Chili For 160 Close Friends

Or 12 Gallons Of Sample Sized Servings...


I suspect that my regular readers think that they can probably guess what we had for dinner here on our little Island last night, but you'd be WRONG if you assumed dinner consisted of CHILI.

Confusingly, I did actually cook slightly over a gallon pot of my Chili, but when it was all said and done my concoction was so spicy that I was afraid for Pat and Missy The Turbo Pup to eat it, and assaulting my own Colon with an entire meal sized portion was also a source of declining middle aged concern.

Instead, we wandered around the corner to Larry's Giant Subs and enjoyed nice safe sandwiches for dinner after delivering a sample of my first test batch of thermonuclear material Iranian Reactor Fuel Virgil's Flaming Anus Porridge Chili over to Blackwater Grill for comment and criticism.

It's really an interesting exercise trying to develop a recipe for 12 gallons of food to be cooked in a four hour window of time, in a public venue, in a safe and sanitary manner.

First of all, let me tell you that in my considered opinion the spices are EVERYTHING when it comes to making a successful product.

The other thing is texture...Chili shouldn't just be a pureed bowl of gloppy crap, nor should it be a bowl full of beans and tomato sauce with a little ground beef thrown in for good measure.

Good Chili is a complex mixture of textures and layers of flavors, and good chili has a substantial quantity of MEAT in it. Chili should also not have thin streams of semi clear juice running out of it onto your plate or bowl when you spoon it out of the pot.

Is that really too much to ask?

Any way, leave it to me as usual to turn what many consider to be a simple one pot dish into a science project. Somehow I believe that the end in fact does justify the means and I think that my efforts will yield a superior product as a result.

Take yesterday's results for example. All it needs is a little fine tuning on the spice listing and I believe I have a winner

Assuming things proceed as planned, and at the risk of someone stealing my product and beating me with it, here's the unofficial list of what will be happening in a couple of giant pots about six weeks from now:

Initial Calculations: 12 gallons = 1536 ounces, 48 quarts, 160 regular dinner sized servings.

Liquid Ingredients

(12) bottles Guiness Stout Dark Beer
(12) cans Beef Stock
(12) 28 ounce cans Pureed tomatoes
(12) 28 ounce cans Diced Tomatoes

Dry Ingredients

(1) pound Bacon cooked & crumbled with Drippings
(24) pounds London Broil Beef, cooked medium and shredded before adding to the mix
(12) 15.5 ounce cans dark red kidney or Pinto beans
(12) medium onions diced coarse
(24) cloves garlic, diced fine
(2) small cans Chipolte peppers in Adobo Sauce **
(12) squares Baker's Chocolate

Spices:

3 tsp Red pepper flakes **
6 tsp chili powder
6 tbsp cumin
3 tsp paprika
3 tsp ground red pepper **
3 tsp black pepper
3 tsp white pepper

Salt to taste

(**these ingredients will make or break the dish and injure you and your dog at the same time.)

Unless you work in a commercial kitchen, I think that you will find that list sort of amazing.

Be advised that there is a detailed process involved in how it is all put together, and I'm reserving that description, along with a household sized ingredient list, for publication in early March after our Chili Cooking Team has won first place in the Cookoff.

Time to go taste the ongoing Chili cooking again now... I'm trying to tone it down a little.

Update 1/17/08 3:30 PM

I received a comment asking about the inclusion of Baker's chocolate in this recipe, and I couldn't resist answering her question.

Since the Chocolate is unsweetened, I can't say that it does anything relative to the Tomato acidity--I use sugar in my pasta sauces for that purpose (and I don't put sugar in my Chili.)

All I know is that I've read and heard for years about people putting chocolate in their chili, and the last few batches I've made included chocolate and it does add a subtle undercurrent to the flavor, in addition to darkening the color of the mixture visually.

The same applies to using a bottle of $10 a six pack Guinness Dark Beer versus Bud Light or just plain water...I BELIEVE it makes the Chili better, so I use it.

Any more questions?