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My uncle in Phoenix said my chili tasted like soup, so I spent $4 on one weird ingredient
Two weeks ago my uncle Ray came over for football and took one bite of my chili, put the spoon down, and said "this tastes like tomato soup with beans in it." I had been making that same pot for 3 years and honestly thought it was fine, but he was not wrong, it was thin and flat. So instead of buying a bunch of new stuff, I tried one trick a cook at a diner on Grand Ave told me about, which is to bloom two tablespoons of cheap chili powder in hot oil for 30 seconds before the liquid goes in. That one step plus a $1 can of masa harina stirred in at the end turned the whole pot into something thick and rich for under $4 total. Same beans, same $2 can of crushed tomatoes, same ground beef from the markdown bin, just a different order of operations. If you have a chili that tastes weak, is it the spices or is it that you never bloomed them in fat first?
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jordan_anderson9010d ago
That line about the spoon going down really got me. Someone you cooked for just stopping after one bite says more than any insult could. My wife did that to me two winters ago over a pot of split pea soup that turned out like cloudy water, and I sat there staring at the bowl like it had personally wronged me. It stings because you know deep down they are right, and you have been serving that same thing to people for years without a clue. Blooming the spices makes total sense too, since dry powder just floats around doing nothing. Anyway, good on you for fixing it with four bucks instead of a whole new recipe.
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