283561 Wed Mar 01 17:51:43 -0800 2006 10 31 Home Cooking 0 1513946 When making chili, do I have to use this mysterious "chili powder" that all the recipes refer to? Does a combination of cumin, garlic, and other spices replicate the taste experience? Finally, does anyone have a kickass recipe for a multi-bean vegetarian chili? Wed Mar 01 17:51:43 -0800 2006 0 ella 1 1513947 You can use prepared chili powders, there are any number of them on the market. Most are pretty generic and salty and bland. Mexene is not too bad nor is Gebhardts. Depending on the flavor I want I will either use dried chilis or pure ground chili that I order from Pendery's (not Penzy's) and toast and grind my own cumin seed add garlic etc.to my own taste. For a bright flavor I get Pendery's ancho, for a darker flavor I love their Bull Canyon, and their Cochise adds some heat. You need to find what you like. In Madison's Greens Cookbook is a Black Bean Chili that is fantastic. She adds some chipotle which adds smokiness and suggests that there might be a smoked hock or something involved but it is strictly vegetarian and people are amazed. I have found if you are pressed for time you can get away with canned black beans. I don't know why you could not make it multi-bean. If you don't own the book your library is sure to have it. The recipe looks more involved than it actually is. Wed Mar 01 18:04:45 -0800 2006 1513946 0 Candy 2 1513949 I have Madison's Greens Cookbook and can't find a recipe for a Black Bean Chili. Is it listed under another name? Is there an online link? TIA Wed Mar 01 18:28:25 -0800 2006 1513947 0 JoanN 3 1513976 It is on page 109 of my 1987 edition. Wed Mar 01 20:02:26 -0800 2006 1513949 0 Candy 4 1514068 Thanks, Candy. It's on page 109 of mine as well. I see now that it's listed under Beans, black, chili in the index but not under chili, which is where I was looking for it. There was a thread some time ago about books with lousy indexes. Is it too late to nominate this one? Thu Mar 02 16:16:47 -0800 2006 1513976 0 JoanN 4 1514072 Thanks, Candy. It's on page 109 of mine as well. I see now that it's listed under Beans, black, chili in the index but not under chili, which is where I was looking for it. There was a thread some time ago about books with lousy indexes. Is it too late to nominate this one? Thu Mar 02 16:19:32 -0800 2006 1513976 0 JoanN 2 1513961 I think that chile is actually in "Veg. Cooking for Everyone." Her addition of chipotle and often spanish paprika in her recipes does indeed give a nice smokiness/meatiness that is reminiscent of meat. Wed Mar 01 19:13:28 -0800 2006 1513947 0 Aaron 1 1513957 There are lots of different styles of chili, but if you want to start at the ground level, with a basic Texas style chili, a '2 Alarm chili kit' (Wick Fowler) from the grocery story, is an good starting point. It provides the necessary spices, individually packaged. The largest spice package is a mild ground chile pepper. That, along with cumin, provides the base for a good chili. The hotter pepper is packaged separately, so you can control the heat to your liking. If you move beyond the Texas basics (just the meat and spices) into beans and vegies, the combinations are endless. paulj Link: http://www.chilicookoff.com/Recipe/Recipe_Home.asp Wed Mar 01 19:07:44 -0800 2006 1513946 0 paulj 2 1514057 At the risk of getting kicked over to Chowhound's Home Can Opening Board, let me say that the best chili I've ever made was done using Carroll Shelby's Brown Bag kit. I've never made it vegetarian, though I'm sure it could be done. The vegeburger chili I've had in the past has tended to be a little harsh; I think animal fat sort of mollifies the sharpness of the spices, so you might want to back off a little. Also, most recipes (including the one in the Shelby kit) tell you just to add the spices straight to water, which I think is dead wrong. I'm a firm believer in frying the spices before adding any liquid, which you can do quite easily in some olive or canola oil. Thu Mar 02 15:50:34 -0800 2006 1513957 0 Will Owen 1 1513970 Like a previous poster said, the chilis and cumin make the base as far as taste. I've been moving toward much longer cooking times, and using whole cumin seed (toasted in a skillet first to release the flavor) and actual chili peppers, dried. I cook at least all day. It takes a bit to start forming the flavor around these, but it's so much more rich. If you get in a bind and get it too hot, add a little butter - I usually add some anyway. Wed Mar 01 19:26:08 -0800 2006 1513946 0 Dennis S 1 1513977 Whether or not you use "chili powder" (which is typically a combination of ground chili pepper, cumin, garlic and Mexican oregano), you need to use chilis of some kind -- either dried or powdered (I suppose you could make chili with fresh chilis, but I've never done so). I have one chili recipe that calls for "chili powder" of the grocery store variety, and another that calls for toasted dried mexican chilis (ancho, guajillo), which are then seeded, soaked and pureed into a homemade chili paste. I've also used powdered chili (as versus chili powder, which is a spice mixture) that is made of one variety of chili, like ancho or chipotle. At the end of the description of each of the different chili powders that Penzey's sells, it lists the ingredients of each powder without the proportions. If you wanted to make your own chili powder, you could start with these ingredient lists and go from there. Link: http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeyschilipowder.html Wed Mar 01 20:02:50 -0800 2006 1513946 0 DanaB