Add French Onion Sauce to Chili Chili
Chili is the perfect cold-weather dish, but it’s been a full two months since the last batch of Skillet Chili Cook-Off , which featured a chaotic but surprisingly delicious Pizza Chili . I have excuses of course – I moved and it was Christmas – but it’s important to focus on the fact that we came back with a lot of chili, and this time with an onion sauce.
If I’ve learned anything from the Chili pizza incident, it’s that some people don’t have a sense of humor when it comes to chili peppers. One person even went so far as to say that Pizza Chili (or any other chili that deviates from the con carne format) “appropriated the culture of Texas,” which is one of the most Texan things I’ve ever read.
This guy is going to hate it, but this guy is not a senior cooking editor here, so he can’t pick chili – I pick chili, and not to mention I really love good chili. It caught my attention because of its “secret ingredient” – Dean’s French onion, one of my favorite store-bought sauces.
If you know me at all, you know I love sauces, even those sold in room temperature glass jars and refrigerated plastic cans, and I’m already enthusiastically advocating the use of store-bought onion sauces in mashed potatoes . As I explained earlier, “the emulsified oil product helps to combine the hydrophilic with the hydrophobic, creating a velvety creamy bowl of chicken legs with a surprisingly subtle onion flavor and ample umami,” and I don’t understand why not. do the same for the chili chicken. And it worked even better than I expected, but before we get to that, let’s all read the recipe as it was written in the triadayant:
This recipe leaves a lot of room for interpretation, making it extremely customizable. It’s also very easy to break up, so you don’t have to do everything at once. I first made the chicken by roasting it in 24 ounces of garlic and herbal pasta sauce with 1/2 teaspoon of cumin, 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. I then left it in the refrigerator overnight and cooked the rest of the chili the next day.
I caramelized the onions as instructed, but when I went to add the garlic, I found I was not there and – due to the pile of snow – I could not get it, so I added another 1 1/2 teaspoons of garlic powder along with the tomato sauce, plus more caraway seeds, more cayenne pepper and some black pepper (all to taste). I added the beans, let them warm, then added enough Dean’s sauce to “look orange and delicious” (about half a cup). I stirred until all the little white streaks were gone, brought it to a boil and flavored, then added more cumin and cayenne pepper.
I took the chicken out of the fridge, cut it into small pieces and tossed it into the saucepan (along with the juice from the pan), then simmered and reduced for about 15 minutes before covering, cool and letting cool. refrigerator for the night, as is my custom.
Guys, I’m happy to report that this chili is delicious and the onion sauce is a proven recipe. The Dean’s gives it a creamy, luscious body and – thanks to our friend MSG – a little extra mind jolt, but it’s so shockingly thin you won’t know it was there unless someone tells you. The chicken was as tender as promised and stayed tender even after I reheated the leftovers in the microwave.
If I have one criticism of this chili recipe, it is that I would like the ingredients to be specified ahead of time, if only because it would make my shopping list a little easier. But I appreciate the lack of chili prescriptiveism and the spirit of “choose your own adventure” in this recipe and recommend it to anyone looking for a good chicken chili. Chili is supposed to be fun, and some things scream fun! as loud as onion sauce.