As our fascination with Latino flavours flows from restaurants and cantinas to home kitchens and supermarket aisles, it’s time to take another look at chilli con carne.
This big daddy of the Tex Mex kitchen ticks all the boxes. In its most basic form a spiced-up mix of minced meat and beans chilli con carne is straightforward to prepare, economical and can be transformed into a variety of dinners quicker than you can say Speedy Gonzalez.
Serve it with rice, wrap it in a burrito, splash it over corn chips for nachos, toast it in a jaffle. Arriba! Arriba!
Americans, and a few dude food specialists here, go further.
“It’s a chilli con carne one night, and the next night it has tomato and ketchup in it and it’s a sloppy joe in a bun,” says Greggory Hill, chef and part-owner at Adelaide’s Mexican favourite Lucky Lupitas and now United Latino Cocina.
“It’s a good family meal. But would I say it’s Mexican? No.”
As with bolognese sauce, that other great mince-based all-rounder, once you explore the backstory of chilli con carne it gets a lot more interesting.
Street food
The origins of chilli con carne can be traced back to San Antonio, Texas, in the 1880s and a bunch of entrepreneurial Mexicans looking to attract American visitors, says Paul Wilson, chef/director of the Melbourne Pub Group, who is writing a book on the country’s food culture.
“It’s a dish invented to make people love Mexican food, love Mexican life and come to visit,” he says. “Real Mexican food is quite unusual. The flavours will blow your socks off. So it was a street food that was adapted to a western palate.”
The original chilli con carne (Spanish for chilli with meat) used large pieces of slowly braised meat padded out with beans. But it spread like wildfire around America, where it was adapted by using mince with tomato and other additions.
The spice route
Even the simplest of mince-based chilli con carne recipes can be given an authentic edge with the addition of a good spice mix. And that doesn’t have to include chilli heat.
“If you want to be true to the spirit of Mexican food, the flavours of cumin, cinnamon and allspice are important,” Paul says.
He nominates smoky paprika as another way to add a deep flavour without the fire.
When it comes to chillies, those grown for use in South-East Asian cooking are often too hot.
Many supermarkets now sell fresh jalapenos and Paul suggests roasting these over a barbecue or flame before adding to the braise.
If you do find a selection of Mexican dried chillies, Greggory recommends the earthy flavour and muted heat of the ancho, or dried poblano.
The beans
Kidney beans seem to be the favourite of most home cooks in their Mexican-style dishes. But there are other options.
“You can have fun with the beans,” Paul says. “There are so many choices out there.
“Pinto beans are what Mexicans love.”
Paul also likes to add refried beans the thick puree available in cans into the sauce of his chilli, perhaps in place of the tomatoes.
The meat
The next step up is to slow-cook a large piece of beef rather than using mince. Paul recommends using either beef cheeks (used for the chilli con carne at his Newmarket Hotel) or brisket.
“Brisket is a rock-star cut in America,” he says. “It’s so gelatinous and gorgeous when it is slow-cooked.”
Leave the brisket whole, coat in a spice rub, then barbecue until it is charred, Paul says. Then cook it in a big pot with beef stock and aromatics including cinnamon, star anise, garlic and herbs for four hours at 100-110C for a 1kg piece.
Lift out and shred with a fork, reduce the sauce, and return meat along with beans, herbs and other flavourings.
And to serve
Rice is the “best friend” for chilli con carne, Paul says an ideal accompaniment for a dish that can be soupy and hot.
In Mexico, they make a green rice, using a long-grain variety flavoured with salsa verde.
Paul also suggests trying an ancient grain such as quinoa or faro, as well as corn tortillas and condiments such as guacamole, salsas and sour cream.
“Chilli con carne is very communal,” he says. “You can pop it down in the middle of the table and create your own meal.
“Add as much chilli or sour cream as you want. You are in charge.”
Find more recipes in our Chilli collection.
Find more recipes in our Mexican collection.
Information in this article is correct as of 11 June 2013.
