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Chili Con Carnie

A hearty stew of bacon, beef, beans, peppers, tomatoes, okra, and spices simmered for hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Beans and okra share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 66 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Chili Con Carnie

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a kettle, fry the chopped suet for 20 minutes, stirring to prevent scorching.

  2. Add the diced bacon and beef, and cook until browned.

  3. Stir in the parboiled beans, water, red peppercorns, chopped sweet peppers, tomatoes, okra, and salt.

  4. Simmer slowly for 4 hours, adding water as needed.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Beans + okratop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together66 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Beans + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,713 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Tomato + okratop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together327 recipes

    Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,448 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Bacon
Renders fat that carries flavor through the pot and adds savory, browned depth.
Lean beef
Provides meaty protein that browns for savory flavor and firms slightly as it cooks.
Chili beans or black kidney beans
Add body and starchy texture that thickens the chili as they break down during simmering.
Ripe tomatoes
Supply acidity and liquid that form the base of the sauce.
Suet
Adds rendered fat that carries flavor and gives a rich mouthfeel.
Okra pods
Release natural starch that helps thicken the chili as it simmers.

The step that matters

Simmer slowly for 4 hours, adding water as needed. Long, gentle simmering lets the meat tenderize and the flavors meld, while the sauce thickens as liquid reduces. Adding water keeps the mixture from drying out or scorching on the bottom.

Swap the okra

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, beans, pepper, tomato):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Okrathe original
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Potatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, beans, pepper, tomato. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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