Annual Halloween Chili


 
Rich G

Rich G

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10 years ago, we started hosting Halloween at our place so that our kid's school friends who live in areas with no sidewalks, few street lights and too much traffic could safely trick or treat with their friends. Over the years, the kids have grown, and most don't go out pillaging the neighbors' candy bowls, but we still have about 50 folks over to the house to celebrate....most in costume. Originally, I made chili for this party, so the grown ups could have a meal on the go (nothing takes the chill out of Halloween like a cup full of chili), but it just became part of the tradition. I cooked up this year's chili today so that it could have at least overnight to "come together" (would have made it yesterday, but four hours of soccer, two hours of water polo and a trip to the airport ate up most of my day.) I used the same recipe that I always have with some minor adjustments. This year, the beef is all brisket. 5 lbs of ground flat (trimmed then ground this morning), and 2.5 lbs of cubed, smoked brisket point. I ordered three different chili powder blends from Penzey's (regular, chili 3000 and chili 9000), and used equal parts of those.....forgoing the not so great supermarket chili powder. Instead of mincing, then sautéing the onion, I rough chopped, then blended with some of the stock that was going in the chili to form a puree....then into the pot. Don't know if I will miss anything from not sautéing, but I wanted to lose any discernible chunks of onion in the final chili.

Well, it just came off the fire, and it smells fantastic. I'll taste it when it cools a bit, and then again tomorrow before the reheat to see how it has come together. Not sure if I have posted the recipe before, but I'll take a look around, and add it to the Recipes section if I haven't. For now, a couple of pics:

What's better than a bowl of cubed, smoked meat?!?

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Added the brisket just after killing the heat so it wouldn't overcook......"think you used enough meat there, Butch?"

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Have a safe, fun Halloween!

Rich

PS: Just added the recipe here.
 
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What a great thing to do Rich. Barb has made her "Spooky Chili" for Halloween for years, it's a tradition for us also. Although we don't have a lot of trick or treaters where we live now and our youngest is 38 so we just handle the little ones that come by.
Enjoy your party.
 
Looks like a great chili Rich. Pics tell a great story. Hope the party was wonderful and thanks for the recipe. Already printed it and will try it.
 
Thanks, all. The chili was a hit. Out of 6 quarts, I have less than one cup left.....I did manage a bowl of it last night, and my waistline probably doesn't need to consume much more of it! :) I was really pleased with the way the all brisket experiment turned out!

If any of you end up using this recipe, I'd love to hear your thoughts, and any tweaks....I've been changing little things (mostly quantities, etc.) for about 10 years, but always room to adjust a little more! ;)

Rich
 
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