This is a simple chili, hot and filling. Quick to cook, without any of the real fancyness involved in prepping a serious competition chili.
Last weekend, me and some buddies drove up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and camped by the side of a lake in the middle of the Ottawa National Forest. There was no one around for miles but beavers, loons and owls. It was clear and cold in the 40’s the whole weekend. Because a big roaring fire is a necessity for comfort and survival, its difficult to properly tend a fire for cooking. I usually create a fire that makes a deep layer of very hot coals, which makes a hot surface suitable for pan cooking, or an area perfect for burying an aluminum foil packet of meat and vegetables. The tin foil packet is a great way to cook a halved game hen, with some onions and other veggies that steam as well as brown inside the package. But this kind of thing is difficult when 5 guys are trying to keep warm, and tons of wood is being piled on, and everybody wants to re-arrange it to their liking. Unless it’s a summer trip, you just can’t convince 5 guys not to touch the fire or throw beer cans in it for the 45 minutes your food will need.
So that’s my excuse for cheating this time. I’ve used a Coleman one burner white gas stove forever, for simple cooking, boiling etc. But this time I had a two burner, propane stove, that’s as good as a home range. I made some simple chili in a very short time, with some macaroni to help fill us up. Food does a very good job of keeping you warm, and chili is an optimal internal heat source.
1 lb cubed meat. I found some sirloin for this trip.
8 ozs mushrooms
6 plum tomatoes
2 tomatillos. I was surprised to find these in a Pick n’ Save in Eagle River WI.
1 large white onion
monterrey jack cheese
2 dried arbol chili pods
2 dried ancho chili pods
4-5 ozs white wine vinegar
rosemary garlic olive oil
a tube of tomato paste
1/2 lb macaroni pasta. I prefer Cavatappi
While I was home, I removed the seeds from the dried chili pods and chopped them coarsely in a food processor. The more arbols you use the hotter it will get. I ziplock bagged them. I filled a small bottle (3-4 oz) with olive oil, a sprig of rosemary, and half a clove of garlic. Ziplock bag the half pound worth of macaroni noodle of your choice. Don’t forget to pack the vinegar.
We tend to shop for our fresh food while on the road rather than packing stuff from home. This makes it a bit more adventuresome by forcing us to shop in strange places. Last time we went to southern Indiana to camp, we all stood around the meat counter trying to decide what we wanted to make. 2 women observed 4 guys, acting like we had never been in a grocery store, and asked us if we were all divorced recently.
In Eagle River we entered a giant Pick n’ Save, and we did note that such places are too big to shop in for a camping trip. 45 minutes later, we exited with the rest of the chili ingredients, brats, buns, condiments, lighters, enough paper towels and plates and beer for an army. I bought some Leinengukel as well as some Nicolet Brewing’s Classic Pilsener to back-up my supply of more serious beer. The Nicolet was strangely reminiscent, but worse than Bavarian Club, a Huber product that we used to get in college for 5 bucks a case. A crisp, slightly metallic, plain pilsener with a lemon juice sourness. It tasted good while sitting in front of a fire in the northwoods, but wouldn’t buy this stuff again.
I didn’t plan to do the chili the first night, usually on these kinds of trips there’s too much drinking to be done the first night. The Coleman stove made it easy to do up some burgers, steaks and brats.
The second night, after hiking around all day, I prepped the chili ingredients by dicing up the vegetables. Note that while the ingredient list above is enough for 5 guys to have a plate full, it isn’t enough to fully feed them. On a trip like this everybody likes to bring their own food and share, so plenty of other food was going around. After browning the meat and mushrooms in the flavored oil, I threw in the onions and ground-up chili pods until the onions are sweating. This sort of thing would be difficult on a grate over the fire, trying to stir constantly with smoke in your eyes, and singed hair every time somebody threw something flammable in. Then I put in the tomatoes, and cooked everything until the tomatoes just started to break down, then I added water to cover everything, a squirt or two of tomato paste, the vinegar and let it simmer before boiling some water for the pasta. I prefer Cavatappi, a long curly noodle, more substantial to the miniscule elbow macaroni. It stands up to the meaty bite of the sirloin, cubed a bit larger than full size Vegas dice.
When the Chili is a nice bubbly reduction, about ten minutes over the Coleman burner, cook the pasta, and add it to the pot. I added a dash of Adobe powder (a Puerto Rican mix of garlic, msg, red pepper and who know what else) that somebody had, added the cheese and melted it into the chili. Serve hot with some more cheese on the top. Instant internal heat source.
I’ve seen this sort of thing done in one pot - brown the meat, add the veggies and water bring to a boil, add the pasta and cook it together, but I think that just gets pasty, and besides, I had the luxury of two pots and two burners.