Hot Chili for the Autumn Chill

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

Since the clock fell back last weekend, the evenings have instantly taken on the unmistakable feeling of autumn. Parts of the country have already had their first snowfall and others have felt a chill so cold it reaches down to the bones. Even in the sunnier states, the few leaves that aren’t palms have largely turned colors.

All of this means it is time to hunker down for a bowl of something hand warming, belly filling, and soul soothing. It might not be quite time to hibernate for winter, but there is nothing wrong with storing up for it with a big pot beans and meat, otherwise known as chili.

Chili is fantastic because it is both the name of the dish and the name for its primary seasoning: the chili pepper. Chili peppers are the fruit of any member of the capsicum genus of plant which includes everything from the sweet red bell pepper to the fiery habanero. Chili powder, the spice derived from the dried and ground chili pepper, is the other seasoning that finds its way into stews of meat and beans to give the dish its name.

The great thing about chili, the dish, is that just because it uses chili peppers as a seasoning, does not mean that the final product has to be mouth-scorching hot. Chili peppers vary in heat intensity from the mild Anaheim to the medium jalapeno to the extremely hot scotch bonnet. The heat comes from a substance, capsaicin, which is concentrated on the stem end of the chili found primarily in the seeds and the ribs, or membranes that surround the seed. Removing the seeds and membranes before cooking can greatly reduce the heat intensity while retaining the chili’s flavor. Just be careful to wear gloves when working with the chilies so the capsaicin does not transfer to the skin. One barehanded mistake and a subsequent rubbing of the eyes and you will be certain to wear gloves every time you handle chili peppers again.

The shortened name “chili” comes from chili con carne, a dish that is likely Mexican in origin whose translation means “chilies with meat”. From Mexico, chili con carne became a signature dish of Tex-Mex cuisine. San Antonio, Texas brought their chili to the world at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, popularizing the dish in regions beyond the American Southwest. It is thanks to that pivotal introduction that chili now has so many incarnations beyond the classic 'con carne.'

To this day, purists will often argue that a true chili has no beans and no tomatoes, nothing but meat, chilies, onion, garlic, and spices such as cumin. But luckily for those of us who don’t want to spend hours slow braising an all-beef pot of meat, or who aren’t looking to have a side of cardiac arrest with our dinner, chili these days comes in many variations, from strictly vegetarian with all beans, to completely carnivore with nothing but beef.

In classic form, it is the depth of flavor from the chilies themselves and the spice combinations that made each chili con carne unique. Today the variations are endless as those same basic elements of the chili con carne--onion, garlic, cumin, chilies--are applied to mango and chicken, vegetarian five-bean, green chili with white beans and turkey, or black bean and vegetable. In addition to variety in the chili, toppings such as pumpkin seeds for crunch, cheese or sour cream to balance the spice, or capers for an acidic bite, can transform any chili creation, from meat to beans, into an entirely new dish.

In Southern California there is a chili restaurant called Chili My Soul. Like the dish they are famous for, and as their name indicates, chili has a way of warming the chilliest body, from the hands that hold the bowl, to the stomach, and on down to one’s very soul. With this fall weather there is nothing to warm you like a piping hot bowl of chili, with a bit more heat from some spicy chili peppers, to get one ready for the long winter to come.

Serves/Makes: 6

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 3/4 pound ground chicken
• 1 white onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 serrano pepper
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1/2 tablespoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 pound tomatillos
• 2 cans white beans
• 1 can (4 ounce size) mild green chiles
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup chopped cilantro

***Optional***

• pumpkin seeds
• sour cream
• grated jack cheese