Your secrets for frying ground chuck for chilli needed

[Bad Water Bill]

I want to make another POT of chilli but hate spending over 45 minutes just frying the 5# of chuck.

There has to be a better way than 1# at a time in the frying pan.

[Hickory]

If it's not frozen, add to the skillet in small pieces.
5 lb of ground chuck should make 4-6 gallons of chilli.

[Lloyd Smale]

guess you could put it in a big pan and stick the pan on the grill. When i make chilli i use lean venison and just throw it in raw and simmer the chilli all day. Depending on the fat content of your beef you might be able to do it that way.

[gbrown]

I want to make another POT of chilli but hate spending over 45 minutes just frying the 5# of chuck.

There has to be a better way than 1# at a time in the frying pan.

Why not just put all of the ground chuck in a big covered pan and put in the oven for an hour and a half? Take it out and break it up with a metal spoon, add the other ingredients and get on with it. I've never tried this, but it should work.

[Moonie]

I put all of it in a dutch oven, put the heat to high and use this tool from pampered chef to break it all up while cooking:

73234

[Changeling]

If you put the the burger/venison in the fridge on the top shelf it will be thawed in a day or 2 and then you can cook as usual.

5 lbs of burger/venison would make me about 5 to 6 gallons of chilli once all the tomatoes/vegtables/ beans are added. Thats a Hell of a lot of chilli.

If you just want a "quick" way to lower the amount of frozen burger/venison use a meat saw to cut off what you want then seal up the rest and put back in freezer.



I

[garandsrus]

I cook all the burger in the same pot I am going to make the chili in. Just drain the fat between frying and adding the beans/tomatoes. 5 lbs cooks in 15 minutes or so.

[armedmoose]

For large batches of Ground Beef I use a sheet tray and the oven set to 350. 25-35 mins and some crispy pieces.. drain off some fat. Proceed to next step in Chili or Taco making...

I use Half Sheet trays and it is enough to do one of those packages from Costco Ground Beef.

[Dale in Louisiana]

I don't fry chili meat. I put it in the pot and raise the heat and let it turn grey. when it starts to sizzle, that's the signal to add the rest of the ingredients.

Chili is not supposed to be work. It's supposed to be a simple dish created with simple ingredients under less than optimum circumstances. I see the way some people treat the dish and it's got about as much to do with REAL chili as a shihtzu has to do with a hunting Labrador retriever.

dale in Louisiana

[gwpercle]

In the recipe foe Cincinnati " Skyline" Chile it says to put your ground meat in a large pot and add water to barely cover the meat, put the fire on high and bring to a boil, cook meat till no longer pink. Breaking it up as you go. 30 minutes. Evidently you can cook a lot of ground meat at one time ..5 pounds should not be a problem. I saw them on tv at the Skyline Grill making it and couldn't figure out why they cooked it this way but now I see why...you can cook a lot of ground meat at one time and don't have to stand over a big skillet stirring.

If you want to see the recipe just goggle cincinnati skyline chile recipe . One day I might try it even though the spices are a bit different...who knows it might be great.
Gary

[Bad Water Bill]

Well my recipe is from a retired U S ARMY cook of over 25 years. Unfortunately he gave it to my mom in 1958 so I can not ask him how many pounds of meat or how they cooked it for an installation of starved troops.

I like the idea of the water OVER the meat. Sure will cut down on grease spatters all over me AND the whole kitchen.

Keep the suggestions coming so we can all learn more about preparing larger quantities of ground meat.

[jaysouth]

When cooking chili, use 80-20 chuck and DO NOT strain off the fat until the entire batch of chili has cooked. Refrigerate overnight, the fat will rise to the top and harden. Then use a large spoon to remove the hardened fat. The more fat on top, the better it cooks.

For many years, I cooked at least five gallons of chili per day for consumption in my restaurant. The chili that I served was cooked two days previously. One day to harden the fat and remove, a second day to better meld the flavors. I did not cook the chili with beans. Pinto beans were cooked separately and served as the customer ordered.

For an interesting variation, serve chili over spaghetti. Also good is a dish called "wet shoes" or chili over crisp French fries with lots of cheese and onion. Or try chili pie. A bowl full of fritos with a scoop of chili and lots of onions and cheese.

Toppings for a good chili party include cottage cheese, sliced jalapenos, sour cream, diced tomatoes and chopped white and green onions.

