I have whole dried chiles and I've used them before to make chili which we love but it was just too spicy. I'm trying to find a good medium heat chili recipe (beans or no beans, whichever) using whole/dried chiles. I've found some recipes online but all of them grind the chiles into powder then cook with them.

So everyone post your chili recipes!

SV

The trick is to use different kinds of dried chiles. For example, you wouldn't want to make chili using nothing but serranos.

I did...I have an assortment of dried chiles...maybe I just used too much.

SV

Step 1: buy can of Hormel chili
Step 2: open can
Step 3: heat it up
Step 4: eat it

That is not a recipe.

SV

or upgrade and go for wolf brand chili

Au contraire, it is a very popular recipe...

I don't care for Wolf chili...but I do like Chili Magic chili starter....you know...for when I feeling like cooking....

I think the rule of thumb is 2-3 Tbsp per pound of meat. I would start with maybe 2 Tbsp/lb and work up from there (you can always add more) -- so if you have 2 lbs meat, you would use 1/4 cup.

Me, I am not crazy about canned chili ... the temperature to which it must be heated (240F) just destroys the beans.

These are whole chiles...you really can't get them into a TBSP quantity.


SV

Not whole, of course ... you need to grind them. If there's leftover then just put it in a container to be used later.

Well that's the thing...I don't want to grind them, I just want to cook them whole.

SV

That sounds more like tinga than chili (not that there's anything wrong with that).

I remove the chiles before serving, the depth of flavor is better than using powdered chiles IMO.

SV

The hispanic cooks around here reconstitute the dried chilies and then make them into sauce. My go to person is not available today, but, this looks like the process I have seen her use (she keeps the puree and adds it to wonderful dishes)

http://www.twentymile.com/Cookbook/rehy ... chiles.htm

Yes...that would make sense too. I really love the flavor using whole/dried chiles add.

SV

Too bad my fil is not on here. He used to make chili with whole chiles all the time.

What kind of barbarian puts beans in chili?