Bucket Chili Recipe No. 1

Hello again and welcome to another edition of Benny the Bucket, Cooking for my family. Today is the start of new series that will hopefully, in time, hone down the best chili recipe by me Benny. As you could probably deduct we will be making some chili this week. There are many attitudes and idea towards chili, eventually we will try to explore all those, but for today we are looking at inspiration from Ben's Chili Bowl (not going to be an exact match or style by any means).

Disclaimer: You might see me use specific brands in my recipes, this is in no way an endorsement of any brand whatsoever. Feel free to use the brands, farms and such you feel most comfortable with.

 Ingredients

2 lb of Ground Hamburger (85/15)
1 package of Super Thick Bacon
1/4 cup of Red Wine Vinegar
1 can (14.5oz) of Beef Broth
1 can of Chili Beans (Pinto)
1 can of Dark Red Kidney Beans
1 can (6oz) of Tomato Paste
Worcestershire
3 tbsp of Chili Powder
1 1/2 tbsp of Cayenne Pepper
1 tbsp of Ground Cumin Seed
1 tbsp of Roasted Paprika
1 tbsp of Turmeric
1 tbsp of Tarragon
1/2 tbsp of Curry Powder (Mild)
3 tbsp of Minced Garlic
1 medium Sweet Onion

The How To:

The first thing I did was place the hamburger into a bowl and lightly season it with salt and pepper and pouring  around a cup or so of Worcestershire on the meat. Then mix all of the meat, seasoning and Worcestershire together by hand, cover and place in the refrigerator for around an hour so.

Next, what we need to do is chop the onion, the best way I have discovered to dice/chop an onion is from this tutorial video: Knife Skills - How to Dice an Onion. Once the onion is diced up we want to combined the onion and minced garlic into a medium largish pot with a tablespoon or so of extra virgin olive oil.

Go ahead and cook the onion-garlic mixture on medium heat, stirring frequently for around 7 to 9 minutes or until the onion is transparent and soft. While the onion-garlic mixture is cooking we want to measure out the spices as listed above. Below is a picture of the spices, minus the 3 tablespoons of chili powder (which was added just not pictured).

Once the onions are finally finished cooking we want to combine all the spices and red wine vinegar into the pot, still on medium heat, stir the spice-onion mixture up for about 1 minute then add the the hamburger we had marinating in the Worcestershire and seasoning. Go ahead and cook the meat with the other ingredients for around 10-12 minutes on medium-high heat.

Once the hamburger has been cooking long enough to heat up sufficiently (kind of like browning, but probably can't tell that is has completely brown, which is okay because the chili is going to cook for awhile as you will see shortly). We now want to empty the can of beef broth into the chili along with 2 1/2 cans of water. Let the chili heat up to light bowl and then reduce heat to a simmer for one hour.

After the hour is up we want to empty our cans of beans into a colander and rinse them thoroughly. Once rinsed go ahead and add them into the chili and let the chili cook for an additional hour on a simmer. Now that  additional hour has passed we want to cook our super thick bacon (but do not over cook the bacon, we want the bacon to remain soft and finish fully cooking in the chili). Once the bacon is almost cooked we want to remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes and then chop the bacon into smaller pieces.

Go ahead an add the bacon into the chili. The chili may still be thin to your liking. It was for me, so I decided to take 1 tbsp of cornstarch and around 1/3 cup of cold water, mix this up in a glass with a spoon. Here is where I decided to do something a bit different, optional for you if you decide to make this chili, take the left over bacon grease (which is nicely collected on a griddle which I use to cook the bacon) and poor it into the cornstarch mixture.

Looks odd, I know... but the cornstarch mixture will help thicken the chili as it cooks down and who doesn't like bacon grease? Bring the chili up to a low boil and stir in the cornstarch-bacon grease mixture. Once fully mixed in, reduce heat to a simmer and let cook for another hour.

The chili should now be cooking down and getting thicker. If it still isn't the thickness you might like, go ahead and add some additional cornstarch mix (without the bacon grease) and let it cook down until it is to the thickness you desire.

