Chili Question

[EmmaJ.]

I just finished reading a great murder mystery "The 27-Ingredient Chili Con Carne Murders" and the recipe for the chili is in the book.  Here is a link to the book which allows you a preview of the book, and you can see the recipe is in the preview.

http://www.amazon.com/The-27-Ingredient-Chili-Carne-Murders/dp/0440216419/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383572106&sr=8-1&keywords=27+ingredient+chili

Has anyone ever made this chili?  I really want to try it this weekend but had a couple questions.  She says "3 pounds chopped sirloin" - is that a sirloin steak diced into small pieces or is it sirloin hamburger meat?  And "grated orange peel" - she doesn't specify how much.  Would that be all the grated orange peel from one orange? 

[readingchick]

I'm guessing sirloin hamburger meat, but that's just me. As for the grated orange peel, I have no idea....maybe start with a tablespoon and see if that'll do the trick?

[Betelnut]

Not hamburger meat.  Shredded steak.  Um.

[Luci]

I've had the sirloin chopped into tiny pieces in chili but do prefer it ground.

Don't know about the orange peel, but as large a recipe as that is, I agree 1T would be a good start. That's a teaspoon per pound of meat and with all the other stuff, it should brighten the dish without adding real orange flavor.

Please let us know. Thanks.

[123sandy]

I would go with chopped sirloin not mince. Not sure about the orange peel, a teaspoon doesn't seem like much t such a large recipe, how much would you get from a whole orange?

[Hmmmmm]

I haven't seen this before. Baked beans in chili is pretty unusual, even for a chili with beans.

I think for the sirloin she is probably means diced sirloin steak.

I did a google search and the earliest reference I could find was in a Milwaukee newspaper from '78.

Though I found it on recipe websites, couldn't find any reviews. I say give it a try. Could be an interesting soup/stew.

ETA: the newspaper one didn't have orange peel. But it had shallots which this one didn't.

[EmmaJ.]

Yes, I thought the baked beans was unusual too.  The whole recipe looks quirky enough to be fun to make!  I'll give it a try this weekend but will probably cut the amounts in half. 

One review I found said "makes enough to serve 30 people two bowls each".  Yikes!

[123sandy]

Just found the recipe! It's...definitely different. I can't wait to hear how it turns out.

[Hmmmmm]

Yes, I thought the baked beans was unusual too.  The whole recipe looks quirky enough to be fun to make!  I'll give it a try this weekend but will probably cut the amounts in half. 

One review I found said "makes enough to serve 30 people two bowls each".  Yikes!

I was wondering about that. It looked like massive amounts.

[cwm]

Yes, I thought the baked beans was unusual too.  The whole recipe looks quirky enough to be fun to make!  I'll give it a try this weekend but will probably cut the amounts in half. 

One review I found said "makes enough to serve 30 people two bowls each".  Yikes!

Please let us know how it goes! I love new chili recipes, and I'd love to try something like this for a big party where I could get away with cooking that much, but I'd also like to know how it is before I tried it.

[EmmaJ.]

Well, I decided I couldn't wait for the weekend.  Went grocery shopping last night to get the ingredients I didn't already have on hand, and the beans are soaking now.   

I went 50/50 on the sirloin question.  Found a single small sirloin steak which I will brown and shred, and also got a package of sirloin hamburger.  It sounds like it will be a nice mixture of meats and textures.

[jpcher]

I'm not finding the recipe in the link that you posted.

Would you be able to post the recipe or a clearer link? Thanks.

[Hmmmmm]

Here's a link to a copy of it posted on food.com

http://www.food.com/recipe/27-ingredient-chili-343564

[EmmaJ.]

Well, I finished making it last night and am pretty unimpressed.  The chili was okay, but with all the work and all the ingredients I was expecting more of a WOW! reaction.

I halved the recipe and it still made a boatload.  It may be my fault as I was halving the ingredients in my head instead of writing them down, but I ended up with a ton of meat and beans with very little liquid.  I had to add some beef stock just to be able to bring it to a simmer.

I didn't realize how many canned ingredients it called for - I try to limit those because of processing and the salt.  It has three times as much meat as beans and I like it to be the other way around.  So because it turned out pretty bland, I've got another pot of beans with fresh jalapeno slices cooking right now to add to the original mix.

So, all in all it turned out to be pretty mediocre chili.   

[lowspark]

Hmmm... I kinda wondered about the recipe. Both dried beans and canned beans? Pimentos -- how much flavor are those incredibly mild peppers going to actually impart with all the other flavors? Celery and mushrooms and olives in chili? I dunno. It kinda felt like an "everything but the kitchen sink" recipe. Which, admittedly can be good sometimes, but this one just seemed to have a lot of things that didn't go well together.

But by the time I read all that you'd already had the beans soaking so I didn't want to make a comment that might bias you. I was really curious as to how it was going to turn out.

There are a lot of good chili recipes out there that have a lot fewer (and more sensible) ingredients!