The Hirshon Texas Chili

September 24, 2017 by The Generalissimo Leave a Comment

Texas Chili Image Used Under Creative Commons License From butterthantoast.blogspot.com

My Citizens – I, the ever-vigilant TFD, am preparing to blockade my secret lair and am feverishly building up new walls of protection all geared to one earnest purpose. That purpose, dear Citizens, is the preservation of my life and sanity, as I wade into the seething morass that is “what makes a good Texas chili.”

The fact that my in-laws are all from south Texas, all pack heat and all are extremely opinionated as to what makes for the finest pride of Texas recipes, this is at best humbling and at worst absolutely terrifying as their Jewish, NYC-born familial interloper dares to take on their cherished recipe.

That said – my fear is mitigated by one, indisputable fact: I am the first person in the history of the International Chili Society to ever win a regional competition on their first-ever entry. Usually, it takes many years to eke out a win – I did it on my first attempt! I went on to the World Championships in Palm Springs in 2013 and placed in the top 1/3 of all contestants!

So – to all my in-laws: prepare to be blown away by this, my recipe of recipes for Texas-style chili.

The first rule of Texas chili – THERE ARE NO BEANS IN IT. Repeat this over and over until they are branded into your brain in glyphs of white-hot fire. Second, the beef should ideally be finely-cubed, not ground. Third, make your own Chili powder – Gebhardt’s of Texas makes a fine product, but this is where you really want to make your own (and you will!). Fourth, and this depends on what part of Texas you’re in, use some finely ground Masa Harina (corn flour) to thicken the chili.

As described on nationalchiliday.com:

When it comes to the story of chili, tales and myths abound.

While many food historians agree that chili con carne is an American dish with Mexican roots, Mexicans are said to indignantly deny any association with the dish.

Enthusiasts of chili say one possible though far-fetched starting point comes from Sister Mary of Agreda, a Spanish nun in the early 1600s who never left her convent yet had out-of-body experiences in which her spirit was transported across the Atlantic to preach Christianity to the Indians. After one of the return trips, her spirit wrote down the first recipe for chili con carne: chili peppers, venison, onions, and tomatoes.

Another yarn goes that Canary Islanders who made their way to San Antonio as early as 1723, used local peppers and wild onions combined with various meats to create early chili combinations.

Most historians agree that the earliest written description of chili came from J.C. Clopper, who lived near Houston. While his description never mentions the word chili this is what he wrote of his visit to San Antonio in 1828: “When they [poor families of San Antonio] have to lay for their meat in the market, a very little is made to suffice for the family; it is generally cut into a kind of hash with nearly as many peppers as there are pieces of meat–this is all stewed together.”

In the 1880s, a market in San Antonio started setting up chili stands from which chili or bowls o’red, as it was called, were sold by women who were called “chili queens.” A bowl o’red cost diners such as writer O. Henry and democratic presidential hopeful William Jennings Bryan ten cents and included bread and a glass of water. The fame of chili con carne began to spread and the dish soon became a major tourist attraction. It was featured at the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893 at the San Antonio Chili Stand.

By the 20th century chili joints had made their debut in Texas and became familiar all over the west by the roaring ‘20s. In fact, by the end of that decade, there was hardly a town that didn’t have a chili parlor, which were often no more than a shed or a room with a counter and some stools. It’s been said that chili joints meant the difference between starvation and staying alive during the Great Depression since chili was cheap and crackers were free.

Citizens, my Texas chili hits the ground running with only two or three idiosyncratic notes: I use a square of Dove brand dark chocolate as I prefer the slight bitterness it adds and I also add my secret ingredients. That includes Knorr Aromat, a common seasoning used in Europe that adds a meaty savoriness. I also add a hint of Bolner’s Fiesta Brand Mesquite-flavored fajita seasoning mix for a bit of smokiness as well. Lastly, I like a blend of beef and bison in my chili, but you can easily just use beef if you prefer.

I am reasonably confident I will survive this close encounter of the scary kind to write another day!

