Texas chili con carne
Serious Eats
I was really excited to try this recipe. I love the idea of toasting dried chilis, then boiling them in water and blending everything into a rich, pepper-y sauce. Naturally, I was disheartened when the end product was not all that I'd hoped for. In a word, the seasoning was wrong. And the obvious culprit was the fish sauce. Kenji would argue that the fish sauce adds a bright splash of umami. In my eyes, its inclusion threw everything off, making the chili too salty and brine-y.
Having said that, I quite like the general technique for this recipe. With some adjustments, it has the potential to be a keeper. My overarching complaint is that the chili lacked dark, malty, bitter flavors to offset its richness and its saltiness. There are a few aspects of our usual ground-beef-chili recipe, and some other chili recipes I've enjoyed, that could be incorporated to remedy this. They are:
- Adding unsweetened cocoa powder with the dried spices to add bitterness and darkness.
- Using a malty beer in place of stock or water
- [Most importantly] either nixing the fish sauce or replacing it with a smaller quantity of worcester sauce. If you're really into the idea of having an "umami-bomb," I would at least scale back the amount of fish sauce, and start with just 1 tablespoon. Then add more as needed. But in my eyes, worcester sauce has a similar flavor profile to fish sauce, and blends better in a bowl of chili. But at the end of the day, I'm not convinced a flavor-punch is needed in this recipe, whether it be from fish sauce or worcester sauce. My ultimate recommendation is that you should hold off on adding either of these ingredients until the very end, once everything else is added. Then, at long last, taste the chili. Only if it still feels flat, add your preference of fish or worcester sauce, incrementally, until it's seasoned to your liking.
Once again, Kenji has written a recipe with an intriguing, possibly inspiring, philosophy. I have some issues with the specifics, but nonetheless look forward to revisiting Texas chili.