Ultimate Chili Beef (Con Carne) tips

Astaroth

Personally like to add some ancho chilli powder for its depth of warm/earthy flavour as well as whatever chilli is added for spicy heat. Fan of using dark chocolate/cacoa or carbo powder.

I've tried "mexican oregano" too, certainly in the bottle it has a much more punchy smell than the normal dried oregano but it didnt seem to translate into much difference in the final dish.

As always, quality of the meat, tomatoes etc make a massive difference. Same recipy made with supermarket bought mince and that from our preferred butchers is totally different in look and taste. Could do my own mince but just not worth the effort if you have a good butchers.

springtide

Saw a great recipe on Rick Stein's programme travelling through Mexico but instead of using mince he used something like chuck steak...

This this was out..

Rick Stein's Carne con Chile

Anyone tried it?  

Apparently mince is used in chilli con carne Tex-Mex, but in Mexico the dish has cubed steak.

Astaroth

Other than the use of allspice berries it looks a fairly standard recipie to me.

The overwelming majority of "mexican" food in the uk is tex-mex. Mexico however is like any other country and there are regional variations even if you do get "real" Mexican food. So certainly shredded beef is used a lot more than minced but one of the Mrs' best friends as a kid was Mexican and they did a "chili con carne" type dish made with a mix of minced beef and pork.

To do mexican food "authentically" you really need access to a fairly wide range of chilis as well as local versions of herbs etc - Mexican oregano is much more pungent than the "european" version (though flavour wise I dont find it as different as others claim). Unless you really want to spend the time tracking these things down then personally I'd go with things that taste good and dont get too hung up on if its authentic, fusion, tex-mex etc.

That said, the Mrs claims that El Pastor in Borough Market is the closest she's found to the street food she used to eat in Mexico City when she lived there.

aerodynamic18

I think that’s why the hairy bikers use cubed steak as well as mince. Also gives it a different texture which is nice

DJT75

I don’t use the slow cooker for anything involving mince. For me the texture you end up with is horrible watery muck.

aVdub

I use mine and drain the water at regular intervals and it doesn't end up as watery muck.

DJT75

Ah, that could be the answer then, however for me a slow cooker is to be left all day, so no good for my chilli. All done on the hob here.

reiteration

while we don't have beef chilli con carne's as such - we do a variation and have them in wraps, and the recipe is basicially -
fry the mince with onion and mushrooms, then add garlic and chillis...
add - cumin, ground coriander, tumeric, chilli powder

server them in wraps with whatever sauce we have - sour cream / mayo, sweet chilli and garlic sauce, or guacamole etc...(normally just adding one or two)
and grated cheese - at the weekend we had some leftover  blue shropshire and that was great..!

indianwells

Why won't you give us your recipe? Is it a secret? I have always believed recipes are for sharing.

Timmy C

I've never been to Mexico so have no idea what's supposed to go in authentic Mexican food but having been to San Diego a few times and often eaten in Old Town, which I liken to a Disney version of a small Mexican village, I found the dishes I liked best often involved coriander. In the past I always reserved fresh coriander for Indian style food but have started using it along with fresh lime whenever I make a Mexican style dish and it's made a big difference. I've always used cumin as others have suggested but never considered the cinnamon idea a few of you mentioned. Might have to give that a try next time.