That dreadful mess they concoct in cincinatti and call chili is not even close to chili. It is a greek dish with nutmeg and cinnamon. It's only useful purpose in my mind in slopping hogs who are not too particular about what they eat. Adding cinnamon or nutmeg to your pot of chili can get you thrown off the grounds at an ICS sanctioned chili cookoff.

[Bad Water Bill]

Another suggestion is mix in dried parsley. Never noticed any change in flavor BUT "wonder where the gas went" will be the next melody heard for the next day or 2.

I generally add a generous handfull to each 4 gal batch. Been doing that for almost 40 years so far and never a squeek yet.:bigsmyl2:

[imashooter2]

I like the flavor of the caramelized meat in the chili, so no, there is no other way to do it but fry. Good food takes time.

[Rooster59]

Get a bigger skillet. Honestly.

That's a lot of chili meat and the guy who offered the recipe didn't fry the meat to caramelize it. He put a lot of meat in a pot and cooked it more like steaming it like some have said previously.

We like the flavor when the meat is "browned" in a skillet too. You just have to adjust the size of your tools for the size of the job.

[kysunfish]

Turkey Fryer will get-r-done.

[km101]

I cook my chili in an old army messhall aluminum pot which is about 15 gallons. You can brown 5# of meat in the bottom of this in one batch. Once the meat starts to break up, tip the pot and drain the fat. (But not all of it, remember "fat is flavor.") When the meat is starting to brown, throw in your peppers, onions and garlic and let them cook with the meat. Then you are off to the races!

[scottiemom]

cooking it in water works great and you don't have all that grease splattering all over the kitchen.

[Pb2au]

In the recipe foe Cincinnati " Skyline" Chile it says to put your ground meat in a large pot and add water to barely cover the meat, put the fire on high and bring to a boil, cook meat till no longer pink. Breaking it up as you go. 30 minutes. Evidently you can cook a lot of ground meat at one time ..5 pounds should not be a problem. I saw them on tv at the Skyline Grill making it and couldn't figure out why they cooked it this way but now I see why...you can cook a lot of ground meat at one time and don't have to stand over a big skillet stirring.

If you want to see the recipe just goggle cincinnati skyline chile recipe . One day I might try it even though the spices are a bit different...who knows it might be great.
Gary

Apologies for the brief thread hijack.
Cincinnati style chili is a unique monster. If anyone has the chance to try, I would suggest them to do so. I have discovered it is a 50/50 mix of love and hate. Most of the Austrians and Italians that come over to our plant to work love the stuff.
Now back to your regularly scheduled thread

[Bodydoc447]

Apologies for the brief thread hijack.
Cincinnati style chili is a unique monster. If anyone has the chance to try, I would suggest them to do so. I have discovered it is a 50/50 mix of love and hate. Most of the Austrians and Italians that come over to our plant to work love the stuff.
Now back to your regularly scheduled thread

I tried the Cincinnati style chili at Steak and Shake and liked it well enough. But I think of it more as an alternative spaghetti sauce rather than chili. For me "real" chili is a bowl of red chile with meat. But it is all to taste, I suppose. I, too like to brown my meat in a large stock pot and then add the aromatics and then the rest of the chili fixin's. But I make the red chile sauce separately and mix in the meat, onions, etc. with it. Some folks like beans with their chili and some don't so I let them add to their own bowl as they see fit.

Doc

[762 shooter]

Cincinnati style chile is hot dog chili with beans.

If you cook your ground meat in water it will be a very fine texture, (the size of your grind).

If you fry the meat the texture will be coarser.

762

[DougGuy]

I use 5lbs of lean ground beef and brown it in a 12qt or 16qt pot, breaking it up as it browns. With real lean beef, you get all of the weight you paid for at the store instead of pouring off fat that cost you X number of bucks per lb. All the flavor stays in it too. From there I just start building the rest of the recipe and adding it to the pot.

If you have to strain it off, hold the lid with a gap on one side and turn the pot up and let it drain into a bowl.

[10 ga]

The high heat of pan cooking the meat before making chili brings out a lot of the flavor. cooking in water you don't get some of that flavor. I just use my chili pot or pan and get it very hot before putting the meat in, then after the meat scorched some add the onions, fresh peppers and celery and keep the heat up, when all well browned add the tomatoes etc... and turn heat down and cook for a while, until all to texture of preference. It is supposed to be easy and is when done this way. AND Skyline is a pasta topping or sauce NOT chili.

