For centuries there has been a war, a war that has torn families apart, broken up marriages and seen people lose their lives. Throughout history, there hasn’t been a major conflict more intransigent than the argument of Chilli with or without beans.
Whats the real answer? Well, that depends on who you ask. Texans are adamant chilli doesn’t contain beans they even have a saying “if you know beans about chilli, it’s that there’s no beans in chilli.” And believe it to be a Yankee thing. If you ask anybody else the answer might be maybeee.
The ISC ( International Chilli Society) rules and regulations state that beans and pasta are strictly forbidden. I’m not cooking in a competition, therefore, I’m adding beans because I enjoy the texture and makes the Chilli go even further.
Cooking is about creating dishes and flavours that you enjoy, giving old classics a little sprucing and even combining two dishes together to create a whole new dish – for example, chilli being spooned over hot dogs to create Chilli Dogs. Whatever way you enjoy your chilli is up to I’m not here to judge and we all know where only here for the cornbread anyway right?
I mean how could you not be!? Fresh from the oven laced with bacon, cheese, jalapeños and spring onions then slathered in butter.
Make a double batch because these delicious loaves won’t last long especially when you dip them into the spicy chilli mixture.
- 1 brown onion, diced
- 4 stalks celery, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, diced
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp sugar
- salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 500 g chuck steak, diced
- 1 cup beef stock
- 1 can chopped tomatoes
- 1 can kidney beans
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 250 g bacon
- 1 cup polenta
- 1 cup plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp reserved bacon grease
- 1/2 cup cheddar or pepper jack cheese, grated
- 1/2 cup jalapeños, diced
- 6 spring onion stalks, diced
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Add the chopped onions, celery, carrot into frying pan over medium heat with a good glug of olive oil. Cook until starting to soften then add in the garlic, cook until the vegetables have softened and the onion is transparent about 10 minutes.
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Add all the spices, sugar and seasoning to the vegetable mix and stir. Add in the tomato paste and cook for 5 minutes. Deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of beef stock then add into a slow cooker along with the chuck steak, canned tomatoes, kidney beans balsamic vinegar and remaining beef stock.
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Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. Serve with sour cream and corn bread.
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Preheat oven to 180°c.
Cook bacon in a pan over medium heat, until the fat renders and the bacon starts to crisp but not too crispy it needs to still be flexible. Remove from pan and place onto a paper towel lined plate to remove the excess oil. Pour the bacon fat into a small heat proof bowl and set aside for later. -
In a medium bowl whisk together polenta, flour, baking powder and sugar. In a separate bowl whisk together buttermilk, eggs and reserved bacon grease. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, fold through the bacon, cheese and jalapeños.
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Grease your loaf pan with some spray oil and spoon in cornbread butter just to the top. Place in the oven to bake until a skewers come out clean, roughly 20 minutes. Let the cornbread cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then on a wire rack for 10.
Watch me make this recipe here!
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