Chili

Chili is a spicy meat stew, which originated in the North American southwest, probably in Texas, but possibly in Mexico.  Texas makes claim to chili con carne, literally “peppers with meat,” and their legislature has designated it as the official state dish, so let’s give Texas the credit for inventing it.  Mexico’s claim on chili is supported by the fact that most of the peppers used in chili came from Mexico, but the dish is not part of their culinary tradition, and, therefore, the nod goes to Texas.

Chili is made with chilies, peppers from the nightshade family, and most often from the genus Capsicum, which include a pungent chemical, capsaicin, which gives chilies their heat.  The capsaicin is primarily concentrated in the chilies’ seeds and placenta, the white pithy membrane that bears the seeds.  By removing these seeds and the placenta, the heat of the pepper is greatly diminished.

Chili is one of those dishes that people love to argue about, particularly about what ingredients one uses in their chili.  In Texas, chili is made without any beans or tomatoes, which many people believe to be an intricate part of any good chili.  In Texas the chili may contain no other vegetables besides the peppers and the beef, either cubed or ground, however it also commonly includes onions, garlic, and cumin, and frequently masa, used as a thickening agent.  Outside of Texas, it is not uncommon to find that beans, usually red kidney beans, are added, and most people also associate the inclusion of tomatoes as a staple in any good chili recipe.  By some accounts, beans were added by Cincinnati cooks, and many popular chili recipes now include beans as a standard ingredient.  You might get incarcerated in Texas if you include them, so pick your chili fights carefully.

The meat used in most often beef, however venison is not unusual in rural areas, and turkey and chicken are used in concert with great northern beans for while chili.  Mexicans make a chili verde, a green chili, which includes pork stewed in a chicken broth with tomatillos, garlic and roasted green chilies.  Vegetarian chili may contain such items as tofu or some textured vegetable protein, but corn and beans combine to form a whole protein, so their inclusion is fairly common, although many other vegetables show up, including squash, mushrooms, carrots, beets and/or parsnips. 

Most northern people tend to use chili powder as the seasoning in their chili, although dried chilies are available and enterprising cooks will seek them out for use in chili.  If you choose to do so, or use fresh chilies during their growing season in the summer, protect yourself by using gloves to handle the peppers.  A small amount of capsaicin, which is oily and hard to wash off surfaces, whether your hands, knives or cutting surfaces, left on your fingertips can cause immense irritation if rubbed in the eye, so be careful. 

You can control the heat of your chili when using the peppers by removing the seeds and the placental tissue.  If you like it hotter, leave them in.

Beef & Sausage Chili

20 Servings

¼ Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 lb. Onions, coarsely chopped

1 lb. Italian sausage, removed from casings

4 lb.  Beef chuck, ground

2 tsp. Pepper, ground

1 12 oz. can Tomato paste

1 ½ Tbl. Garlic, minced

1 ½ oz. Cumin seed

2 oz.  Chili powder

¼ Cup Dijon mustard

2 Tbl.  Basil, dried

2 Tbl.  Oregano, dried

3 lbs.  Canned Italian-style tomatoes, drained

¼ Cup Burgundy wine

1/8 Cup Lemon juice

¼ Cup Fresh dill, chopped

¼ Cup Italian parsley, chopped

1 ½ lb  Red kidney beans, soaked and cooked

5 oz. Black olives, pitted

Heat the oil in a large kettle.  Add the onions and sauté over low heat for 10 minutes.  Crumble in the sausage meat and ground beef and cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until the meats are well browned.  Skim off any excess fat.

Lower the heat and add the black pepper, tomato paste, garlic, cumin seed, chili powder, mustard, salt, basil, and oregano.  Add the drained tomatoes, Burgundy wine, lemon juice, dill, parsley and the cooked kidney beans.  Stir well and simmer 15 minutes.

Correct the seasoning and add the olives, simmering 5 more minutes.

Garnish with sour cream, chopped onions and grated cheddar cheese.  Serve with beer.

