In a way it´s kind of sad having to admit that one of my favorite movies of all time is National Lampoon´s Animal House.

Animal House came out in 1978. The film starred (among others) Donald Sutherland (yeah, Jack Bauer´s dad), Tom Hulce (who later played Mozart in ”Amadeus”), Kevin Bacon and folk-singer-who-pretty-much-nobody-remembers, Stephen Bishop. The funniest character in the film is Bluto, played by John Belushi. The year is 1962, and the movie is about fraternity life at an average American college.

I was 24 years old when the film was released, the perfect age to be permanently scarred by Belushi´s ”food fight” scene, or by quotes such as ”Greg, honey, is it supposed to be this soft?” or (Belushi again; terribly angry after his fraternity has just been expelled by Dean Wormer): ”Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!”

One of my favorite scenes in the film is during the opening scene. Two innocent freshmen, Larry Kroger (Tom Hulce) and Kent Dorfman (Stephen Furst), are strolling around the Faber campus, and they stumble upon the statue of the school´s founder Emil Faber. The inscription on the statue is ”Knowledge is good”.

Animal House covers pretty much all of the big issues in life: love, hate, religion, politics, sex, cars, and of course the two biggies: food and beer. The only topic of importance not covered in this film is barbecue, something I am sure the writers now regret.

The following recipe is an homage to days gone by, days when I was nurtured by films like Animal House, The Exorcist and The Deer Hunter, and music from Frank Zappa, Stevie Wonder, King Crimson and Steely Dan. And of course the foods of my youth, including great Mexican food and American food with deep roots in the Mexican kitchen.

 

Chili con Carne
Vegetable oil (sunflower oil is good)
3 medium onions, roughly chopped
2 ½ lb. beef sirloin, in 1 inch cubes
2 ½ lb. ground beef

Sea salt and ground black pepper
2 Tbs ground cumin (best if you grind the seeds yourself)
2 – 3 Tbs chili powder, to taste
2 Tbs Hungarian sweet paprika
1 Tbs freshly-ground black pepper
Cold water
2-3 canned chipotle chiles, minced
2-3 fresh jalapeño chiles, minced
Sea salt

 

For my Norwegian audience:

Solsikkeolje
3 middelstore løk, grovhakkede
1 kg ytrefilet av okse, skåret i 2,5 cm terninger
1 kg grovkvernet hamburgerdeig (ja, det går greit med vanlig kjøttdeig)

Havsalt og kvernet sort pepper
2 ss malt spiskummen
2 – 3  ss chilipulver (vanlig ”butikk-chilipulver”)
2 ss paprikapulver (best med ungarsk paprika)
1 ss kvernet sort pepper
Kaldt vann
2-3 chipotle-chili fra boks, finhakkede
2-3 fersk lalapeño-chili, finhakkede
Havsalt

Saute the onions in oil in a large frying pan. Soften the onions and remove from the pan.  Add a bit more oil and brown the meat, a little at a time. Season the meat lightly with salt and 1 Tbs pepper during the browning process. When the meat has been browned, put the onions and meat in a large pot (cast iron is best).

Add the cumin, chili powder, paprika and pepper and cook for 5 more minutes (watch your heat so that the spices don´t burn). Add enough water to cover the meat and bring to a boil. Add the the chipotles to the mix. Reduce heat and simmer (uncovered!) until the meat is tender and the sauce has thickened.

Check for salt during the last hour´s cooking time. Add the minced jalapeños during the last half hour´s cooking time.

Serving the chili

I generally serve my chili with rice on the side if it´s gonna be dinner, but of course nothing tops a big bowl of chili – stark naked as Jamie would have called it. My Dad loved saltines crackers or corn chips with his chili, and so do I. Warm corn tortillas are also a favorite. 

Approved garnish: Salsa, good cheddar cheese, chopped onions, chopped jalapeños, sour cream and totopos (tortilla chips).

I nearly always eat beans with my chili, but I never put beans in my chili unless I´m making chili-for-the-masses (and the said masses have a limited budget.

There are three approved beverages for chili comsumption: Water, iced tea and of course beer. And for those of you who would suggest that wine will never work with spicy food, I´ve got a few words of wisdom at the end of this blog.

Other really important chili info:
Chili isn´t really about recipes. It´s a dish that requires patience and a willingness to learn. My chili has gone through many phases during the last 30 or so years (the garlic phase, the tomato phase, the beer phase, the stock phase, etc.), and I am sure that today´s version is the best ever. Here are a few important things to remember:

- I use both ground meat and cubed meat. This is to give the chili a certain texture. Think of the ground beef as a sort of background (taste-wise), while the cubed beef gives yousomething to bite into.

- You may need to add more water during the cooking process, but do not use too much. You will want the chili to thicken right before it is finished.

- It is important to use good spices. Old cumin is bad cumin.

- I use sweet paprika because I prefer the heat coming from the chiles.

- I use the chipotles because I love their smoky flavor. Yes, it is possible to make good chili without chipotles.

- I like to add the jalapeños just before the chili is done. This is also a texture (and ok, a freshness) thing. As you see, all the chiles are “roughly” amounts. This is to give a flexibility as far as how hot you want the chili to be.

- It is not really that important how hot your chili is. Some days I want a scorcher, but other days I want a mellow heat. It´s flavor that is important.

- And finally: You can´t make good chili without first having made bad chili. And with the right attitude, you will make better and better chili by using good ingredients, and by being focused. It is critical that you experiment with your chili. There are lots and lots of different chiles out there. Use ´em!

- And (really and truly) finally: All this nonsense about wine not “working” with spicy food is to be ignored. A beer or a glass of iced tea is great (and yes, best) with chili, but if you are a wine drinker, as well as one who is used to spicy food, it is no problem to serve wine with your chili. Try a good zinfandel, a solid Southern Rhône wine (Chateauneuf-du-Pape or a big-boned Côtes-du-Rhône), a good Barbera-based wine from Piemonte, or a good sangiovese-based wine (like a Chianti Riserva).