First Zantac Chili Challenge Winning Chili Recipes

Just came from the Calphalon Centre at King and Spadina, where the folks who make Zantac (the heartburn remedy) have – with praiseworthy humour – sponsored their first-ever Canada-wide chili recipe competition, known as the Zantac Chili Challenge. Canadians were invited to submit their recipes and, after online voting, three finalists were brought to Toronto for a live cook-off and tasting by a panel of media celebrity judges.

The winner was Mike Callaghan of London, pictured here with his Fire-Roasted Hot Chili, but any of the three entries would make worthy centrepieces for a Super Bowl party table. Here are my assessments of the three finalists; note that the batches we tasted had only been in the pot for a few hours; aging would certainly have changed them.

Fire-Roasted Hot Chili
Callaghan, a self-described "BBQ enthusiast", roasts his own peppers over a charcoal fire for eight hours. "It gives a very robust smoked flavour," he says. The three kinds of meat offer different qualities: sweetness (the pork), succulence (the turkey) and robust flavour (the beef).

In this recipe, chunks of meat and vegetables are supended in a smooth, medium-brown, fairly liquid chili with a very rich and complex aroma. The flavour has a very sweet start with cumin and tomato overtones. The meat has a very nice texture, and the heat has a slow build that lingers but stops just short of a burn. This was a worthy winner.

• 1 lb ground beef


• 1 lb ground pork


• 1 lb ground turkey


• 1 can red kidney beans (drained)


• 1 can pinto beans (drained)


• 2 c onion (diced)


• 2 c green pepper (diced)


• ½ c roasted red peppers


• 2 c tomato sauce


• 2 tbsp olive oil


• 1 tbsp kosher salt


• 2 tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika


• 2 tbsp ancho chili pepper


• 2 tbsp coarse ground chipotle


• 1 tbsp smoked habañero (to taste)


• 2 tbsp granulated garlic


• 4 tbsp cumin seed


• 1 tbsp fresh ground pepper (to taste)


• 1 tbsp cocoa powder


• 2 c beef stock


• 2 oz whiskey (the whiskey is necessary, as tomatoes contain alcohol-soluble flavors)


• 4 tbsp fresh Italian parsley (chopped)

Steps

1. On medium heat in large pan, brown meat. Set aside, drain and reserve liquid.


2. Toast cumin seed in separate pan and allow to cool (grind in coffee mill).


3. Add oil to original pan, sweat onions until translucent, add green peppers until softened, add ½ of parsley add ½ of the cumin.


4. Assemble ingredients in slow cooker (or large Dutch oven).


5. Remove fat from drippings and discard, add stock along with meat mixture, onions, peppers and remaining ingredients, reserving the ground cumin, parsley and whiskey.


6. Allow to come to heat and simmer low for 4 hours.


7. Add the remaining ingredients; continue to simmer for another ½ hour.


8. Reheated next day is also an option.

Straight Red Chili 1801

Jag Singh of Toronto created this authentic Mexican-inspired concoction, which uses no beans and no vegetables except garlic. It's a very thick, currylike paste with large chunks of meat and has a consistent dark red-brown colour and a sharp, smokey scent. There is a slow burn of heat building to a sharpish bite. This was my least favourite on its own, although I would enjoy it as part of a more varied menu. Singh says it can be prepared in a couple of hours; it doesn't need to age in the pot.

• 3.5 lbs stewing beef cut into 1-inch cubes


• 2 tbsp sunflower oil


• 2 tbsp paprika


• 1 tbsp onion powder


• 1 tbsp garlic powder


• two 5.5-oz cans of tomato paste


• 2 c beef broth


• 2 c water

Stage 2

• ½ tsp salt


• 1 jalapeño pepper


• 2 tbsp honey


• 1 packet sazon goya, a Mexican-style bouillon cube (found at Highland Farms)


• 2 tbsp ancho chili powder


• 2 tbsp cocoa chili powder (Singh uses McCormick brand)


• 2 tbsp chipotle chili powder


• 2 tbsp Mexican chili powder

Stage 3

• 1½ tbsp white pepper


• 1 tbsp paprika


• 1 tbsp cumin


• 1 tbsp honey


• 1 cinnamon stick

Steps

1. In a large frying pan, brown the meat with the 2 tbsp of oil. Drain.


2. In a large pot, add the meat and Stage 2 ingredients, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to a simmer for 45 min.


3. Add Stage 3 ingredients, mix well, cover and let simmer for another 45 min.


4. Remove from heat, let stand 10 min.


5. Serve with bread or a side of beans.

Stout Yam Chili
Jennifer Zuk of Vancouver brought this excellent chili, probably the most nutritious of the three and the only one that lends itself to vegetarian adaptation (Zuk suggests using tofu or edamame instead of the meat.) She says the chipotle pepper is her favourite because "it has that smoky flavour, and you tend to get afterburn; you taste the flavour first, then the heat.")

This recipe produces a fairly dry chili with nice multicoloured chunks of meat and vegetable; it's the prettiest of the three and the most varied in texture, with a sweet scent. The ground meat is succulent and the taste is very flavourful and complex, with a medium spiciness. A little cinnamon would make a nice additon to the existing spice array. This was my favourite of the three, although I would have liked to compare it to Callaghan's again after a little more time in the pot.

• 450 gm yams


• 15 ml vegetable oil


• 600 gm lean ground beef


• 1 small onion (diced)


• 2 jalapeño peppers (seeded and finely chopped)


• 1 large red bell pepper (diced)


• 3 cloves garlic (minced)


• 25 ml chili powder


• 15 ml cumin


• 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (finely minced) – or to taste


• one 341-ml bottle of stout or porter (Zuc used Guinness)


• 175 ml canned beef broth concentrate


• one 796-ml can diced tomatoes


• one 540-ml can black beans (drained and rinsed)


• 375 ml frozen corn


• salt and pepper to taste

Steps

1. Peel and cut the yams into 1.5-cm cubes.
2. In a large Dutch oven, saute the ground beef in the vegetable oil until the meat is no longer pink.


3. Add the diced onion and sweet potatoes and saute 3 more minutes.


4. Add the jalapeño pepper, red bell pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, and chipotle pepper and stir 2 min.


5. Add the stout or porter, beef broth concentrate and the whole can of diced tomatoes and heat to a simmer.


6. Reduce the heat and cook until the sweet potatoes are tender.


7. Add the black beans and frozen corn and cook another 3-4 minutes.


8. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

For the moment, there are lots of other recipes from across the country on the Zantac Chili Challenge site.

Photo courtesy of Edelman.