Battle on – The Generalissimo

The Hirshon Texas Chili

Ingredients

8 dried ancho peppers
6 dried guajillo peppers
6 dried pasilla peppers (be careful these aren’t anchos, sometimes they are mislabeled)
3 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, reserve 2 tbsp. adobo sauce
5 cloves garlic
3 cloves roasted garlic
1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 ½ teaspoons Knorr Aromat seasoning (optional but recommended) If unavailable, use 1 ½ cubes Knorr chicken bouillon, ground to a powder - typically this is available on Amazon
1 ½ teaspoon Bolner's Fiesta Brand Mesquite-flavored fajita seasoning mix - avialable on Amazon
3 ½ pounds boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed and cut into ¼”-size pieces
2 pounds bison chuck roast, trimmed and cut into ¼”-size pieces (TFD prefers this, but you can also just use beef chuck)
3 tablespoons bacon fat (or use vegetable oil if you must)
2 cups chopped onions
4 teaspoons freshly-ground cumin
1 Dove dark chocolate square
32 ounce box reduced-sodium beef broth
15 ounce jar tomato sauce
14 ½ ounce can diced fire-roasted tomatoes
1 12 ounce bottle bock-style lager - TFD endorses the quintessential Texas beer: Shiner Bock
1 ½ teaspoons dried Mexican oregano, crushed
2 tablespoons masa harina
Toppings such as sour cream, snipped fresh cilantro, sliced fresh jalapeno peppers, shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions

In a dry extra-large skillet toast dried chile peppers, half at a time, over medium heat 3 to 4 minutes or until fragrant, turning often. Let cool. Remove stems, seeds, and membranes from peppers. Tear peppers into pieces and place in a large bowl; add 5 cups boiling water. Let stand 30 minutes.
Using a slotted spoon, transfer chiles to a blender. Add 3 cups of the soaking liquid and the spices and garlic except the cumin. Cover and blend until smooth. Strain mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, pushing the liquid through and scraping the inside of the sieve using a rubber spatula; discard solids.
Meanwhile, in a 6- to 8-quart cast-iron Dutch oven, heat 1 tablespoon of the fat over medium-high heat. Cook meat, in batches, until browned, adding the remaining fat as needed. Remove meat from pan; set aside.
Add onions to drippings in pan. Cook and stir 3 minutes or until tender. Add cumin; cook 1 minute or until fragrant, stirring constantly. Add chile puree. Cook 10 minutes, stirring often.
Return meat to pan. Add broth, tomato sauce, reserved adobo sauce, chocolate, tomatoes, beer, and oregano. Bring to boiling; reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, 1 hour. Uncover and simmer 1 hour more or until beef is tender and chili is slightly thickened. If you can do this cooking over an open mesquite fire instead of an oven, by all means do so!
Slowly sprinkle masa harina into the chili stirring constantly to incorporate. If you don't have masa harina, use tortilla chips or corn tortillas to thicken the chili. Lightly coat both sides of 2 corn tortillas with nonstick cooking spray.
Cut each tortilla into 6 pieces. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees F for 8 minutes or until lightly browned and crisp. Cool on wire rack. Finely crush 9 of the tortilla pieces or purchased tortilla chips (about 1/2 ounce) into a fine powder. Use 2 tablespoons crushed chips in place of the masa.
Simmer 15 minutes or until thickened. Ideally, let cool in the fridge overnight and reheat. Serve with desired toppings.

https://www.thefooddictator.com/hirshon-texas-chili/

The Hirshon Lappish Sautéed Reindeer – Poronkäristys

February 20, 2017 by The Generalissimo 1 Comment

Poronkäristys Image Used Under Creative Commons License From flickr.com

Citizens, my sincerest apologies for going dark this last week – your beloved Generalissimo has spent a long-overdue vacation in the furthest Arctic North, as is his custom in the winter time! ☺

Every year, my wife and I go aurora chasing, seeking to view the elusive Northern Lights from a different country of the North – this year, it was in Lapland, in the Ultima Thule of the Finnish Arctic Circle!

It was here that I first sampled the glory that is reindeer, which may in fact be my all-time favorite meat. It is unbelievably tender and lean – read about what alternativefinland.com says about it:

Reindeer has been common on menus across Scandinavia for many decades. Other countries however have taken a little longer to get used to the idea of consuming Rudolph and friends with a nice cranberry sauce and dumplings.

Six years ago there was an outcry in the UK when it emerged that the Swedish furniture giant IKEA was selling salami containing reindeer. However, things are changing and reindeer meat is rapidly gaining in popularity outside of Finland and Sweden.

The exotic meat supplier Kezie reports on its website that demand for the “tender and succulent” meat is so high that it now offers it all year round, selling everything from reindeer sausages and reindeer steaks to reindeer meatballs and reindeer mince. So just what is making the demand for reindeer meat so high despite its somewhat high price?

Well, first and foremost, Reindeer meat is fine-textured, tender and tastes great, with the delicious but distinctive taste of game meat. It has some of the characteristics of venison but is a much milder-flavored meat, although still dark in color. It’s also, like much game meat, extremely low in fat content (and like much game meat, with the low fat content, you need to make sure you don’t overcook it).

