Chili recipe ideas to reduce tomato flavor.

Adding some dark (or Mexican) chocolate would help. Some people do peanut butter too

Add more beer also

Cut the tomato products out. I don’t use any.

What other seasonings/ingredients are you using in the chili? Might not be enough to overcome the tomato flavor.

I make America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Country 5 alarm chili. It's not 5 alarm hot. Just 5 alarm tasty. It includes a tomato product, but the tomatoes don't dominate the flavor at all due to the other ingredients.

It's easily doubled or tripled. I like to freeze a good bit of it when I make it.

Here's their recipe. I do not add the beans and I add some chocolate. Sometimes, a Hershey bar like Otis does, but sometimes semi sweet baking chocolate...whatever I have around. I use dos equis for the beer.

Why this recipe works:

As the name implies, five-alarm chili should be spicy enough to make you break a sweat, but it has to have rich, deep chile flavor as well. We used a combination of dried anchos, smoky chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, fresh jalapenos, and chili powder to create layers of flavor. Ground beef… read more
Five-Alarm Chili
Good chili doesn’t have to take a whole afternoon.


Serves 8 to 10

Look for ancho chiles in the international aisle at the supermarket. Light-bodied American lagers, such as Budweiser, work best here. Serve chili with lime, sour cream, scallions, and cornbread.
Ingredients

2 ounces dried ancho chiles (4 to 6 chiles), stemmed, seeded, and flesh torn into 1-inch pieces
3 1/2 cups water
1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes
3/4 cup crushed corn tortilla chips
1/4 cup canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce plus 2 teaspoons adobe sauce
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 pounds 85 percent lean ground beef
Salt and pepper
2 pounds onions, chopped fine
2 jalapeño chiles, stemmed, seeds reserved, and minced
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cups beer
3 (15-ounce) cans pinto beans, rinsed

Instructions

1. Combine anchos and 1½ cups water in bowl and microwave until softened, about 3 minutes. Drain and discard liquid. Process anchos, tomatoes and their juice, remaining 2 cups water, tortilla chips, chipotle, and adobo sauce in blender until smooth, about 1 minute; set aside.

2. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add beef, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper and cook, breaking up pieces with spoon, until all liquid has evaporated and meat begins to sizzle, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain in colander; set aside.

3. Heat remaining 4 teaspoons oil in now-empty Dutch oven over medium-high heat until simmering. Add onions and jalapeños and seeds and cook until onions are lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, cumin, chili powder, oregano, coriander, sugar, and cayenne and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Pour in beer and bring to simmer. Stir in beans, reserved ancho-tomato mixture, and reserved cooked beef and bring to simmer. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 50 to 60 minutes. Season with salt to taste. Serve.

Five Hits for Five Alarm

JALAPEÑO: Brings fresh vegetable flavor.

CHIPOTLE IN ADOBO: Instant shortcut to ¬smokiness.

CHILI POWDER: Wouldn’t be chili without it.

CAYENNE: Adds raw heat.

ANCHO: Adds depth, complexity, and mild heat.
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Good chili doesn’t have to take a whole afternoon.

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also this
a pot of chili can be ready in an hour if you used ground meat.
I’ll go two hours if I use cubed meat

Thanks all for the ideas! I will do some more experimentation on the next batch.

Thanks also for the recipe above I will double it and give it a go as I use 4.5 lbs of meat in my batch.

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Is it an enamel coated dutch oven?

I thought you weren't supposed to use tomatoes with cast iron cookware?

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It's plain old Lodge cast iron, I use mine for Chili as often as I make it (every other month or so). It's well seasoned and I haven't had any trouble yet. In between these Chili cooks I am cooking Jambalaya, roast, and gumbo. I have heard that if you use it to cook acidic things a lot it can attack the seasoning but so far so good for me.

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I thought you weren't supposed to use tomatoes with cast iron cookware?

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I don't care how well seasoned a regular cast iron pot is, I NEVER make a red based gravy in it. You will get that metallic taste if you do.

You can also use some roasted red bell pepper.

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If your cook is longer than 30-45 mins, acidic ingredients in bare cast iron will definitely give it a metallic taste

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I've cooked chili for several hours and not noticed that.

I would question how "acidic" my chili actually is versus a spaghetti sauce or something like that.

If you saw my pot you wouldn't characterize it as "bare cast iron".

shake the seeds out and steep just the dried pepper pod. I always purée the soaked pods in just a bit of water then use the rest of the soaking water to add liquid to the pot

that liquid plus a beer is all you need for liquid

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6 cans of diced tomatoes

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:Dam son meme: