Category: Soups

Beanless Beef Chili

Growing up in northern Wisconsin, I used to think that chili was made with kidney beans, hamburger, tomato sauce, and onions seasoned with salt, pepper and a little chili powder.  People from Texas might have confused it with tomato soup.

As a child I liked the stuff, and Mom cooked chili for us at least a couple times a month in the winter.  But one day long after I had left home, I was served a bowl of real chili.  I have never looked back.

There are a great many variations in chili recipes, and this is just one that I prefer.   There are no beans and it does not taste like tomato soup.  It is spicier than most of the chili served at church suppers or cafes in northern Wisconsin, but it is mild compared to many bowls of chili I have enjoyed over the years.

If you are nervous about using three jalapeños, start with one or two.  You may surprise yourself and decide to make it with four or five of those flavorful peppers next time.

INGREDIENTS:

2 lbs. round steak, chuck steak or other inexpensive cut of beef
1/2 lb. pork sausage
3/4 cup shallots
1 medium onion (about 3 1/2 inches in diameter)
4 cups beef broth
1/2 cups dry red win
4 cups chopped fresh, frozen or canned tomatoes
1 small (6 oz.) can tomato paste
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
3 jalapeño peppers
1 1/2 T chili powder
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 T brown sugar
1 T flour mixed with 2 T water
Salt and pepper to taste

PROCEDURE:

Cut the beef into 3/4 inch cubes.  In a large Dutch oven or heavy kettle heat a teaspoon of oil and brown the pork sausage until it turns gray, breaking it into pieces with a wooden spoon.  Add the beef and continue cooking the meat.  Season it with with a half teaspoon salt and a quarter teaspoon black pepper.

Peel and chop the onion and shallots.  You should have about two cups of onion and shallots in total.  Add the onion, shallots, beef broth, wine, tomato paste and tomatoes. Simmer for an hour.

Wash and cut the peppers in half and remove the stems, seeds and white membranes. Dice the jalapeño peppers fine and the green and red peppers medium and add them to the chili.  Stir in the chili powder, cumin, thyme and sugar. Simmer for about an hour.  Mix the flour with the water and stir it into the chili.  Cook for three or four minutes, then taste and adjust the spices.

Serve with buttermilk cornbread, butter and honey or jam and shredded cheddar cheese or sour cream that guests can add if they wish.

OPTIONS:  If you like your chili hotter, add some cayenne pepper, hot sauce or one or two more diced jalapeños.  For really spicy chili, add one or two minced habanero or Scotch bonnet peppers.

NOTES:  If you don’t have any shallots on hand, mince 5 or 6 cloves of garlic and increase the amount of onion so you have a total of two cups.   Be sure to wear gloves when working with hot peppers.

 

Corn & Sausage Chowder

One of the advantages of growing up in northern Wisconsin was being able to take your prom date to a good supper club and have a cup of clam chowder before the steak appeared.  Although I discovered that I liked it, the chowder was first an act of rebellion:  My mother did not make clam chowder.

Chowder was made with clams, and they were slimy things unlike those delicious bass, bluegills, bullheads, northerns, walleyes and trout that she cleaned and cooked for us hundreds of times.

She did, however, make lots of soups and stews that probably should have been called chowders.  Chowders are thickened soups or stews usually made with milk or cream.  Traditional clam chowder is thickened with crushed crackers or ship’s biscuit.

I’ve never eaten ship’s biscuit, but I have eaten stewed tomatoes thickened with crackers to the consistency of a chowder.  Pretty tasty, especially if some green peppers and onion are simmered with the tomatoes.

There are vegetable chowders made with various combinations of corn, carrots, onions, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, broccoli and cauliflower.  Over the years, Mom made versions of all of these.  Some of them were pretty good.

Besides clams, there are chowders made with cod, salmon, crab, shrimp and chicken, most with onions for flavor and potatoes to help with the thickening.  I haven’t found the recipe yet, but there is probably a Carnivore Chowder that omits all vegetables to emphasize the meat.

Here is a chowder that combines meat and vegetables.  It is one of my favorites because it is so easy to make and also lets me virtuously declare that I ate mostly vegetables for dinner.

INGREDIENTS:
3 large or 4 medium white potatoes
1 1/8 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. dried marjoram
3 cups water
3/4 lb. pork sausage
1 small onion, about 2 to 2 1/2 inches in diameter. chopped
1 15 oz. can whole kernel corn
1 15 oz. can creamed corn
1 cup half and half
1/2 cup water
2 T flour
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Hot sauce (optional)

PROCEDURE:

Peel and dice the potatoes into bite-sized pieces.  You want about six cups of the diced potatoes.  Peel and finely chop the onion.  You should have about 3/4 cup.

Combine the potatoes, salt, marjoram, and water in a Dutch oven or soup pot. Boil until the potatoes begin to get tender.  Remove the pot from the heat unless you are ready to assemble the chowder.  Do not drain the potatoes; the flavored potato water is the base of the broth.

While the potatoes are boiling, cook the sausage over medium heat in a skillet, breaking the meat into smaller pieces with a spatula or wooden spoon.  Add the chopped onion when the sausage is nearly done and continue cooking until the onion is translucent.

Do not brown the meat or onion.  If there is more than a tablespoon of fat in the pan, drain off the excess, add the meat and onions to the potatoes and return the pot to the heat.

Stir in both cans of corn and the half and half.  Mix the flour with the half cup of water and stir it into the soup.  Add the pepper, stir and bring the chowder to a simmer and cook gently for three or four minutes.  Taste and adjust the seasoning.  Add some hot sauce or more pepper if you like.  Serve with good bread and a salad.

NOTES:  This recipe makes six generous servings.  The chowder is excellent warmed up for lunch a day or two later.