Comments on: Slow-cooked Chili Con Carne: The basics, the history, the recipe!

By: Johan Johansen

Johan Johansen — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 13:08:00 +0000

Wow, Paul, I really appreciate the kind words and input. Thank you so much! As you say, it’s much more about the process and the journey than the ingredients and I’m beyond proud that you’ve taken my recipe and made it your own.

Pork belly sounds like a magnificent choice to stretch the beef, and I do imagine it adds a fair bit of flavor and texture on its own. Thank you so much for the input. I feel inspired to try that one day! 🙂

By: Paul Roberts

Paul Roberts — Sat, 01 Jun 2019 22:09:34 +0000

Johan I must thank you . I have been making carne con chili based on your recipe since about 2015. I lived in London back then and could get all the different chilis. etc… Now I live far away and over the hills on a farm in Bulgaria so I have had to work with what I have. I have one suggestion that I think brings something to the dish and a couple of work-arounds that I use to approximate your excellent end result. 1. Beef here is expensive and pork belly excellent and very cheap. I mince the pork belly and add it to the slowly sweetening vegetables. I use about 70% / 30% beef to pork and find that the mince with the chunks lends an extra texture and level of flavour. 2. I use as many types of chili I can find and add them at different stages, both fresh and dried. 3. I am lucky to live in a region where romano red peppers grow better than bell peppers. They bring an extra sweetness.
Anyway, thanks again. It is an awesome recipe, because it is about the processes, not necessarily the ingredients. Salut!

By: Johan

Johan — Tue, 05 Jun 2018 07:59:35 +0000

In reply to Marianne Valentine.

Thank YOU for this beautiful bit of input and update! I’m so incredibly pleased that you enjoyed the results of my guidelines and your own tweaks. Since finding a local source, I’ve started adding guajillo and chiles de arbol myself to the mix for extra depth and flavor, I must have forgotten to give this recipe the update it deserves.

Thanks again for chiming in and happy cooking!

By: Marianne Valentine

Marianne Valentine — Tue, 22 May 2018 05:52:17 +0000

Well… I didn’t have any beer (my hubby drank the beer I had intended to use – oops!) and I forgot to add fish sauce… and still this was some of the best chili I’ve ever eaten – and I’m not French, I’m American! My tweaks on your recipe included using a large 7-bone roast (and consequently increasing the amounts of all the ingredients) and chiles de arbol & guajillo chilis ground with the ancho. I also waited until the roast was finished cooking, and added the chopped aromatics & chilis etc. to the pot the roast had cooked in – they beautifully deglazed the caramelized juices and I didn’t need to use another pan 😉
I started kind of late in the day, so I finished the chili in my slow cooker overnight. I thought coffee and bacon were my favorite smells to wake up to but this chili might have replaced them! Thank you for sharing this beautiful and well-researched recipe!

By: Johan

Johan — Thu, 21 Sep 2017 12:15:06 +0000

In reply to Philippe.

Philippe, so sorry about the late reply to your very thoughtful input! For whatever reason, your thorough musings got flagged as spam and were consequently hidden, I just found you in my spam queue, I’m terribly sorry about that.

Any way, on to your comment. Wow, four times? I’m equal parts happy and amazed, so happy that you’ve found this recipe and made it your own, that’s how I always imagined this space, as a source of inspiration to further ones own experiments. Now, for your notes and suggestsions:

1) I never though of fennel seeds, but I’m sure you’re absolutely correct, I may attempt that in a future version. 2) I agree whole-heartedly! You may or may not know that Denmark is actually one of the world’s leading bacon exporters, meaning that for years and years, we exported the good stuff and kept the leftovers to ourselves. What a revelation it has been to discover various types of gourmet bacon over the past couple of years. 3) I agree and disagree. I find that a slow, natural caramelization in their own sugars produce a sweet, aromatic flavor that I absolutely, but you’re absolutely right that the addition of balsamic vinegar and/or honey certainly adds another layer of flavor and this is certainly not a bad idea. 4) Yet another idea I’ve never thought about, I’ll have to give it a go!

No, thank you, Sir, for making this recipe your own and offering the rest of us some very valuable observations! Merci beaucoup!