6. Chile Con Carne

1kg of beef (stewing steak, silver side or another cheap cut...i opted for brisket)
3 onions
4 cloves of garlic
Olive oil
300g Spicy chorizo
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground allspice
1 teaspoon cloves
1 large cinnamon stick
3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano or 2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 ancho chillies, deseeded
2 chiles de arbol
2 teaspoons sea salt
Black pepper
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 x 400g tins plum tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 x 400g tin borlotti beans

Preheat oven to 120C. Take the meat out of the fridge to de-chill. Pulse the onions and garlic in a food processor until finey chopped. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large casserole and sear the meat on all sides until golden. Set to one side and add another small slug of oil to brown the chorizo. Remove and add the onion and garlic, spices, herbs and chillies then cook until soft in the chorizo oil. Sesaon with salt and pepper and add the vinegar, tomatoes, ketchup and sugar.

Put all the meat back into the pot with 400ml water, bring up to a simmer then transfer to the oven to cook covered at a low heat. After 2 hours check the meat and add the beans. Cook for a further hour and just before serving pull the meat apart with a pair of forks.


This recipe comes from Thomasina Miers' 'Mexican Food Made Simple' and i can't wait to cook more recipes from it! Obviously i've cooked many chillis before, and cooked quite well if i do say so myself, but when i saw this take by Thomasina i couldn't wait to try a slow-cooked version.

As seen above, i did manage to get some ancho chillis but i did have to replace the chile de arbol with some dried chilli flakes, which she recommends as an alternative in the book. I also didn't use the bay leaves because i couldn't find them! Lastly, i put the cloves and allspice, which i lightly crushed, in a little muslin pouch for easy removal after cooking.

It was a very nice chilli with quite a rich almost fruity flavour and packed plenty of heat. As the title 'easy speedy chile con carne' suggests it was very simple and quick to prepare, and even easier to cook. However, i think i was a bit heavy handed with the water which, as you can see in the below picture, caused there to be a bit of excess fluid! Still tasty though, and i'm just going to make sure i cook what's left off a bit to reduce it down to a thicker sauce.