10 ga

[Silver Eagle]

Added flavor experience for chili:
Add between 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of dried cocoa powder. Adjust to taste. Provides a unique richness and subtle enhancement to the flavors.
Add 1 tablespoon of brown sugar. Again, adjust to taste. Provides a hint of sweetness.

Last batch I made added in 1 8oz can of chipotle peppers in sauce after pureeing in a chopper. Family loved it. I like my chili spicy. The family, not so much. Always trying methods of spicing it up without going overboard.

[kenyerian]

The only chile that I've tried that I didnt like was a vegetarian concotion that my wife tried to feed me when she was on one of her Healthy diet kicks. Horrible!!

[DougGuy]

Yep, chocolate is the secret weapon in my chili as well. In a 12qt pot of chili, half a bar of that really good "Bean To Bar" fair trade stuff they sell at whole foods. Equador is the ultimate bomb. It has a fruity finish that lingers on your palate and bitters just slightly. <-- THAT is what chocolate needs to do, to be the ultimate secret weapon in chili.

The reason it works, is that if you notice how the taste chili powder excites the same taste buds as the chocolate does, you can taste good chili on the back of your tongue, and you cannot taste, see, or smell the chocolate. It is stealth as the word can be, but it is very effective. Not just any chocolate, but the exact right chocolate..

[gbrown]

Mole--pronounced mo-lay--is a sauce from the Mayan times. The Mayans used chocolate for a beverage and spice. It was not sweetened. For us that, as children, saw the can of Hershey's baking chocolate (unsweetened) and took a spoonful (YUK), we know the experience. You can buy mole sauce in the stores, or google it up for a recipe.

Here's one recipe

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/mexican-mole-sauce/

[Lance Boyle]

I've added a small touch of cinnamon in chili and more often in my taco meat. chocalate works nicely too. Don't really care what TV contest chili cookers want to do. Them BBQ contest tv personalities only make me turn the channel. The stupid, it burns!

[MaryB]

Instead of ground use a 1/2 inch dice (or chili grind if your store will do it) no shortcut to browning it makes the chili. I make a huge batch every fall and pressure can it for eating all winter.

Skyline chili isn't chili, maybe spaghetti meat sauce but not chili.

[gbrown]

Rochester sauce is a hot, spicy ground meat concoction they have up in the Northeast. They serve it over hot dogs, links, and a variety of foods. One dish is the "Garbage Plate," which is a variety of foods smothered in the sauce. Like a plate of Italian sausage (or other meats), with fries and macaroni & cheese, and then a big ladle of the sauce on top. The sauce is hot, as in pepper, and has cinnamon and other spices in it. A chili like food, but definitely not chili.

[grampa243]

Get a bigger skillet. Honestly.

That's a lot of chili meat and the guy who offered the recipe didn't fry the meat to caramelize it. He put a lot of meat in a pot and cooked it more like steaming it like some have said previously.

We like the flavor when the meat is "browned" in a skillet too. You just have to adjust the size of your tools for the size of the job.
+1

you need one of these ;) can make 10 gallons of chili in this pot. (enough for a Block Party)

79108

i was steaming lobster this time..
79107

[Gliden07]

I have not done it but I've seen on cooking shows like Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, when making large batches of chili they add water to it so they don't have to keep stirring it?? It not only cooks the meat but also helps separate it too! I don't know if I'd want boiled meat but in a large batch it might be easier??

[Fretboard]

Large skillet add water 1cup, cover and bring to simmer, and drain off grease. Steam is hotter than boiling water and cooks faster.

[MaryB]

For flavor do small batches ahead and if you have to fridge them. The browning of the meat adds a layer of flavor.

[Dark Helmet]

Just cook extra hamburgers along, freeze them until you have enough for a batch.

[jaysouth]

I use 5lbs of lean ground beef and brown it in a 12qt or 16qt pot, breaking it up as it browns. With real lean beef, you get all of the weight you paid for at the store instead of pouring off fat that cost you X number of bucks per lb. All the flavor stays in it too. From there I just start building the rest of the recipe and adding it to the pot.

If you have to strain it off, hold the lid with a gap on one side and turn the pot up and let it drain into a bowl.