Poutine

Poutine is the French-Canadian dish that is comprised of French fried potatoes with cheese and rich gravy.  What type of French fry, what type of cheese and what type of gravy is where different purveyors and devourers of this “heart attack on a plate” find room for individuality, to say nothing about what additions one can include under the same name.

First off, it seems that poutine is a Quebecois invention, originating in the Montreal area in the 1950s.  Various stories abound about the combination of French fries and cheese, but it seems that the gravy was added later to keep everything warm. 

Traditionalists will tell you that the French fries need to be a standard cut from Russet potatoes.  No steak fries, no shoestring potatoes, no curly fries or wrinkle cut, and no frozen fried potatoes.  Pommes de terre frites are made by deep-frying the potatoes in 325 degree oil for 3 to 4 minutes before draining them and allowing them to cool.  At this point they are limp, uncolored, but cooked through.  When all the potatoes have been precooked, the oil is reheated to 375 degrees and the potatoes are fried a second time until golden browned and crisp.  After draining on paper towels, they are lightly salted while still warm.  These fried potatoes are crisp on the outside and soft and creamy on the inside.

Next is the question of the cheese.  In Quebec the fresh cheddar cheese curd is the standard.  This cheese is so fresh it squeaks when you chew into it. Ideally it is not more than 1 day old.  If this curd were to become standard cheddar, the curd would be salted, packed into molds, and aged in a cave for a number of months before being released for sale.  Some poutine purveyors use mozzarella, Cheese Whiz, shredded cheddar, American, Swiss or Gruyere. 

Last is the question of what type of gravy one uses.  The standard is chicken or turkey gravy, mildly spiced and seasoned with pepper.  Some places use veal gravy, which has a more neutral taste but greater mouth feel, or duck gravy.  Usually beef or pork gravy is avoided (unless you are at a Tunbridge Fair French fry cart). 

In Montreal they like to take poutine to another level, so some restaurants offer it with bacon, the Tunisian lamb sausage merguez, Montreal-style smoked meats, shredded turkey and peas.  The real fancy places take it way over the top with foie gras, caviar and even truffles. 

Other cultures have their own variations on the poutine theme.  In Italy they add a meat and tomato sauce to fried potatoes.  Sometimes they add sausage.  In Greece they top their potatoes with vinaigrette, feta cheese and gravy, and in Mexico they have carne asada fries consisting of shoestring potatoes, carne asada (roasted beef cut into strips), guacamole, sour cream, cheese and pico di gallo, the condiment made of chopped tomato, onions, hot chili peppers and lemon juice.  In NY they have “Elvis fries” with mozzarella and brown gravy and cheese fries are usually made with American processed cheese or mozzarella.

Tourtiere

I had a few days off from work right after the New Year, so Rosemary and I visited Montreal and explored its many and varied food offerings.  Like most cities of any size, and Montreal’s population is 1.8 million, it has enclaves of ethnic immigrants from the Irish to the Italians, to the Muslims and Chinese, and others.  

Montreal is known for its bagels, with which it carries on a friendly rivalry with New York city as to where the best ones are made, its poutine, French fries with cheese curds and gravy, it’s pate chinois, which we know as shepherd’s pie, and it’s tourtiere, French-Canadian meat pie which originated in Quebec, and is eaten in connection with the holidays, but also all winter long. 

While I’m sure there are locations in Montreal where all these regional dishes are available, the bistros and Irish pubs we tried didn’t carry any of these offerings.  The closest we came was a chicken potpie and a steak and mushroom pie.  When I inquired of the concierge at the hotel about the local food, he indicated that most people made those dishes at home, So, I’m making a tourtiere at my house today.

The Quebecois meat pie is one of those dishes where every family has an “original” recipe, usually the one Grandma or Great Grandma used to make for Christmas or New Year’s Eve.   They can be as simple as some sauted onions and ground beef or pork, with some holiday spices like cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, baked in a pie shell, or a more elaborate concoction with ground pork and/or veal added, potatoes, carrots, breadcrumbs, herbs and stock added.  Cognac is not unusual, as well as celery, garlic and parsley.  In coastal regions, fish is substituted for the meat used in the interior provinces.  It’s one of those dishes that invites the cook to be inventive and use up what might be found in the refrigerator or pantry.

