Best of the best.
CHILLI CON CARNE
No shortcuts. No cheat ingredients. Our best of the best series takes the view that if something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right. Each month we take a deep-dive into a classic dish, delving into the processes and analysing why it tastes so good, then we give you our ultimate recipe. This month: Tom Shingler tackles a fiery favourite
RECIPE: TOM SHINGLER.
PHOTOGRAPHS: INDIA WHILEY-MORTON. FOOD STYLING: EMILY GUSSIN
I’ve had a troubled relationship with chilli con carne in the past. It’s something nearly everyone cooks at home – with varying degrees of success. It all came to a head for me when visiting my sister-in-law in Birmingham. It was the beginning of summer and I couldn’t wait to be taken to one of the city’s incredible Indian restaurants for dinner. Sadly, when we entered her flat, we were hit with the aggressive aroma of a five-bean chilli, glumly puttering away in the slow-cooker, the smell of stale ground cumin assaulting my disappointed senses. I may not have been the most gracious house guest that evening.
After that fateful night, chilli con carne and I kept our distance for a while. But when the weather cooled and stew season started once more, we reconciled. It can be beautiful: stew-like but not a stew, warming and fragrant, balanced with a heat that gradually builds throughout the meal.
I’ve made a fair few batches of chilli in my lifetime, and I bet you have too. It’s only when I started noting exactly what I was throwing into the pot and keeping track of what worked and what didn’t that my ultimate recipe began to take shape. Chilli is great because you can add all sorts of things that need using up – ajarred pepper here, a limp celery stick there, perhaps a splash of soy sauce – but after multiple batches and a good dose of research, I’m now happy with my chilli and no longer feel the need to tweak and tinker (which is a rarity). So here it is!