A less messy way of 'draining' fat is to wad up several paper towels, tilt the pot, insert the paper towel wad all the way to the bottom and wait for it to become saturated with liquid/fat. Remove and toss.

[carbine86]

I load up around 7-8 pounds of ground venison is my 7.5 quart slow cooker low for 6 hours mixing it all up every so often.

[Reverend Al]

OK ... I'll give the Cocoa trick a try! Nothing ventured nothing gained ...

It's been damp and rainy weather here lately so the "Better Half" requested a batch of chili to warm her up.
I took about 4 pounds of extra lean ground and pan fried it to a light brown, then I sauteed a bunch of onions, added some canned diced tomatoes, diced up 4 large red peppers, and added a few cans of red kidney beans. Seasoned it all with some seasoned salt and coarsely ground pepper, half a dozen large minced cloves of garlic, a couple of teaspoons of red pepper flakes, a couple of teaspoons of "Cajun Cowboy" seasoning, and about 4 tablespoons of chili powder. I simmered it for about 5 to 6 hours and added some brown sugar, molasses and a good "dollop" of honey for good measure as well. Let it simmer for another hour or so and then served it for dinner.
I'll be re-heating again it for tonight's dinner, so I'll try adding the Cocoa powder and see how it comes out in comparison!

http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd466/Reverend_Al/Chili002Large_zpsc6875a7a.jpg (http://s1221.photobucket.com/user/Reverend_Al/media/Chili002Large_zpsc6875a7a.jpg.html)

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[Rattlesnake Charlie]

This thread started out with a question of how you brown your ground beef if not in small batches.

I use a large stainless pot (3 or 5 gal, depending on how big the batch will be). I put a little olive oil in the bottom to help with browning and reduce sticking. I crumble my ground meat (I sometimes use pork sausage) into the pot, trying not to have any pieces larger than a golf ball. I then turn the burner on relatively high as I want the meat to brown. I pour a little more olive oil over the crumbled meat so when I begin to stir that it will not stick into more clumps. I use a spatula to do the stirring, and relatively soon after the meat begins to fry I use the spatula to chop the clumps into smaller pieces. I have done 5 lbs in one batch before. Just keep chopping and stirring with the burner up high.

Another tip I've discovered when handling ground meat is to first coat my hands with olive oil. The meat does not stick to my hands that way.

[Reverend Al]

What I really meant to say was that I browned all the meat in a heavy skillet with a bit of oil first ... then I sauteed the onions, etc. and carried on building the chili.
I got a bit carried away and listed the entire recipe instead, but I hope that that's allowed since I'm getting older and easily distracted now!
:wink:

[Lloyd Smale]

A little off topic but ive found beef burger to be a bit nasty. I about live on venison most of the year. My burger is made from about 90 percent venison and 10 percent beef fat. We ran out a few weeks back and have been buying ground chuck. It almost tastes like spoiled meat after eating good lean venison burger. We noticed the same back when we were shooting a buffalo every year and eating buffalo buger. I dont know what it is. It cant be the fat because i use beef fat to make my own. I wonder if its just that its so old by the time you get it at the store or if its just the taste of the meat. Its strong enough that my wife made spegetti sause the other night and i ate some and asked her what was wrong with the sause. It tasted like ****. First thing to do if you want to brown some meat for chilli is to find some good meat!!!

[6bg6ga]

large batches of chili can be made in a electric cooker. The wife has one that she does the thanksgiving turkey in. I do the meat in there with a little water or left over coffee in the bottom and let most of it cook and then throw everything else in there put the lid on and let it cook several hours. Makes a large batch of chili that is fit to be frozen for winter usage.

You can easily do 10 lbs of meat as a chili starter along with green bell pepper, tomatoes, onions, hot pepper rings, chili powder, tomatoe sauce, and dried red pepper flake.

[Baja_Traveler]

That dreadful mess they concoct in cincinnati and call chili is not even close to chili. It is a greek dish with nutmeg and cinnamon. It's only useful purpose in my mind in slopping hogs who are not too particular about what they eat. Adding cinnamon or nutmeg to your pot of chili can get you thrown off the grounds at an ICS sanctioned chili cookoff.

+1 on that! I spent a year working in Cincinnati, and couldn't believe the slop they were so proud of...

[Bad Water Bill]

I stopped at a CHILLI place there. A bowl of colored water $3.00.

Each additional item was .50.

Yes they were very proud of their swill even 10 + years ago.

