The Game

Sometimes the potential of a new recipe with potential is more exciting than a new recipe coming out perfectly the first time.

Tonight's dinner was a chili recipe I got from Rachael Ray's magazine. (Don't judge me. It was an impulse buy. Not like I have a subscription or anything.)

It's a "Redeye Mole Chili". Redeye is a type of gravy featuring coffee, and mole (MO-lay) is a savory Mexican chocolate sauce mostly associated with chicken. So the chili includes both coffee and chocolate, which I found intriguing. It also included ancho chiles, which are smoked, roasted pablano chiles, and cinnamon.

The recipe came out alright, but there's room for improvement. And I am jazzed because I can see what it needs. The game is afoot, Watson.

With the coffe, unsweetened cocoa powder and anchos, there are a lot of dark, earthy flavors, but without a lot of freshness to balance them.

Some sweetness is called for, a yellow onion, for a start, instead of the white (raw, chopped red onion is also added at the end as a garnish). I'll replace the roasted chiles with fresh ones to bring some fruityness, and use chipotle powder (my new favorite spice) to maintain the smokiness.

The ground beef was a mistake, too. Cubed beef next time.

Fresh cilantro added at the end, instead of the ground coriander. Broke my own rule, there; when ever possible, opt for fresh herbage.

Cut the bacon too big, too.

This process is how we make a recipe our own.

PS; I'm pretty sure I'm using "chili" and "chile" properly, but I would not put money on it.