I made the [Original Texas Chili Con Carne Recipe](https://www.seriouseats.com/real-texas-chili-con-carne#toc-final-touches) using a combination of Ancho, New Mexico, and Arbol chilies. The spice/heat level was nice but it was a one dimensional all at the back of the throat type of heat. Are there chilies I could have used for a more all encompassing mouthful of heat?
Any additions to the base recipe you like to make?
by Phantomtastic
8 Comments
Following as my wife and I stood in front of the “dried peppers” section of the grocery store for 20 mins yesterday
Might want to incorporate some fresh chilies in the mix. Thai bird chilies I find hit the tongue nicely
I made chili recently based of that recipe with guajillo, ancho, morita, chipotle, and pasilla and it was probably the best I’ve ever made. I don’t use arbol anymore because I’d rather be able to just add hot sauce (yucateco xxxtra hot for me) if I want a big kick of spice.
As a chili connoisseur who has made countless batches using many different recipes, this is the best recipe I have found:
http://scotlevan.blogspot.com/2008/12/bigjibboos-phishhook-chili-recipe.html?m=1
I use about twice the amount of dried chilies.
i add a mix of fresh and roasted jalapeños and serranos plus roasted hatch and poblano chiles to my chili and it hits like you want it. i’ll add chile pequin too but i have a bush and they are hard to source. u could swap out for thai birds chiles.
From the article, which recommends using a mix of Chiles from these categories:
Sweet and fresh: These peppers have distinct aromas reminiscent of red bell peppers and fresh tomatoes. They include: costeño, New Mexico (aka dried Anaheim, California, or Colorado), and choricero.
Hot: An overwhelming heat. The best, like cascabels also have some complexity, while others like the pequin or arbol, are all heat, and not much else.
Smoky: Some chile peppers, like chipotles (dried, smoked jalapeños), are smoky because of the way they are dried. Others, like ñora or guajillo have a natural musty, charred wood, smokiness.
Rich and Fruity: Distinct aromas of sun-dried tomatoes, raisins, chocolate, and coffee. Some of the best-known Mexican chiles, like ancho, mulato, and pasilla, are in this category.
I usually use ancho, guajillo, and arbol. Like 4-6 of each depending on size. Then I *also* grab a few fresh poblanos and jalapeños, roast them until they start to char, peel the skin and deseed about 3/4 of them. It comes out hot but with good depth of flavor