Where Are The Wise Men?

We were having lots of people over on Sunday (including our new nephew!) and we wanted something quick and easy.  Gina bought some chili seasoning mix on a deep discount this summer.  Even though it wasn’t chili weather, we decided it would be the least amount of trouble to cook.

I’m picky about chili.  I don’t really like beans in chili, but I generally don’t get that (because some people believe you must have beans in your chili, but I think the opposite it true.  Also, I don’t even like ground beef in chili but usually opt for stewing meat of some kind.  I treat chili like a stew, not a soup. If I had my druthers, you mix everything but the beans (if you must) a day ahead,
add the beans about 30 minutes or so before serving, and there you have it.

As I took stock of things on Saturday morning, I noted that the chili mix had beans already in it so I had already comprised on one thing.  I didn’t want to compromise on the meat. So told Gina that I would get the meat and then we could get the chili going by lunch time — a full 24 hours before we needed to serve.

To say I use “stew meat” in the chili isn’t quite right. I tend to pick the cheapest cuts of meat in the store. Those are usually good meats for stewing.  By looking at the ingredients in the mix, I noted there was a lack of bullion or anything that may make a good broth, so I also needed some bones to cook in the chili as well. I did find some beef stew meat at a good price but the beef bones were too expensive for my tastes.  But wait — what was that on the top shelf?  Well, lamb neck bones!  Perfect!  But do my in-laws like lamb?  Heck, it’s chili!  And who said I have to tell them?

Well, I did tell Gina and she made a sour face. I did have her taste some of the lamb meat after it had stewed a bit.  She thought the flavor was too strong.  Soon, the meat all fell off the bones and I fetched them out the best I could (though, really, not really good because there were a few left in).

I like the final results — I though the lamb added a wonderful flavor to it.  My other half, however, thought the flavor was too strong. Her comment: “If I wouldn’t have known there was lamb in it, I would have thought the meat was rotten!”.  I did fess up to our guests and they were surprised.  I explained my reasoning, and some said they wouldn’t have made that decision.  Yet everyone said that it was good.  Next time I’ll invite Nubi over and he can decide. 

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 at 9:14 am and is filed under Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.