Now we have reached the end of the cooking and it is time to have ourselves a bowl. I have learned from my wife how to garnish chili with crushed crackers and shredded cheddar cheese (have always used cheddar cheese in the past, I guess the only difference is the crushed saltine crackers).

Look delicious if you ask me!


Ratings and Opinions:


I personally give this chili recipe a fair 3 out of 5 stars.

Benny: I was very excited in making this chili recipe, in the future (as in recipe No. 2) I will be changing a few things around, stay reading for those updates as they come. Anyways, I found the flavor to very good though it was tad spicy which isn't necessarily bad. I would have preferred it to be a bit thicker but the crackers help with that. All in all it was a success in my opinion, just not overwhelming.

Wife: Really like it, had lots a flavor, delicious though a little too spicy for me. Yummy.

Mother-in-Law: Good but too spicy, I didn't like the cumin in the chili. Not much more I can say, I ate a bowl. Hot. Hot. Hot.

Father-in-Law: Very good, I do not know why others complained about the how spicy it was, it wasn't spicy at all. The bacon was a good addition.

Child 1: Very good, not that spicy either. Though I wish it had more beans to add to the chunkiness of the chili, finished a big hearty bowl of the chili.

Child 2: I did not like it all, too spicy. Did not finish more than a few bites.

Roasted Coconut Black Chicken Curry w/ Rice

Hello and welcome to my first recipe blog. Today, like all my recipes will be, are inspired by an ingredient and are original dishes created by me Benny for my family. This week I have chosen to use a Silkie (black) chicken. I first saw the use of the black chicken on the television show the Iron Chef, and it was by chance when the family went to our local Asian supermarket that we found a black chicken. I had to buy it (they are usually around $8 - $9 from the research I did for a 2 - 3 pound bird)! Let's begin by viewing the ingredients we will be using:

Ingredients:

1 Whole Silkie (black) Chicken
2 - 4 Red Potatoes
Some unreadable Asian grain add-on for rice
2 cups Shredded Coconut
1 can Coconut Milk (14oz)
1 1/2 tbsps Green Curry Paste
1 Large Garlic Clove
1 Shallot
2 Stocks of Celery
2 Sprigs of Fresh Rosemary
Salt
Ground Black Pepper
Unsalted Butter
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
White Wine

The How To:

First things first, we have to prepare the black chicken for cooking. To this we need to wash and rinse the chicken with some cold water thoroughly and then pat it dry. Most black chickens are going to come whole, and by whole this means with the head and feet still attached. However, the black chicken looks very sexy...

The thing with black chickens is the skin is black, the meat is mostly black (the breast meat is grayish in color), the bones are black, basically it's a black chicken throughout. Now we have to chop up this bird to get it ready for the initial braising. Go ahead and chop off the neck/head (I tossed the head out, but you might want to use it in the cooking process) then do the same for the feet, I kept the feet for the cooking process but not to eat. Then we just quarter the chicken like any other chicken.

Once this complete, put all the pieces you are using into a medium deep pot. Drizzle some olive oil, add salt and pepper to taste and throw in the Rosemary sprigs. Let this braise over medium high heat for about 5 minutes. Then add a half cup white wine and continue braising over medium high heat for 5 to 7 minutes. Once that is complete add enough water to cover the chicken ever so slightly and reduce heat to a simmer, letting the chicken cook like this for an hour.

While the chicken is simmering, lets go ahead and prep the veggies. I suggest chopping them all up in to tiny bit size pieces, though just cut them up however you prefer is always a good way in my opinion. Also, dice up the potatoes into about 1/4 inch cubes, peeled or not peeled it's up to you. We can now set aside the prepped veggies and potatoes waiting for the hour to finish. I had a nice IPA beer and watch some College Lacrosse (there really wasn't anything else on that perked my interest at the time).

