hello this is chef john from food wishes comm with firehouse chili and cornbread
casserole that's right everybody knows that firemen make the best chili many
using a recipe very similar to this and the only way I know of to make that
chili even better is by topping it with a cheesy corn bread crust and by the way
if you think this stuff is just like eating a bowl of chili with a piece of
cornbread well then you've never had this stuff so with that let's go ahead
and get started and we'll begin by tossing a diced onion
into a lightly olive oil chili pot set over high heat
we'll also toss in a couple teaspoons of kosher salt as well as a couple pounds
of ground beef and personally I go for the 85 215 lean to fat blend but even
something a little leaner would work here but anyway that's up to you
I mean you are after all the fire chief of how fatty your beef but either way
what we'll do for the next five minutes or so is take a wooden spoon or a
spatula or a wooden spatula and we'll cook this while breaking up the meat to
his smaller crumbles as we can and every time I do this I get an email or comment
from someone that tells me I should be using a potato masher since that's the
best tool for crumbling this meat which it might be but I've always used this
flat wooden spatula and when it comes to cooking it's not always about what the
best tool is it's about what the best tool is for you so what I'm trying to
say is you should probably try a potato masher here and see how you like it but
anyway once we have that meat crumbled up and browned we're gonna go ahead and
toss in a couple tablespoons of flour and we will stir that in and in case
you're wondering I don't usually add flour to chili but here in this big
casserole format I think I want a little bit to help tighten up the juices and
then what we'll do once that's been stirred in and cooked for a couple
minutes let's go ahead and toss in some diced poblano pepper as well as some
crushed or finely minced garlic followed by our classic chili seasonings
including of course some chili powder some ground cumin or cumin if you're
from uptown we'll also toss in some freshly ground black pepper and of
course some Cayenne as well as a nice big pinch of dry oregano and once all
that's in there we'll give it a stir and cook that for about two or three minutes
before we move on to adding our tomato product which we're going to do in two
forms okay we're going to use a can of diced
tomatoes as well as a can of crushed tomatoes and if you're noticing those
little black dots that's because I bought the fire roasted varieties which
is pretty much available for any tomato product these days and then we will
finish up with a couple cups of nice cold fresh water and because those
tomato cans probably have a little bit of product still stuck on the inside it
seems like a good idea to use those to transfer the water in and then what
we'll do after we stir that in is simply wait for this to come up to a simmer and
as soon as it does we're gonna want to give it a stir and check for thickness
all right whenever we use flour for a sauce or a super stew we can't tell how
thick it's going to be until it starts to boil so as soon as your chili starts
bubbling we'll want to give it a stir and observe and after doing so I decided
my needed another splash of water especially since we're gonna finish this
by letting it simmer for about an hour during which time of course some
evaporation will occur so we'll go ahead and adjust that as we see fit and then
we'll lower our heat down to medium-low and like I said we will cook this for
about an hour stirring occasionally and about halfway through that time after
about thirty minutes we have to make a major decision and that's whether
there's going to be any beans in the scene and with apologies to my friends
in Texas I will be adding some beans and for this I'm recommending kidney beans
and if you can't find those pancreas beans are also very nice and that's it
all we need to do is stir those in and we'll let that simmer for another thirty
minutes or so or until we decide it's done since only we know for sure and
right here I thought mine was looking just about perfect which means my
firehouse Chili's ready just as soon as I give it a taste to make sure it has
enough salt and spice and I decided to did which means we can go ahead and very
carefully transfer this into our casserole dish and it's right about here
when we're gonna figure out if the dish we're using is the right size for the
amount of chili we made and while this was closed it was too much okay we're
gonna need to leave about an inch at the top so we can put our cornmeal crust on
so I went ahead little some into a large mug and I went ahead and had what we
call in the business a chef snack which is one of the many perks of cooking and
that's it once we have the right amount in there we'll go ahead and take a spoon
to make sure everything is evenly distributed
and yes of course we could just use a bigger baking dish or make this with
less ingredients but I decided not to do either of those things and I got a snack
and then what we'll do once our chili set let's go ahead and mix up our
cornbread topping which is going to start with a couple boxes of
store-bought corn muffin mix and while I won't give the brand I will give you the
color sky blue and then to that I'm gonna add some grated cheddar cheese
which is optional but also mandatory and then we'll finish this with a couple
large eggs and a cup a nice cold fresh milk and that's it we'll just take a
whisk and mix this until completely smooth and by the way in the recipe
you're gonna notice I mean you use a little extra milk than the package calls
for but I think having this cornbread batter a little thinner works better for
the casserole application speakin which because it's bad are so runny we don't
want to just pour it over all right what we'll do is apply big spoonfuls over the
top until pretty much the entire surface is covered and then we'll go ahead and
drizzle batter around the outside around the outside around the outside as well
as into and over any spot that needs it and yes I am filling this up dangerously
high but please note we placed our dish on a sheet pan since if you're
assembling this like I am there's roughly a 100 percent chance there's
going to be some spillage but don't worry the final appearance is worth it
and then before we pop this in the oven I like to sprinkle over a little more
cheddar cheese and that's not totally necessary but really what is and that's
it as soon as that's been cheesed we will very very very carefully transfer
this into the center of a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes or so or until
our cornbread crust is cooked and it looks like this man that looks good and
we actually had a surprisingly small amount of spillage all right we did have
a little bit as you can see in this shot which I've cleverly hid in the back
because of pictures but considering how high I filled this nothing too traumatic
and if you're not sure it's done you can always test with a toothpick which
should come out clean okay if it comes out with wet batter put it back in until
it's done but mine was perfect so I went ahead and served up and it's gonna be
kind of hard to get with the spoon but that extra crispy part of the cornbread
that's sort of flowing over the edge of the dish
you're gonna want to peel some of that up and eat it yes that does qualify as
another chef snack but anyway we will spoon or ladle that into a dish and then
I like to garnish with a little bit of sour cream and if I have it around a
little bit of torn cilantro which I really did want just on the sour cream
but unfortunately a couple rogue leaves have their own ideas so I had to turn
off the camera and spend five minutes fixing it like I wanted at which point I
grabbed a spoon and proceeded to dig into what is one of the great chili
experiences of all time and it's not like there's anything wrong with just
eating a bowl of chili with a piece of cornbread that is like a perfect
experience too but in my opinion this is just slightly more perfect okay that
cornbread crust bakes just like regular cornbread except underneath we had all
that flavorful aromatic chili which is going to kind of steam our cornbread as
it bakes creating something you have to taste to believe and above and beyond
the insanely good textures here the other thing that works so well about
this is that our cornbread crust is relatively sweet which of course pairs
perfectly with that spicy meaty savory chili underneath so I just love
everything about this plus what better thing to serve to a large group of
friends which by the way is why chili whether it's just in a powder serve like
this is such a popular menu item in a firehouse so thank you firemen for your
service and your chili and I think I can speak for all of them when I say we
really do hope you give this a try soon so please follow the links below for the
ingredient amounts the principle written recipe and much more info as usual and
as always enjoy you
you