Reindeer meat is also ethically sound – reindeer are pastured in the forests enjoy almost complete freedom, unlike factory-farmed beef or pork. The fell reindeer’s diet is a natural one, without the drugs that the diet of factory-farmed animals is all to often laced with – in the winter the reindeer dig lichen from the ground while during the summer, reindeer eat more than 300 different plants .

Twice a year the reindeer are gathered together and those to be slaughtered selected. Which brings me to my next discussion point: sourcing your reindeer meat. Now while in Europe reindeer meat is relatively easy to procure, Finnish Reindeer meat is not exactly an off-the-shelf product in my local (Canadian in Toronto) supermarket, so the first task was to source some Reindeer meat at an affordable cost.

Before I start, if you live in Europe, Reindeer meat is becoming more widely available and you may find a local supermarket that stocks it. Otherwise, you should be able to find an online supplier easily enough. For North Americans, Reindeer is a little challenging but keep in mind that Caribou is the same as Reindeer – just not Finnish (and Finnish reindeer may well be from Russia in any case….).

Wild caribou and domesticated reindeer are actually the same species throughout the world – so for North Americans, just look for a source of caribou meat.

Despite what you may think, Finns don’t eat reindeer very often – in fact it’s quite scarce, expensive and sometimes hard to find (you can buy reindeer in any supermarket, but if you want something really good you need some “contacts”).

The most typical dish of Lappish cuisine and a top recipe of Finnish gastronomy is poronkäristys, braised thin-cut reindeer served with super creamy mashed potatoes and lingonberries.

The main part of this meal is the “käristys.” The word käristys refers to a method used in Lapland for cooking the meat. When still partially frozen the meat is cut into thin slices, fried in the pot and then cooked for several hours on low heat, in butter and/or beer if available. It is most often made with reindeer meat but other meats like beef or elk can be used as an alternative.

This will be the best “meat and potatoes” meal you’ll ever have, especially made the TFD way! In the original Lappish recipe, the reindeer is sautéed in butter and cooked with just water, salt and black pepper.

My version includes bacon, onions, beer, and a hint of ground juniper as well as using beef stock in place of water for a richer gravy. I also happily adopt the recipe for the world’s best mashed potatoes, from the ultimate French chef, Jöel Robuchon, to make this truly special! You can of course use regular old mashed potatoes, just add plenty of extra butter and cream to makes them very rich.

Battle on – The Generalissimo

The Hirshon Lappish Sautéed Reindeer – Poronkäristys

Ingredients

750 g reindeer meat (for sautéing) - If you can't get reindeer meat, you can use other kind of deer for this recipe.
100 g bacon
1 large onion
1 heaping tbsp butter
½ can of lager beer
175 ml beef stock
2 bay leaves
Ground black pepper
¼ tsp freshly-ground juniper (optional but recommended)
Salt
Robuchon-style mashed potatoes
2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
20 tablespoons (2 ½ sticks) Unsalted Butter
1 ⅓ cups whole milk
Salt and white pepper
Lingonberry jam (Cranberry jam can be substituted)

Instructions

Heat the butter in a big pot. When melted, add the onion, finely chopped, and let it cook for a couple of minutes.
On the other burner in a separate pan, cut the bacon into little pieces and fry it in a pan in its own fat. Add the bacon (and the fat) and the reindeer meat to the pot and sauté all together. Season with salt and pepper.
Add the bay leaves and pour the beer and the stock into the pot. Let it cook covered at low heat for 1 hour and half.
Make the mashed potatoes:
Place potatoes in fine-mesh strainer and rinse under cold running water until water runs clear. Set aside to drain.
Heat butter, milk, and 1 teaspoon salt in large saucepan over low heat until butter has melted. Add potatoes, increase heat to medium-low, and cook until liquid just starts to boil. Reduce heat to low, partially cover, and gently simmer until paring knife can be slipped into and out of centers of potatoes with no resistance, 30 to 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
Drain potatoes in fine-mesh strainer set over large bowl, reserving cooking liquid. Wipe out saucepan. Return cooking liquid to saucepan and place saucepan over low heat.
Set food mill fitted with finest disk over saucepan. Working in batches, transfer potatoes to hopper and process. Using whisk, recombine potatoes and cooking liquid until smooth, 10 to 15 seconds (potatoes should almost be pourable). Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve immediately.
Serve the Sautéed Reindeer hot together with the mashed potatoes, lingonberry jam or cranberry sauce, pickled beetroots, and pickled cucumbers.

https://www.thefooddictator.com/hirshon-lappish-sauteed-reindeer-poronkaristys/

The Hirshon Polish Hunters Stew – Bigos Myśliwski

January 13, 2017 by The Generalissimo 7 Comments

Bigos Myśliwski Image Used Under Creative Commons License From wikimedia.org

Citizens, your beloved and glorious leader occasionally enjoys the end-results of a successful hunt, with the pastorally-grazed wild meats frequently ending up in this recipe of renown – Bigos!