[Char-Gar]

I cook all the burger in the same pot I am going to make the chili in. Just drain the fat between frying and adding the beans/tomatoes. 5 lbs cooks in 15 minutes or so.

Yep, that is why I do. I can see no reason to cook the meat in a smaller pan. I use one cast iron pot from the first step to the last. I put some oil in the bottom of the pot, brown the onions and then add the meat. When the meat is done, I add the rest of the chili fixins.

I don't try and drain off the grease as that is what makes it good. You dip down through the grease floating on top to get the chili. I will lift of the congealed grease when I put it in the fridge after the first "eatin". But even then, I think it is some kind of betrayal of the chili gods.

You can make chili out of any meat where the critter had hair on it when it was alive. If it had slick skin, scales or feathers it is not chili meat.

It is OK to use road kill, but smell it before it is cooked to see if it has decomposed beyond use. There is a point where even chili spices can't cover up the smell of death.

[MaryB]

I get grass fed beef from a local farmer, not only is it cheap compared to the store at $3 a pound cut wrapped and delivered to my door when I buy a quarter. Tastes more like the venison than beef. I get bison too, good eating but expensive.


A little off topic but ive found beef burger to be a bit nasty. I about live on venison most of the year. My burger is made from about 90 percent venison and 10 percent beef fat. We ran out a few weeks back and have been buying ground chuck. It almost tastes like spoiled meat after eating good lean venison burger. We noticed the same back when we were shooting a buffalo every year and eating buffalo buger. I dont know what it is. It cant be the fat because i use beef fat to make my own. I wonder if its just that its so old by the time you get it at the store or if its just the taste of the meat. Its strong enough that my wife made spegetti sause the other night and i ate some and asked her what was wrong with the sause. It tasted like ****. First thing to do if you want to brown some meat for chilli is to find some good meat!!!

[Capt. Methane]

I don't use ground meat in my chile, that's how I solve the problem!

Now I am only doing about 2# at a time but I cook a London Broil rubbed with some garlic and chile powder to about medium on the grill with lots of mesquite chips then chop it up. It's an all-meat chili, beans are served on the side...

[Reverend Al]

At one of my local gun clubs we have a Social Meeting on the first Tuesday of each month and traditionally we make something for the boys to eat for dinner before the meeting. (Hey .. it IS a Social Meeting right?) For this past Tuesday night's Social Meeting I went out to the clubhouse on Monday and put about 10 to 12 pounds of ground game meat onto the flat-top with a bit of oil and browned it up, followed by a dozen or so onions chopped up and sauteed on the flat-top until they were nicely carmelized, then it all went into the BIG pot with all of the other chili ingredients. I simmered it most of Monday afternoon and then cooled it off and put it into our cooler overnight. I went back to the clubhouse kitchen at about noon on Tuesday and put the chili back onto the stove to simmer until that evening's meeting, and while I was waiting I made a big batch of fresh Cornbread and a couple of pans of Apple Crisp for dessert. Must have all been OK ... there were no complaints and not too many leftovers! (We had over 60 members to feed that night ...)

http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd466/Reverend_Al/SVIRSocialMeetingNovember5th2013004Large_zpsa7f20c 8d.jpg (http://s1221.photobucket.com/user/Reverend_Al/media/SVIRSocialMeetingNovember5th2013004Large_zpsa7f20c 8d.jpg.html)

http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd466/Reverend_Al/SVIRSocialMeetingNovember5th2013003Large_zpsab34a0 b0.jpg (http://s1221.photobucket.com/user/Reverend_Al/media/SVIRSocialMeetingNovember5th2013003Large_zpsab34a0 b0.jpg.html)

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[steg]

I make it into patties and fry them, then cut them into 1/2 inch dice.

[Bad Water Bill]

Well I took some folks advice and put the 5# in a pot with water. Chopped it apart as it was browning (done in 15 minutes instead of the old way that took 45 minutes) then added all of the other goodies. Mixed and simmered for an hour.

Let it age in the fridge for a day and then poured 2 dippers into a 1 quart ziplock bag. Rolled out all of the air and sealed the bag. Makes one soup bowl FULL.

When flattened and frozen the bags are abut 1/3" thick.

I now have over 40 individual servings ready to go.

Insert in the micro for about 3 minutes and it is lunch time.

Thanks for the suggestions as it definitely saved a lot of time.