The hour is up! Remove the chicken from heat, take it out and let it cool on a plate or cutting board. We want to go ahead and strain the stock and save it for use later on. With the chicken cooling go ahead and boil the potatoes until they are soft enough to stab with a fork. While the potatoes are cooking we want to sauté the veggies we chopped up in around a half a stick of unsalted butter (shallots, celery, garlic cloves and mushrooms).

Now as the potatoes and veggies cook we can rip into tearing off the meat from the chicken. It should come off with ease if fully cooked. Now I did cook the feet with the chicken but I will not using them in the final curry mixture, as I just wanted them to add some flavor to the chicken stock that we saved earlier. Remember to keep an eye on the veggies as not to over cook them, stirring them frequently, until they are all a nice golden color. Check the potatoes ever so often too, once they are easily stabbed with a fork remove them from the heat. 

While all that is happening, yes there is a lot of multi-tasking involved in this dish, we want to roast the shredded coconut. To do this, we lightly spray a cooking dish with some cooking spray, spread out a thin layer of coconut on the tray and stick into a pre-heated 300 degree oven. Let the coconut roast for around 5 minutes or until golden brown.

We now have everything ready to make the pot of curry all this will go into. We have the black chicken meat removed from the bone, the roasted coconut, the boiled potatoes (which you should drain), the sautéed veggies and the chicken stock. 

In a medium pot add the coconut milk, the roasted coconut, 1 1/2 tablespoons of green curry paste, and few ladles of the chicken stock we saved. Let this cook on medium high heat for around 5 minutes (it should foam up from the coconut milt, be careful not to burn it). Now add the potatoes and stir in. Then add the sautéed veggies and stir. Then add the black chicken meat and stir. Reduce heat to a simmer stirring every so often.

As the curry mixture/stew simmers we can go ahead and make the rice. Use a slow cook white rice, 1 cup of rice and the magically mystery rice add-on (not necessary, we just bought it and decided to use it, as picture below [apologize for the fuzzy picture]), 14 oz of water because of the rice add-on, bring to boil, reduce heat to a simmer, cooking the rice for around 25 minutes. Now here I suggest just making you own rice, however you normally do, if you want rice with your dish anyways. 

Once the rice is completely cooked the Roasted Coconut Black Chicken Curry mixture should have had enough time to simmer and cook down a little. We can go ahead and spread some rice around the plate in circle leaving a whole in the middle for the curry mixture. Scope up some of the curry mixture into the the middle of the plate inside the rice. Our rice turned purplish in color from the awesomely interesting Asian rice add-on we cooked with our rice. The finished meal is picture below:

Rating and Opinions:

I personally give this recipe I developed a healthy 3 1/2 stars out of 5 stars.

Benny: I found the flavor of the curry mixture delightful, with the black chicken having a very unique taste that one could tell right away. The chicken taste being unique was not a bad unique, though it was strong enough to tell it apart from traditional chicken bought in stores. The potatoes soaked up the flavors of all the curry, coconut, veggies and garlic. The rice was disappointing and I would replace it with either just plain white rice or no rice at all. This isn't a meal I would have every month, as was the conclusion of everyone else too. I was  pleased overall with the meal and it filled me up.

Wife: I really loved the flavor, I am a big fan of coconut and due to my pickiness I don't get to have it in dinner much. This worked well. The rice was too bland though and the sauce was flavorful but the rice stayed bland even taking bites with the sauce mixture. So I'm thinking a more flavorful something to eat it with. Maybe jasmine rice with saffron, I dunno. I really did like this though, I made him save the leftovers so I can try it with something else. Mmm...dumplings might be good.....

Mother-in-Law: Though it tasted good and loved that the flavor, while having a nice spiciness to it, was not a hot spicy. Really didn't care for the black chicken as a specialty and thought she might like it better with some tender pork. Pleased with the meal and ate it all if that holds any bearing, again she agreed it was not any every month meal but was thankful for trying something new and different in the end.

Children: N/A

Special Thanks: 

I would like to thank my beautiful and amazing wife in helping with the prepping of food, cooking the rice and helping tremendously with the clean-up. Xoxo to you!