When we are at our summer home near Portland, Oregon, we always shop at a family-owned Portland classic meat market. It is Gartner’s Country Meats and it is like no butcher shop you could ever dream of having available in your neighborhood. They do all their own meat cutting and cut things to order exactly the way you like them. They smoke their own hams and bacon and make all their own sausages. I could go on and on.
I was in there yesterday to buy some meats (no, we aren’t totally vegetarian, though a lot) and while I was waiting for them to custom cut my order, I saw this chili mix for sale on a shelf. When Gartner’s sells someone else’s product, you can be sure that it is something they have tried and can whole-heartedly recommend with their own reputation at stake. I read the ingredients on the package of chili mix and saw that there were only a few spices and chili peppers. No MSG, preservatives, or additives of any kind. Pure and simple. The color looked great and the recipe for making their chili was simple and straightforward, with just a few ingredients that most anyone would have around their kitchen.
After examining the chili mix and reading the recipe on the back of the packet, I add 2 pounds of chili grind hamburger to my order. Gartner’s does custom grinding of meats to your specifications to fit whatever recipe you are planning to make. So, 2 one-pound packages of chili grind beef was added to my bag. I walked out of Gartner’s with high hopes for the new chili recipe I planned to make the very next day.
I assembled all my ingredients. I had everything I needed, and more. I planned to make the Bigfoot Chili in the afternoon and make some homemade corn bread to go with it shortly before dinner.
Following Bigfoot’s recipe, I browned the chili grind meat until it was deeply caramel-colored in a large skillet on med-high heat. I browned each pound separately so it would not just steam together. As the meat browned, I transferred each batch to a large enamel-coated cast iron pan (I use Le Creuset).
I was careful to use a slotted spoon to transfer the meat to the Le Creuset, leaving most of the fat in the skillet for the next step.
Next, I added the chopped onions to the skillet to sauté until they were slightly softened. I have a confession here. I made a slight change to Bigfoot’s recipe and I added 3 large cloves of fresh garlic, coarsely chopped in with the onions. In my opinion, fresh chopped garlic always makes most things taste better – especially chili.
Continuing to follow Bigfoot’s directions, I mixed the sautéed onions in with the browned chili meat and then added the packet of Bigfoot Chili Mix, folding it all together to get all the spice mix coating on all the meat chunks and onions. Next I scraped aside the meat, onion and spice mixture to make a ‘well’ to pour in the canned diced tomatoes and the beef broth. The I gently stirred everything together so that the liquid and the tomatoes didn’t just wash all that spice mixture off of the meat.
Now it looked like this:
I brought it to a simmer and put the lid on it, slightly ajar, so it would not just boil and steam inside. I turned it down to low, stirring very gently from time to time.
I slowly simmered the chili for about 2 hours, then added one can of pinto beans for another 1/2 hour. The recipe says if you are from Texas, don’t add the beans. I spent a lot of time in Texas in my past and I still like some beans in my chili, even though most Texans don’t want them in theirs.
Next, I got out the ingredients for homemade buttermilk cornbread. I used an old-fashioned Betty Crocker Cookbook recipe.
Here is my masterpiece cornbread! Yay!
And here is our wonderful Bigfoot Chili dinner, sprinkled with fresh chopped Vidalia onions on top of the chili!
So, get yourself some Bigfoot Chili Mix and make your own fantastic chili supper. You’ll be so happy you tried it.
Note from Carpyharpy. If you are looking for a sexy, fun, feel-good love story for your summer read, get yourself a copy of A Spring in the Desert, by Joan Koblas. Its an adventure love story in a modern setting but without the Zombies and cannibals. You will be so waiting for the movie version once you read it. It is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell’s, and on Kindle and Nook.
carpyharpy 