CHILI & CORNBREAD
The Fall/Winter Cooking Duo that's Perfect for Game Day
Happy Thursday, W4D friends! This week we are featuring a tried and true staple of Fall/Winter cooking: Chili & Cornbread. And we promise, once you make these, you’ll never make another version again. Elizabeth’s Bowl O’ Red is a Texas-style chili (without beans—but add ‘em if you want ‘em!) that doesn’t skimp on beefy flavor, and Anthony is making her famous Creamed Corn Cornbread with a jalapeño and cheddar cheese twist.
EAK’S BOWL O’ RED
EK: When the weather turns, I crave Chili! I love a steamy bowl of chili with cornbread and a few corn chips to scoop up the spicy beef chili.
I love all kinds of chili with all kinds of ingredients, but my favorite chili is a Texas-style Bowl of Red and that means no beans! It’s a Texas tradition, but if you aren’t from Texas, or even if you are (and you love beans), be like Anthony and add ‘em if you want ‘em!
AU: As a native Texan, I don’t really understand the no-beans thing! Why omit beans when they are the center of so much Texas cuisine?!
EK: You make a good point. I never thought of it like that.
Originally, it was called a bowl of red because the recipe was basically stew beef with red chiles. The real purists would not call my ‘bowl of red’ authentic, but I also wouldn’t be happy with a bowl of beef stew and chiles—to each it’s own, we always say here at W4D!
I like to use 2 kinds of ground beef, chuck for flavor and sirloin for balance. Remember that this recipe is basically all beef, and so it pays off to buy the best quality beef you can find.
These days, it’s hard to find ground sirloin in the grocery store, so think of it as a mix of a leaner ground beef and a fattier, more flavorful ground beef. If you can’t find ground sirloin, buy ground beef that is 10% fat to beef. I used a grass-fed—leaner—ground beef and ground American Wagyu which was fattier. Because I like the flavor of the fattier beef, but not the mouthfeel of the fat, I make my chili a day before and let it refrigerate overnight so that I can remove the excess fat.
Once I have my mixture of beef, a bottle of beer and 3 cans of Ro-Tel are my secret ingredients. Ro-Tel is a brand of spiced diced tomatoes and green chiles from Texas and comes in 10 different styles including a “zesty” original, mild, hot and my favorite variety—fire-roasted. (Use your favorite can of Ro-Tel or a combination like I did. I used 2 cans of Fire-Roasted and a can of Original.)
If you are new to Ro-Tel, it is a staple of Texas cooking. It is best known for making “Ro-Tel” dip with Velveeta. Ro-Tel (Queso) dip and chips is some of the best drinking food known to man, but I keep cans of Ro-Tel on hand for gumbo and chili and other hearty soups. Texas boy, weigh in…
AU: Ro-Tel is just about as Texan as Pace Picante Sauce, Bluebell Ice Cream, and Ranch Style Beans! It’s just part of our DNA. A birthright. When I lived in NYC, it was hard to find, so I would combine one of those small cans of diced green chilies and a can of diced tomatoes. It lacks a bit of the kick you get from the real Ro-Tel, but it was a good substitute for a Homesick Texan.
EK: YES! If for some reason, you can’t find Ro-Tel in your local grocery store, you can use a 14.5-ounce can of chopped or diced fire-roasted tomatoes and a small 4-ounce can of diced green chiles. You can also order Ro-Tel on Amazon.
EK: I used to set a big cast-iron Dutch oven on the stovetop and let it simmer all day, but now I make my chili in a pressure cooker. I sauté the onions and brown the ground beef in the pressure cooker before adding all the other ingredients.
You “dump” the rest of the ingredients and spices in the pot. After twenty minutes on high pressure, and a natural release, it has the texture of chili that has simmered all day! As I mentioned, I let it rest overnight, skim the fat from the top and re-warm it in the same pot.
When it’s time to eat, I garnish it with sour cream and chives—or scallions—and grated sharp cheddar cheese.
When I really need some comfort, or a stick-to-your ribs meal, I serve it as Chili-Mac—a generous scoop on top of homemade mac ‘n cheese. Because there aren’t any beans in this chili, I’ve been known to make it to top a chili dog, and you could serve it over a bowl of spaghetti as they do in Cincinnati.
However you serve it, it is delicious and all you need besides the chili is fresh warm cornbread—and maybe a few Fritos scoops—to make it a meal.
CHEDDAR-JALAPEÑO SKILLET CORNBREAD
AU: You heard the lady! All you need to go with your chili is some cornbread. And boy oh boy, is THIS A CORNBREAD! It’s packed with sharp cheddar cheese, diced green chilies, and fresh jalapeños. But we’re not stopping there—a whole can of Creamed Corn makes this a rich, satisfying dense-style cornbread… you won’t even want butter!
Full Disclosure: my Cornbread Kween, Elizabeth Karmel, did the heavy lifting on this recipe. I used her recipe for Creamed Corn Skillet Cornbread from her grilling bible Taming the Flame. WHEN IT AIN’T BROKEN…
EK: Thank you A!! When I wrote Taming the Flame, my editor wanted me to write the recipe for the grill. It’s true that you can easily bake it on the grill, but you can also bake it in the oven, and that’s what Anthony did with his tricked-up version of my cornbread.
AU: The best piece of advice I can give you is to preheat your 10-inch cast iron skillet while you preheat the oven to bake it. Once you’ve got the batter together, remove the skillet from the oven and melt some butter into it. Then pour the batter into the melted butter. You should hear a satisfying sizzle as the batter hits the hot pan. That’s how you know you’ll get a crispy brown crust on the underside of your cornbread.
Since this baby is packed with all kinds of yum, she takes about 45-60 minutes in the oven. But you’ll be handsomely rewarded for your wait.
CONGRATS TO **NICOLE ANGEL** FOR WINNING A COPY OF MILK STREET’S SIMPLE!
We hope you enjoy this cookbook as much as we do! As always, paying subscribers are automatically entered in the giveaway! If you’d like to become a paid subscriber, hit the button below. Thanks! xoA&E
Yum. Now I’m hungry.