Industry Figure Tom Chappell

What with World War III breaking out over the Middle and Far East, I’m naturally not going to let my blog go silent. And here it is, my response: “Chili is delicious!”

My old friend Industry Figure Larry Helmerich’s wife Sally is a great cook, and the thing is, after 20 years of delicious meals at their house, she happened to mention that she never adds salt while cooking. I had never realized; I was usually too busy asking for seconds.

Now, the thing is, salt is this awful toxic stuff, that we totally need to live — that is, of course, we need it, but like a lot of other things, we have much easier access to it than we were evolved to handle. Just reducing salt in your diet lowers blood pressure by as much as a single blood pressure medication, and it’s clearly (to me, at least) preferable to reduce salt rather than take extra medicine.

So, for your eating pleasure, here is the way-awesome chilli recipe that I asked Sally for before I knew that it didn’t have any salt added while cooking. (There’s some salt in the canned beans and tomatoes, but it’s great with the reduced-salt version of the beans, so be sure to get that).

The recipe here is basically Sally’s, though the only time so far that I’ve made it, which was this evening, I made a few small changes to the ingredients and procedures, and since it was delicious, I’m presenting them here. Also, where the recipe gives you options, I have underlined the choices that I made.

1 lb. lean cut of beef, fat trimmed, cut into 1″ cubes
1 large onion, finely chopped (or cheat and buy the chopped onions in the freezer section and use 1/2 the package)

Brown the meat in a small amount of oil, or in Pam, over medium heat.

Add onions and cook until the onions are starting to become transparent.

In a crockpot or dutch oven, stir together the following:

1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes (you can use the plain or Mexican variety), undrained
1 15 oz. can of beans of your choosing (kidney, black, pinto), undrained
    I used the reduced salt beans, with half the salt of regular canned beans.
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
(At least) 2 cloves garlic (I used 2 1/2)
(At least) 1/4 tsp. chipotle chili pepper powder
(At least) 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper powder
1 large chili (Anaheim or Pasilla)
1/2 Serrano chili, seeded

Add the meat and onion mixture to the crockpot mixture.

If using a crockpot, set low and cook at least 6 hours.

Serve garnished with cilantro.

I made a double recipe using the glorious All-Clad 8 Qt. Stainless Steel Stockpot, cooking on simmer for several hours, and it was already delicious after 2 1/2 hours. I then reduced the heat to low and am planning to cook it for at least another 2 1/2 hours, and then have another bowl - for Science!

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I made another batch tonight (23 July 2006) that I thought was even tastier. Substitutions:

2 tsp. cumin
3 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp. chipotle chili pepper powder
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper powder
1 large Anaheim chili (chopped, rather than whole)
1 Serrano chili, with seeds

Sylvia, who likes foods to be what we call in California “moderately spicy”, said that the chili fumes from the cooking were making her eyes feel funny, and went to the store and bought some sour cream for insurance. The chili was amazing with the sour cream and cilantro. Next time, perhaps I’ll try using even less salt, by sustituting for some of the canned foods.