Most of my food reference books don’t make mention of tourtiere, but in Larousse Gastronomique the word is defined as the cooking vessel, “ a round mould…slightly wider at the top, with high fluted or smooth sides…”  Accordingly, I cooked my tourtiere in a 9” false bottom, fluted tart pan. 

I also came upon a reference to the original tourtieres being made with passenger pigeons, which are now extinct.  And many other sources indicate a layer of mashed potatoes is sometimes included. 

The one I made included equal amounts of ground beef and pork, some diced potatoes and carrots, sauted onions with garlic and chopped celery, sauted mushrooms, a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste, ground cloves, cinnamon, allspice, fresh thyme, fresh parsley, brown beef stock and bread crumbs.  First I sauted the onions, garlic, celery and meats until they were no longer pink.  Meanwhile, I blanched the diced potatoes and carrots before adding them to the meat and aromatics.  I added the spices and herbs, and the tomato paste, sauted it a couple more minutes before adding the stock, covering the pan and simmering 10 minutes.  I then stirred in the breadcrumbs and allowed the mixture to cool completely. 

I made a butter and lard pie crust, lined my tart pan, filled with the meat mixture, covered with another piece of pie crust in which I cut a vent, and baked in the oven until done, about 30 minutes.  It was very tasty.

Tourtiere

1 lb Ground beef

1 lb Ground pork

1 large onion, diced

1 Rib of celery, diced

1 Russet potato, peeled and diced 1/4"

1 Carrot, peeled and diced 1/4"

1 lb Mushrooms, sliced

2 Tbl Tomato paste

1 Tbl Cinnamon

2 Tsp Allspice

2 Tbl Fresh thyme, minced

2 Tbl Flat leaf parsley, minced

1 Tsp Ground cloves

2 Cups Brown beef stock

1 Cup Bread crumbs

Put 2 Tablespoons olive oil in a large pot.  Add the ground meats and saute until they are no longer pink.  Add the onion, celery and mushrooms and saute for 5 minutes.  Meanwhile place the diced potato and carrot in a sauce pan covered with water.  Bring to the boil and let simmer 1 minute.  Drain well and add to the meat mixture.  Add the tomato paste and the spices and herbs.  Sauce 3 minutes and add the beef stock.  Cover the pot and simmer 10 minutes.  Remove the lid and cook down until still moist, but not too soupy.  Stir in the bread crumbs to thicken the mixture.

Meanwhile prepare a butter and lard pie dough and line a 9" false bottom tart pan.  Line with 2/3s of the pastry dough and fill with the meat mixture.  Cover with the balance of the pie dough, crimp the edges and cut a vent in the center.  Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and delicious.  Remove from the oven and let cool for 20 minutes or more before removing from the tart pan.  Cut into slices to serve with a nice green salad.

Polenta

Paiolo

While I’m not a huge fan of the corn industry due to it’s inordinate influence on the American diet, there is one corn dish that we have made for years and recommend to others.  When I was a child, it was known as corn meal mush, but today it is more commonly known as polenta.  It is a food borne of poverty, but today it appears on menus of some of the finest restaurants not only in America, but worldwide.

Polenta is indigenous of northern Italy where it was originally made with either barley, farro, or chestnut flour.  As it was the sustenance for life in many economically depressed areas of Italy, “preparing it was a ritual, and eating it was like receiving the sacrament,” as Marcella Hazan states in The Essentials of Italian Cooking. 

Corn meal can be fine or coarse in its grind.  I prefer to use the coarser grained corn meal as it produces a somewhat more robust, corny flavor than the fine grind.  It becomes creamy as it cooks due to the gelatinization of its starch during the cooking process.  