Frequently translated into English as hunter’s stew, this is a Polish dish of finely-chopped meat of various kinds stewed with sauerkraut and shredded fresh cabbage. The dish is also traditional in Belarusian, Ukrainian and Lithuanian cuisine.

The principal ingredients are assorted kinds of meat chopped into bite-sized chunks and a mixture of sauerkraut (pickled cabbage) and shredded fresh white cabbage. The meats may include pork (ham, shoulder, bacon, ribs, loin, etc.), beef and veal, poultry (chicken, duck, goose, turkey) and game, as well as charcuterie, especially various kinds of kiełbasa, or Polish smoked sausage.

The variety of meats is considered essential for good bigos; its preparation may be a good occasion to clean out one’s freezer and use up leftovers from other meat dishes. Some of the meats may be roasted before being diced together with other cuts of meat and braised in lard or vegetable oil.

As noted by my dear friend and master of all Polish goodness John Biggs: “The key is to point out that this isn’t WET. It’s not a stew in the traditional sense but the bigos should be almost dry with a reduction of all the flavors coating it, like a carbonara. If it’s too wet the meat falls apart and makes a mess and it isn’t bigos.”

Take due note, Citizens!

The sauerkraut is often rinsed and drained before being chopped and mixed with shredded fresh cabbage. The proportion depends on the sauerkraut’s maturity – the longer it has cured, the more sour it tastes, calling for more fresh cabbage to balance the flavor. Other ingredients often added include onions, diced and browned in lard together with the meat, and dried forest mushrooms that are precooked separately in boiling water.

The stew is usually seasoned with salt, black peppercorns, allspice, juniper berries and bay leaves. Some recipes also call for caraway, cloves, garlic, marjoram, mustard seeds, nutmeg, paprika and thyme.

The tart flavor of sauerkraut may be enhanced by adding some dry red wine or beet sour (fermented beetroot juice that is also a traditional ingredient of borscht), which may impart a reddish hue to the stew. Bigos is often slightly sweetened with sugar, honey, raisins, prunes or plum butter (known in Polish as powidła).

Traditionally, bigos is stewed in a cauldron over an open fire or in a large pot on a stove, but it may also be prepared in an electric slow cooker. The contents should be stirred from time to time, to prevent scorching, which may impart a bitter taste to the entire batch. The stew is considered best after it has been repeatedly refrigerated and reheated to allow the flavors to fuse.

In the region of Greater Poland, bigos typically contains tomato paste and is seasoned with garlic and marjoram. Kuyavian bigos is often made from red cabbage as well as white. In Silesia, it is usually mixed with kopytka or kluski, that is, small plain boiled dumplings made from unleavened dough that contains flour and mashed potatoes.

A variant which contains julienned apples, preferably with a winey tart taste, such as Antonovka, is known as Lithuanian bigos and is typical for the territory of the erstwhile Grand Duchy of Lithuania (now Belarus and Lithuania).

In bigos myśliwski, or “hunter’s bigos”, at least part of the meat comes from game, such as wild boar, venison or hare. It is usually seasoned with juniper berries, which help neutralize off-flavors that may be found in the meat of wild animals.

Bigos is particularly associated with major Catholic holidays, such as Christmas and Easter, as it can be prepared in ample quantities beforehand and only reheated on the holiday itself and the following days.

The stew is typically dished up with rye bread or boiled potatoes. In a fancier setting, it may be served in stoneware bowls, puff pastry shells or bread bowls.

Bigos, especially when enjoyed outdoor, is traditionally paired with shots of chilled vodka, either clear or flavored. Varieties of flavored vodka that match well with bigos include żubrówka, jałowcówka (juniper), piołunówka (wormwood), Goldwasser (various herbs) and starka (oak-aged). If served at home or in a restaurant, the stew may be washed down with beer, red wine or Riesling.

Bigos made entirely of meat and exotic spices was affordable only to the affluent Polish nobility. The 18th century saw the development of a poor man’s version of the dish, known as bigos hultajski, or “rascal’s bigos”, in which vinegar and lemon juice were replaced with cheaper sauerkraut as the source of tartness.

