Chili

What

Fresh:

• ground pork/beef
• onions
• garlic
• carrots
• celery
• bell pepper or chili
• mushrooms (oyster, cremini, white button, etc.)

Bulk:

• canned tomato
• canned bean (white, kidney, etc.)
• canned chickpea
• black olives
• rice/buckwheat/bread

Misc:

• wine
• sun dried tomatoes
• tomato paste
• worcester sauce
• soy sauce
• dark chocolate
• ground cinnamon
• ground cumin
• dried chili, or anything with heat
• smoked paprika
• oregano, dried basil or similar

Ex chili con carne. Ingredient list is not set to stone, as long as there are tomato and beans. Having either meat or lots of mushrooms is great.

How

Could leave any of these steps out, and would probably still taste great. This is just cooking hubris.

1. Sear the meat, but don’t dry it out. Take it out onto a plate
2. Onion, (shredded) carrot, bell pepper and other sturdy vegetables go in. Saute, some fond is great
3. Optional tomato paste goes in, and browns a bit
4. Deglaze with wine
5. Meat goes back with all the tomatos and garlic
6. Salt, pepper and all the spices are next. It’s easier to stir them in, while the pot is not full
7. Strain the beans and chickpea, drop them in
8. Slice the mushrooms, drop them in. It might need some water at this point, but not too much. Mushrooms release a lot
9. Bring it up to a boil and simmer for an hour at least. Ideally without the lid, to get rid of some of the liquid, and for the sauce to brown on the side of the pot. This should be scraped into the pot a few times. It’s possible to do this in the oven, with the appropriate pot
10. There’s a lot of time to make rice. It doesn’t need a side, but it doesn’t hurt

Refs

Adam captures the attitude this food truly needs.