It is traditionally made in an unlined cooper pot known as a paiolo, although any heavy bottomed saucepan will work just as well.  Whatever quantity of corn meal you wish to cook, add 4 times that amount of water to your cooking vessel.  Bring the water to the boil, add salt to taste, and while stirring the boiling water into a vortex, slowly either pour the corn meal into the water or add by handfuls, allowing the grains to slip between the fingers.  If added too fast, the corn meal may lump up, producing an unsatisfactory result.  Once all the corn meal has been added, stir the mixture with a wooden spoon until the water returns to the boil.

As regular polenta requires 45 minutes or an hour of slow cooking, it was always stirred constantly to prevent it from scorching on the bottom.  Today we know that if one covers the pot and keeps it on low heat, you can stir every ten minutes or so, freeing the cook to prepare accompanying items for the meal.  Instant polenta has been developed which reduces the cooking time to less than 10 minutes, but, being a traditionalist and devotee of the Slow Food movement, I always use the long cooking variety. 

Once the polenta starts to pull away from the edge of the pan and/or the spoon will stand up in the polenta, it is done.

Plate of cooked polenta cooling

At this stage, one can either add parmesan cheese and a dollop of butter to the polenta before serving, stir in some softened gorgonzola cheese, or allow it to cool, usually after having poured it out onto a large surface, like a cutting board.  If served warm, it can be eaten alone, or sauced with the juices from the meat or vegetable course.  If allowed to cool, it stiffens up and can be cut into triangles, diamonds, or batons which are either sauted in oil until crispy, grilled or baked.  When sauted, we usually eat it with an accompaniment of sauted greens like spinach or Swiss chard, mushroom ragout, or any meat or vegetable side.  It’s fun and delicious.

Brining

A few weeks ago, I wrote about “corning” some beef brisket.  In this instance, I was flavoring the beef foremost and preserving it to a lesser extent.  “Marinating” meat is somewhat different, as most marinades, which are used to add flavor and include acid in the form of vinegar, wine or lemon juice, are of shorter duration, from literally minutes for fish to hours for meats.  Marinating not only flavors, but also assists in breaking down tough muscle fibers, tenderizing the meat.  “Brining,” wherein salt is included in the liquid, usually water, but no acid, and the meat is immersed for a few hours to a few days, is actually two processes; a short brine to enhance flavor and moisture content of the meat, and a long brine that not only flavors, but also aids in preservation by allowing salt to impregnate the muscle tissue.  “Pickling” is a similar process involving anaerobic fermentation in brine, and traditionally produces a sour or salty taste.  Pickling is used not only on meats, like tongue, but also vegetables are often preserved by pickling, like our dill cucumber pickles or giardiniera, the Italian relish made of pickled vegetables.

For many years now, chefs have advocated “brining” certain meats for moisture retention and seasoning.  We are all familiar with the fact that the breast meat on a turkey will be cooked before the red meat deep in the thigh is done, but by brining the bird for 6 hours or more, it will keep the breast moist and juicy, while allowing the thighs to be thoroughly cooked.  How does this happen, and what other meats can benefit by placing them in a salted water solution?

Roast in brine with aromatics

To answer the latter question first, the principal candidates amongst our meats for brining include poultry and pork.  Beef and lamb are not candidates for brining as they have more fat within and around their muscle, which aids in keeping the meat moist during cooking.  In addition, they are usually cooked from a rare to medium doneness, which prevents them from drying out.  Poultry and pork, on the other hand, are cooked to a higher internal temperature, making them susceptible to being dry if overcooked.

Brined roast with rub makings

By producing a salty brine which includes aromatic vegetables and seasonings, one can not only enhance the protein’s flavor, but also its moisture retaining properties.  Two scientific principles are at work here; osmosis and diffusion.  Nature supports equilibrium, and when we have a 5% salt solution on the outside and a minimal salt concentration inside, the law of diffusion states that the area of greater concentration (the brine) will flow to the area of lesser concentration (the protein cells).  Osmosis is the physical process that abets diffusion, by allowing molecules to pass through a semi-permeable membrane.  Thus not only the salt and flavor from the aromatics enter the muscle cells, but moisture does also.  The salt in the solution denatures the proteins, allowing them to form a matrix that traps the water inside the cells.  Thus the meat is prevented from becoming dehydrated, and it stays moist and juicy.