Sauerkraut and cabbage also acted as a filler allowing to reduce the amount of meat in the dish. Rascal’s bigos became common during the reign of King Augustus III of Poland (r. 1734–1763). Over the course of the 19th century, its rise in popularity continued as the proportion of meat decreased in favor of sauerkraut, eventually superseding all other kinds of bigos and losing the disparaging epithet in the process.

Citizens, my version of the dish is both traditional and profound – I truly hope you enjoy this classic recipe!

Battle on – The Generalissimo

The Hirshon Polish Hunters Stew – Bigos Myśliwski

Ingredients

¼ pound hickory smoked bacon, in one piece
2 yellow onions, chopped
1 lb Kielbasa, quartered
½ lb venison stew meat (strongly preferred) or use beef
¼ lb of mild ham, in one piece
¼ pound pork stew meat
½ cup lard (preferred) or oil
2 cups dried wild mushrooms - In Poland, you would use grzyby leśne, which you’ll find in any supermarket and are a mixture of dried forest mushrooms. You can probably find something similar just about anywhere, but make sure that they are wild forest mushrooms and not something like champignon as they simply don’t have enough flavor. TFD prefers a blend of dried porcini, dried morels and dried champignons
5 large garlic cloves
3 medium carrots, diced
1 ½ lb. drained sauerkraut (do not rinse)
5 cups white cabbage (TFD prefers Napa), shredded
1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme
2 tablespoons sweet paprika
1 teaspoon caraway seeds, crushed
2 ½ teaspoons marjoram
1 tsp. freshly-ground allspice
3 bay leaves
8 juniper berries, lightly crushed
Pinch of cayenne
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup dry red wine
4 cups beef stock
¼ cup plum butter (known in Polish as powidła) or use plum jam
Porcini or morel mushroom powder to taste (optional but highly recommended)

Instructions

Put the dried mushrooms in a bowl with enough warm water to cover them completely, and leave them to soak.
Fry the pork and venison or beef in half of the fat until it is browned. Add the sliced onions, cover and braise until the meat is half cooked.
Squeeze the excess liquid out of the sauerkraut, either using your hands, or put it in a colander and press it down with a wooden spoon.
Put the sauerkraut and bacon together in a large pan with a little water, some allspice and the bay leaves. Bring it to the boil, and then turn it down and let it simmer.
There are a couple of important things to note at this point. Firstly that the finished dish should be quite thick and not swimming in liquid, and that you will be adding wine as well as liquids from the mushrooms and the meat a bit later, so you should add just enough water now to prevent the cabbage from burning and allow the bacon to boil.
Again - the key is this isn’t WET. It’s not a stew in the traditional sense but the bigos should be almost dry with a reduction of all the flavors coating it, like a carbonara. If it’s too wet, the meat falls apart and makes a mess and it isn’t bigos.
Secondly, it is important not to add any salt to the dish at all until the cabbage is completely cooked, otherwise it will prevent the cabbage from softening.
When the bacon is half cooked, remove it, and leave the cabbage on the heat.
Strain the mushrooms, and cut them into slivers, then add both the mushrooms and the water they were soaked in to the cabbage.
Cut the cooked pork and beef, together with the bacon into medium-sized chunks, and add them all together with the onions and any juices from the meat to the cabbage.
Cook over a medium heat till the cabbage and the meat are cooked through and soft. Sauerkraut has a tendency to stick, so it is very important not to use too high a heat, and to remember to give it a good stir from time to time.
While it is cooking, cut the sausage into half moon slices, and the ham into cubes, and fry them in the rest of the fat. When they are cooked, add them to the cabbage, together with the remaining spices, prune jam, dried mushroom powder to taste and red wine.
Bring the whole thing to the boil, and then lower the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.
At this point your bigos is finished and ready to eat, and it should taste wonderful. If you want to be really traditional and really get the very most flavor into the dish though, you have a lot more work to do.
(optional)
Traditionally bigos was cooked, cooled down and then reheated and recooled for seven days in a row in order to ensure the perfect mingling of all flavors.
After cooking allow your bigos to cool completely and then refrigerate it overnight.
The following day slowly and gently bring the whole thing up to the boil and then turn the heat down and simmer it for 10 minutes. Take it off the heat and let it cool completely before putting it back into the fridge for the night.
Repeat for another 5 days.
(end optional)
Drink either with shots of good quality frozen vodka or a bottle of the same red wine that you put into the bigos itself.

https://www.thefooddictator.com/hirshon-polish-hunters-stew-bigos-mysliwski/