place the next morning or afternoon:

- Remove the beans from the fridge. Dump them into the strainer or colander and rinse with cold water.
* Many recipes say you should carefully sift through the beans at this point to remove any that are broken, missing skins, or too small. I find this is an absolute waste of time and nobody ever notices that I haven't done Quality Assurance for every single bean that goes into the chili. If you're Martha Stewart, have at it, but if not, read on.
- Pour the beans into your Crock-Pot. Leave the Crock-Pot turned off.

Now we can start cooking!

- Toss the meat into the skillet, and cook until brown.
- Dice the onion.
- Add both ingredients to your beans, waiting inside the pot.

Tomato sauce:

The making of a good chili sauce depends on the ingredients you have on hand and your definition of "chili". If you like Tex-Mex, you may prefer to add some barbecue sauce; if you love tomato flavor, you can include spaghetti sauce, canned or fresh tomatoes, or ketchup; if it ain't chili unless it's spicy, you'd probably like salsa or hot sauce.

In our house we generally mix the following in a 16 oz. jar:

1/3 barbecue sauce (Baby Ray's Honey Barbecue, to be exact)
1/3 spaghetti sauce (those with added onion, green pepper, or spices add a nice kick)
1/3 salsa

Fresh or canned tomatoes are delicious but can be pricey. Salsa is a good cheap substitute, and adds a bit of spice to the mix. If you're really strapped for cash, ketchup does the trick just fine. The purpose of the sauce is to moisten the mix and give everything a "base" in which to cook, so the actual flavor of it isn't as important as the quantity and consistency.

Of course you could buy a plain ol' can of tomato sauce at the grocery store.. but where's the fun in that?

- Add the tomato sauce to the rest of the mixture.
- Add seasonings.

If you're making stovetop chili, heat the mixture on medium-high heat until it boils, then cover and reduce to simmering. Stir occasionally to check the doneness of the beans and make sure they're not burning to the bottom of the pot.

If you're using a Crock-Pot, put a lid on it, crank it on High and let it sit.

How do you know when chili is done?

There are three distinct signs:

1 - Your house smells like chili.
2 - The beans are soft enough to chew without feeling "crunchy" (basically, beans al dente).
3 - Your housemates and/or neighbors have started to sniff their way towards the simmering pot, and are trying to convince you they will die if you don't share.

A pot this size can feed three to four people for two days, easily. Enjoy!

TASTY ADDITIONS:

- Shredded cheese
- Sour cream (although some folks don't like the way it 'separates' when it gets warm)
- Saltine crackers or oyster crackers

SIDE DISHES: (recipes to follow soon!)

- Corn bread
- Cream cheese pinwheels

DESSERTS: (recipes to follow soon!)

- Sopapillas
- Ice cream - vanilla or chocolate can make a satisfying end to this meal.

DRINKS:

- Milk is good for those who like chili but can't handle the heat very well.
- Ice water
- Sweet tea
- Lemonade