Juicy roast pork

Try brining you next chicken or pork chops and you’ll love the results.

Pork Brine

1/4 Cup plus 2 Tbl honey

12 Bay leaves

3 Rosemary sprigs

1/2 oz fresh thyme

2 oz flat leaf parsley

1/2 cup garlic cloves, crushed, with skin left on

2 Tbl black peppercorns

5 oz kosher salt

8 cups water

This amount of brine is good for up to 4 lbs of pork.  Feel free to substitute other herds or aromatics, as you please.

Combine all the ingredients in a large pot, cover and bring to a boil.  Boil 1 minutes, stirring to dissolve all the salt.  Remove from the heat and cool completely, then chill before using.  You can keep it in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Place your pork in a plastic bag and pour the brine over it.  Place in the fridge and brine for 10 hours or overnight.  Remove the pork and proceed with your recipe.

Chicken Brine

Enough for up to 10 lbs chicken

5 lemons, halved

24 bay leaves

4  oz. flat leaf parsley

1 oz fresh thyme

1/2 cup honey

1 head garlic, halved through the equator

1/4 cup black peppercorns

10 oz kosher salt (c. 2 cups)

2 gallons water

Combine all the ingredients in a large pot, cover, and bring to a boil.  Boil 1 minutes, stirring to dissolve the salt.  Remove from the heat and cool completely, then chill before using.  

Add the chicken in either a brining container or a large plastic bag.  Pour the brine over the chicken to cover and place in the fridge for 6 to 10 hours, before using.  Dry the chicken thoroughly and proceed with your recipe.

Antibiotic use in feed animals

With New Year’s looming, it is a time when we all assess the past year and set up some anticipated changes for the next annum.  Some will join a gym in an attempt to take off holiday pounds or improve their cardio-vascular health.  Some hope to give up smoking or drinking, or make other life style changes in an attempt to improve their lives.  If improved health is your goal, you might want to reassess your eating habits and sources of your food.

An issue that has been debated for over a decade now if the continued use of antibiotics in the raising of the food livestock in factory farms, from whence meat sold in most supermarkets emanates.  Swine, poultry, beef and veal are routinely fed antibiotics in their feed, even when they are not sick.  Producers have discovered that including small amounts of antibiotics in animal feed decreases the bacteria in the animals’ gut, thus increasing the animals’ ability to gain weight faster.  Faster weight gain reduces the ultimate amount of food fed, thus increasing producers’ profits, and profit is the name of the game in agribusiness.  The presence of antibiotic residues in American meat is not a problem, as the USDA requires a withdrawal period before slaughter.

What’s wrong with feeding sub-therapeutic amounts of antibiotics to healthy animals?  Advocates assert that it keeps the herd, which is confined to a non-pasture feed lot, healthy and prevents the spread of disease, while promoting growth and limiting the amount of grain necessary to achieve market weight.  Concerned scientists, on the other hand, are troubled by the rise of bacteria that mutate to become antibiotic-resistant, and whether this poses a risk to humans.  It has been documented that antibiotic-resistant campylobacter and salmonella bacteria have caused illness in US consumers.  In Europe and Japan, the use of non-therapeutic antibiotics is not allowed in livestock production.

Of all the antibiotics produced in this country, it is estimated that as much as 50% or more is used in livestock production, either as a therapeutic treatment when an animal is sick, or as a sub-therapeutic prophylactic to increase immunity and promote growth.  The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 76 million Americans become ill each year from food borne bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins and metals, and 5,000 of these illnesses result in death.  However, it is not clear how many of these illnesses and deaths are directly related to antibiotic resistance.

