A recipe for success in 2005

I’m finishing up a full week of not thinking about information technology. No Advice Line contributions, no new Keep the Joint Running.

My most creative act in the entire period was cooking up a batch of chili. So here’s a piece of advice: Make some for yourself. It’s the closest thing to a truly American cuisine you can find.

If you don’t have your own favorite recipe, here’s ours — the official chili of IT Catalysts, Inc.

Ingredients (approximate — the recipe is pretty resilient):

24 oz Tomato Sauce

8 oz Tomato Paste

12 oz Kidney beans

12 oz Pinto beans

12 oz Stewed tomatoes

1 lb Ground beef

12 oz Beer

1 large white onion

1 green pepper

Salt, minced garlic, black pepper, crushed red pepper, garlic, cumin, Tabasco sauce, and garlic.

Dump the tomato sauce, tomato paste, beans, and stewed tomatoes into a big pot. Start it simmering.

Chop the onion and green pepper. Put half the chopped onion in the refrigerator for use as a topping when you serve the chili. Put half of what remains, and half the chopped green pepper, into the pot and stir it in.

Sautee the remaining onion and green pepper with a tablespoon or three of the minced garlic. When it’s finished sautéing, dump it into the pot and stir it in as well.

Brown the ground beef (use the same pan you used to sautee the onion and pepper — it’s one less item to clean later). Pour off any fat, then add enough beer to cover the beef, stir in a tablespoon or three of minced garlic, and simmer for awhile. Drink the remaining beer.

When you’re tired of simmering the ground beef, add it to the pot and stir it in. Add salt, black pepper (don’t be too enthusiastic — you can always add more), a few tablespoons of minced garlic, maybe a teaspoon of crushed red pepper, maybe twice that of cumin, and a splash of Tabasco. Stir, cover, and simmer on very low heat for several hours. Stir frequently.

After an hour or so, taste and add salt, pepper and cumin until the flavor and kick match your preferences. Be careful – it gets more caliende as the ingredients meld.

Refrigerate overnight. Start simmering an hour or two before it’s time to eat. Serve with shredded cheddar, the remaining chopped onions, and, if you’re a heathen, sour cream.

But whatever you do, please don’t ask for any more recipes. Other than this, frozen pizza, and things I can make on the grill, my idea of cooking is going to a restaurant and letting someone else do it.

– Bob

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