They may not have given away the recipe for the Dead Hippie burger sauce, but The Meatliquor Chronicles (Faber & Faber) is, I have to say, worth buying for one recipe alone: their Layover Chili. This is the only way I make chili now. And sorry, don’t even think about trying to make a veggie version of this, it just won’t work (and other fine veggie and vegan chili recipes are available.)
I’ve adapted this to suit my pocket and tastes and reduced the quantities. Serves about 3 with rice or in wraps with cheese, lettuce, sour cream, more ketchup and mustard. It’s also a delight with tortilla chips or actual chips (i.e. fries).
Ingredients
- 500g minced beef. My Sainsbury’s dumps packets of this that have reached their sell-by date cheap on a Saturday afternoon, I buy & freeze.
- 1 beef stock cube (I use Knorr).
- 1 finely-chopped white onion.
- 2 minced cloves of garlic.
- 1 tablespoon tomato puree
- 1 large can of Sainsbury’s Basics Lager. It’s 2% abv (steady now) and tastes like weak apple juice but it’s only about 50p a can and works brilliantly in this recipe.
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin.
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander.
- 1 teaspoon each of chilli flakes, cayenne pepper, smoked paprika.
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano.
- 1 tablespoon of pickled jalapeños, finely chopped – more to garnish.
- Large squirt of Heinz tomato ketchup – more to garnish.
- Large squirt of French’s American Mustard – more to garnish.
- Salt and pepper.
Method
Fry the onions gently in some vegetable oil, add the garlic and remove when they start to brown. Fry the minced beef with the tomato puree until browned all over. Crumble in the beef stock cube and then deglaze with the beer. Add all of the other ingredients, stir, topping up with hot water if needed. This is a wet chili. Leave to simmer for at least an hour, preferably longer, adding water if it looks like it’s getting too dry. Serve with tortilla chips, wraps, fries, rice, cheese, sour cream, whatever. It is totally amazing.