First the story. My slow cooker is Rival Crock Pot given to my mother as a wedding gift in 1957. She gave it to me unused when I got my first home in 1982. I've used it a lot. I remember making chili in the early years but somehow chili fell off my radar screen. I came across an ancient book called Crockery Cookery that I cooked from in those early days that is probably where I got the chili recipe I used.
Here is the recipe and how I plan to modify it. I welcome your thoughts.
1 lb lean ground beef – I'm going to use 80/20
1 small onion, chopped – I'll use more onion
1 tsp salt
1 – 2 tsp chili powder – I'll use two
1 bay leaf – I haven't decided about this, mostly because I don't want to fish for it later
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 8 oz cans of tomato sauce – I'm going to use whatever size I have (14.5 oz probably) of diced tomatoes
2 16 oz cans of kidney beans – this seems like a lot so I'll use one (1)
I'm going to add cumin and freshly ground black pepper
The instructions are to brown the beef, pour off the fat, and dump everything into the slow cooker to cook on high for four hours. I'll saute the onions with the beef, pour off the fat, and cook on low all day. I do remember I cooked on low all day before and that aligns with my experience over the last forty years. *grin*
Of course there is this. I'm going for beans.
What do y'all think?
by SVAuspicious
4 Comments
Suggest pinto beans instead of kidney, any variety Ro Tel instead of tomatoes
FWIW, I use a combination of kidney and black beans when I make chili. I would also use a helluva lot more than 1-2 tsp of chili powder, more like several tablespoons. And garlic.
Hold some seasoning back until the last half hour – long cook time blunts flavors, IME.
I prefer my chili thick, with chunks of meat rather than ground beef, so I use the following recipe (which I probably got off this subreddit years ago), with the addition of beans:
https://www.dadcooksdinner.com/slow-cooker-texas-red-chili/
It makes a LOT, so based on your 1lb of ground beef, I’d cut it at least in half if ever want to try it.
A little can of tomato paste will thicken it up, sounds like its going to come out pretty watery otherwise
Any time you don’t want to “fish” for a spice, you can put it in a teaball — the spice gets circulated and you don’t have to find it later. Also, I love to sub in black beans in place of kidney beans…you might enjoy that.