Quote:
Originally Posted by cmccuist
After reading Dave's post, I realized I forgot about the garlic and cumin. I'm ambivalent about the cumin, but that's just my own taste buds. I've gone heavy on the cumin and light and it doesn't seem to affect it. Maybe i'm cumin intolerant!?!
Also, sometimes you have to thicken the chili. The purists say you have to use corn flour (masa), but i've used corn starch or just regular flour.
I go back and forth on the use of tomato. I applaud Dave's effort to forgo tomato products altogether, but i've found that most people (non-chili fanatics) like a little tomato in there.
The key technique in the whole process is to simmer those dried chilies so you can remove the paste off of the skin. The good taste (and heat) is in the paste.
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Craig - it has worked out well, eliminating the tomato. The sweetness from the tomato could be missed, but I balance that by loading up on the pasilla chiles. They basically taste like a lightly smoked raisin, if that makes any sense.
Can you tell me more about removing the skins? I usually just hydrate the entire chile (after coring and seeding) in hot water, then throw them in the blender whole without skinning.
Ted - it'd be impossible (as far as I know) to fire-roast a dried chili. They're too fragile. However, I definitely fire roast all the fresh chilis that go in my chili. A given batch of my chili usually has 4-6 different types of chilis in it (ancho, pasilla, chipotle, jalapeno, serrano, habanero). Fresh ones including jalapeno, serrano, and habanero get roasted. Actually, I've never had the stones to fire habaneros. They require
extreme caution when handling.
Man I have worked up an appetite on this thread. I bet with a little arm-twisting I could be convinced to bring a big pot of chili to RR3...