Chilli con carne is a dish of two halves. In the UK, it’s a fairly innocuous school dinner and pub staple. Ground beef, tomatoes, cumin, kidney beans – what’s wrong with that? On the other side of the pond, however, chilli is a completely different story. Fiercely regional, often made from whole, dried Mexican chillies and with countless variants, chilli (or chili/chile, as it’s known) is a world of its own. The recipe below will be for a quick-and-simple British style chilli, but keep reading to learn how it’s made across the pond as well.
Where did chilli come from?
Lots of popular dishes in the UK are Anglicised versions of something that already exists – like spaghetti bolognese or chicken tikka masala. But where did chilli come from? In the UK chilli is a curiously stateless entity, perhaps vaguely associated with the USA. While American readers are, I’m sure, yelling the answer at the screen like this is a game show, the average British cook probably wouldn’t be sure of the answer.
The answer is (drum roll please) Texas! While the exact origins of chilli are far from clear it’s definitely a Texan dish. Over the 19th century, Texas passed back and forth between different powers, and became the site of constant battles and political manoeuvring. Chilli – a fusion of chilli peppers from Mexico, cumin from the Canary Islands and beef from Spanish colonists – reflects the mixture of cultures found in the state, and has been a beloved staple there ever since.
To bean or not to bean, that is the question
Traditional Texan chilli is made with stewing beef (not beef mince), whole chillies and (often, but not always) a bit of dark chocolate and beer. Most importantly of all, it never uses beans. Texan chilli is made without beans. Always, full stop, end of. Right? Well, 19th century Texan recipes did in fact feature beans – but most modern Texan chilli recipes definitely won’t. The same cannot be said, though, for other styles of chilli.
The wonderful world of chilli
While in Texas chilli is a fiercely protected dish, in the rest of the USA they’re much less precious about what you put in chilli. You could very easily eat a different style of chilli in every state, and usually several. There’s white chilli, chilli verde, turkey chilli and – most infamous of all – Cincinnati chilli. While it’s called ‘chilli’, this ground meat and bean delight actually has completely separate origins from its Texan counterpart, and is served over spaghetti. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.
How to make chilli
Our recipe below is for a British-style chilli – mildly spiced, tomatoey, and with a good amount of red kidney beans.
Metric
Imperial
- 1 tbsp of olive oil
- 1 onion, about 200g, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, roughly chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp chilli powder, or to taste, see notes below
- 500g of beef mince
- 250ml of water
- 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
- 1 tin of red kidney beans, drained and rinsed (see notes below)
- 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, plus 1 tsp adobo sauce, from a tin of chipotle in adobo
- 1 tsp vinegar, optional
- 1 tsp white sugar, optional
- salt and pepper
- lime juice, coriander, cheddar and sour cream, to serve
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the onions, bell peppers and garlic and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until softened and slightly wilted down. Add salt to taste halfway through cooking. You might need to turn the heat down to medium-low as the water in the vegetables starts to cook out, and they begin to stick to the pan a bit more
Stir through the cumin, oregano and chilli powder
Add the beef, and cook until it’s mostly cooked through, with just a little bit of pink here and there
Add the water, tomatoes, kidney beans, chipotle pepper and a spoonful of adobo sauce. Stir to combine, then turn up the heat and bring everything to a simmer
Turn down the heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 20 minutes or until the sauce has thickened and reduced and the beef is cooked through
Taste, and season with salt and plenty of black pepper. Add the vinegar and/or sugar, if it needs a touch more sweetness or sharpness. Remove the whole chipotle chilli
Serve with any combination you like of lime juice, coriander, cheddar and sour cream
Notes on beans
If you’re using tinned kidney beans, try to find ones which don’t have a firming agent in them, typically calcium chloride. This is a useful additive which helps beans retain their shape, but it can also make them tough, particularly in stews and soups.
If you’re cooking kidney beans from dried, it’s essential to soak them for 6-8 hours, discard the soaking water, and then cook them in plenty of fresh water at a rolling boil for at least 30 minutes. They should also not be eaten unless they’re cooked all the way through.
This is because raw kidney beans contain a toxin called lectin, which can make you very sick. It’s destroyed at high heat, so do not cook dried kidney beans in a slow cooker. A slow cooker’s low temperature won’t destroy the toxin, and can in fact concentrate it. The toxin can also leach into the soaking water, which is why it should be discarded.
There’s more information on the Food Standards Agency website here and on the FDA’s website here.
Notes on chilli powder and chipotle
Chilli powder varies enormously not just in spiciness, but in ingredients. Some contain exclusively ground chillies, others contain as little as 80% ground chillies, with the rest made up of seasonings like cumin, oregano or salt. Switching between brands can affect not just the spiciness, but also the saltiness of your food, so adjust the amount given above to taste.
Similarly, there is a big difference between chipotle in adobo sauce sold in tins, and ‘chipotle paste’ available in supermarkets. Chipotle in adobo sauce is whole chipotle chillies stored in a spicy, tangy adobo sauce made from tomatoes and vinegar. Chipotle pastes on the other hand often contain relatively little chipotle – typically less than 10%. Although they can still be a tasty addition to chillies and stews, the chipotle flavour is generally quite diluted, so we recommend seeking out canned chipotle in adobo sauce if possible.
What to serve with chilli con carne
Chilli con carne is a really versatile dish – it can be served with rice, of course, over jacket potatoes or even, if you’re from Cincinnati, spaghetti. In the States it’s often served with cornbread, which is great for mopping up the sauce.
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