There is evidence, however, that antibiotics used to treat human illnesses, like penicillin, tetracycline and erythromycin, are being impacted by the overuse of antibiotics in animals.  While antibiotics are probably over-prescribed for human illnesses (i.e. 40% of children with a cold are prescribed an antibiotic), and this will eventually lead to more resistance amongst bacteria populations, there is an established connection between the use of certain antibiotics in animal production and increased antibiotic resistant disease bacteria in human illnesses.  Scientists want the

FDA to ban the use in feed animals of antibiotics used by humans in an attempt to slow down the development of bacterial resistance in those drugs.  The industry, including producers, pharmaceutical companies and large agribusiness companies like Monsanto and Cargill are lobbying Congress to prevent this from happening.

Changes to our agricultural system will take time, so consumers who want to support a non-agribusiness form of food production have it within their power to promote the status quo, or not, with their food dollars.   Consumers are the ultimate arbitrator in this issue.  If you don’t buy their products, businesses will change to products you will support.  Local farmers offer a product that does not rely on drugs to fatten their herds.  They use grass and responsible animal husbandry techniques. 

You decide. 

Happy New Year!

Brussels Sprouts

So we’re coming down the home stretch to Christmas dinner.  We made the plum pudding the weekend after Thanksgiving and the brown beef stock for the gravy, which was frozen in 2 qt. plastic bags.  The standing rib roast is waiting in the fridge, and on Christmas day will be going into a hot oven in the late morning.  We’re going to have Yorkshire pudding, herb-roasted potatoes, baby buttered peas, glazed carrots, and a mixture of roasted cauliflower flowerets and Brussels sprouts.

Many people find Brussels sprouts undesirable as a vegetable.  They are often eschewed as “those little cabbages,” and when overcooked they do emit sulfur compounds that are bitter and odiferous, making them unappetizing.  However, if properly handled, they are crisp and tasty, with a mild bitterness that is not displeasing.  Those that have been touched by fall’s frosts are the sweeter for the nipping. 

One way to make them less bitter is to cut them in half, exposing their inner leaves, which will allow the bad flavor elements to leach out.  Another is to give them a preliminary blanching in boiling water for a minute before draining and proceeding with your recipe.

Brussels sprouts provide a hearty winter vegetable to accompany turkey, steaks or liver, but they really love pork, duck or goose.  They pair well with cauliflower, Jerusalem artichokes, leeks and chestnuts, whether as a vegetable combination or in a wholesome fall vegetable pie.

Brussels sprouts, a member of the Brassica oleracea family, are derived from the wild cabbage and, therefore, other family members include collards, kohlrabi and kale.  Something akin to the modern Brussels sprout was cultivated in Italy, but Belgium has recorded evidence of its growing there in 1587, as the vegetable proliferated in northern Europe due to the cool climate in which it thrives.

Rich in vitamin C, Brussels sprouts also have large amounts of vitamin A, folic acid and dietary fiber.  Some of their unappetizing compounds are actually thought to be helpful in preventing colon cancer

Through the fall months, one can purchase local Brussels sprouts on long stems at farmers’ markets.  The little green heads grow up and down the stalk, becoming 1” to 2” in diameter at maturity.  The heads should be tight with bright green leaves.  Any that are over mature, wilted or worm-eaten should be discarded.  Sometimes one or two leaves at the base may have to be removed.  It’s advisable to trim the base of each sprout and, using a paring knife, cut a small X to facilitate even cooking.

After prepping the sprouts, they should be washed and parboiled in salted water for 5 to 6 minutes or until almost tender.  They can be refreshed in cold water and saved for final cooking later.  Whether braised in butter, cooked in cream or cheese sauce, or braised with chestnuts, cook slowly to allow the sprouts to absorb the sauce, but don’t overcook.

Brussels sprouts also lend themselves to roasting in a hot oven.  Toss in olive oil, salt and pepper and scatter on a parchment lined sheet pan before cooking at 425 degrees for 25 minutes, tossing once or twice.