Chili Colorado, First attempt

Followed Rick Bayless's recipe, with a few mistakes/variations/adaptations. For starters,

I heated oil in the dutch oven and used it to sear the chilies. Was not necessary, and smoked fiercely. Will not repeat. ALSO: I have to wonder if fire roasting fresh chilies might not produce a better tasting sauce.The chilies drive the sauce, obviously, and I can't help but think that fresh is better, in order to produce a meatier sauce. However, every recipe I have seen calls for dried, so, more research is in order.

I also roasted the chilies for too long. High heat, and a few seconds a chili is all that is called for. I probably did closer to a minute a side on most.

Once the chilies were soaking in a bowl, I followed the recipe pretty much down to the letter. Browned the beef for ten minutes, pureed the chilies, cumin, garlic, onion, and oregano, strained it, added it to the beef, fried for five minutes more, then added water and cut it down to a simmer. I became obsessively worried about the water content, and so I fried up beef trimmings and added fat. Given that I had to skim fat later, I don't know if this was necessary. I had no problem reducing the sauce, so I will likely omit the next time around.

Simmered for two hours rather than one. Skimmed fat, and am letting it settle now.

The result was delicious. A dark, savory chili, almost brown in complexion and rich in flavor. The chuck was perfect. It veritably dissolved in the mouth. Chunks could have been larger, but I do prefer the smaller morsels. The color changed noticeably during cooking, as the chili slowly reduced. I did add a little more water at one point, but simmered it for 2+ hours, so it mattered little. There was virtually no water left in it. It could have made four very small portions, but was better suited for two, with a little in the way of leftovers.

THOUGHTS: I would like to get the thick sauce that comes with chili colorado at Leruas. I suppose a roux could be concocted, and I wonder about working with my homemade chicken stock rather than water. What I must remember is that the chili sauce I made here is probably the purest form. Cumin, garlic, and onion provide their own thickening agent as well as a nice blend of flavors, but the heart is the chili. My use of chili california and one long, red hot pepper gave this chili its distinctive flavor. It stands beautifully on its own, and if added to some other elegant sides, this could be a dinner party recipe.