Labor intensive and ingredient heavy chicken chili beans

kcult

kcult

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If this stuff isn't great, I'm burning the house down and relocating to another state.

I started Tuesday, by pulling four bone-in, with the skin, chicken thighs from the freezer. Once they thawed, I peeled the skin back, and salted both sides of the thigh.

In the fridge you go, until Thursday afternoon.

Today, I boil the chicken thighs, then set them aside to shred later.

Since the recipe I was following told me to rinse and drain two cans of kidney beans and two cans of pinto beans, I just dumped them into the fatty chicken water. I steered them around for several minutes, then dumped all that into a colander, to drain.

After sauteing a medium, finely diced onion, in butter and olive oil, everyone went for a swim in the pool, and have been there for the last hour and a half.

The ingredients:

3 cups of shredded chicken
1 2/3 cups of whole milk
1 cup of beer
2 garlic cloves minced
2 16oz cans of kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
2 16oz cans of pinto beans (rinsed and drained)
1 28oz can of diced tomatoes (not drained)
1 medium onion, finely diced and sauteed in;
1 TBS olive oil, and
1 TBS butter
2 TBS chicken bouillon granules (all I had was paste)
1 TBS sugar
1 bay leaf
2 TBS ground cumin
1 tsp each onion, garlic, and chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp ground celery seed (I skipped this coz I've never used this and wasn't buying it for a measly 1/4 tsp)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp ground tumeric

Whew!

Still simmering, as we speak. Wifey just got home, so I guess we'll be trying it shortly.

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@Brangus
 
Well, what did she think?
Did it come out like you thought it would?
 
RetiredUSNChief said:
Wait... you started TUESDAY on this?

The ONLY thing about making chili that should involve "days" is reheating it for leftovers after the first day.
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I was being dramatic.

It only took about an hour of doing stuff, before it all went into the pot.
 
ronn47 said:
Well, what did she think?
Did it come out like you thought it would?
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Too many beans. She said they overpowered the dish. She's been watching too many YouTube cooking challenges.

But I agree. I believe the amount could have easily been halved.

Other takeaways include, if the milk was meant to give it body, I think a half to 3/4C of heavy whipping cream would have been better. Also, I would at least double, maybe even triple, the salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. For all the stuff that went into this, there was hardly any of it detected.

Yes, I realize you aren't supposed to "taste" those things, but it was a bit bland, for my liking.

Oh, might as well drink the beer, too, instead of dumping it in there.
 
Looks awesome in the pot. I guess we'll hear the verdict on taste when Dawn arrives.
 
kcult said:
Too many beans. She said they overpowered the dish. She's been watching too many YouTube cooking challenges.

But I agree. I believe the amount could have easily been halved.

Other takeaways include, if the milk was meant to give it body, I think a half to 3/4C of heavy whipping cream would have been better. Also, I would at least double, maybe even triple, the salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. For all the stuff that went into this, there was hardly any of it detected.

Yes, I realize you aren't supposed to "taste" those things, but it was a bit bland, for my liking.

Oh, might as well drink the beer, too, instead of dumping it in there.
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Report on it the next time you make it.
 
Keep the chicken broth as a base, don't toss it down the drain, forget the chicken bullion cubes. More cchicken about 1/4 cup sugar, at least 4 TBSP of black.pepper, 1/2 an onion, throw away the chili powder and use the cumin, red cayenne pepper and pepper flakes to taste. Exchange kidney beans for white beans and serve with scoops. The milk and flour I would save for last...... Try it without the milk or cream first, it might be good without it. If needed add a little milk or cream and bring it back to a boil, try to get it frothy for a minute or so. If you want to thicken it up, add just a touch of flour and stir. Repeat if necessary. Smokey paprika might also go good with this.

oh yeah......top it off with a little Colby or cheddar before serving.
 
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Always halve the amount of beans a recipe calls for unless what you’re making is just beans.

And always change the type to black bean when you’re putting them in any chili or soup. The taste and texture is much better and they add to the flavor instead of taking it over.
 
Chdamn said:
Always halve the amount of beans a recipe calls for unless what you’re making is just beans.

And always change the type to black bean when you’re putting them in any chili or soup. The taste and texture is much better and they add to the flavor instead of taking it over.
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This.
B
L
A
C
K
B
E
A
N
S

If I want beans, I’ll make bean soup. If I make chili, there usually isn’t beans. But if I had to add them, they’d be black beans.
 
BowWow said:
Keep the chicken broth as a base, don't toss it down the drain, forget the chicken bullion cubes. More cchicken about 1/4 cup sugar, at least 4 TBSP of black.pepper, 1/2 an onion, throw away the chili powder and use the cumin, red cayenne pepper and pepper flakes to taste. Exchange kidney beans for white beans and serve with scoops. The milk and flour I would save for last...... Try it without the milk or cream first, it might be good without it. If needed add a little milk or cream and bring it back to a boil, try to get it frothy for a minute or so. If you want to thicken it up, add just a touch of flour and stir. Repeat if necessary. Smokey paprika might also go good with this.

oh yeah......top it off with a little Colby or cheddar before serving.
Click to expand...

I absolutely hated tossing that broth. That's why I at least used it to "rinse" the beans.

This was a random recipe pulled from the internet, and I generally try to follow those the first time. And I haven't been cooking long enough to look at a recipe and instantly know what should be tossed and what should be added.

I make the dish, and if it's not to our liking, but close, I'll tweak it.

Thanks for the suggestions!
 
kcult said:
I absolutely hated tossing that broth. That's why I at least used it to "rinse" the beans.

This was a random recipe pulled from the internet, and I generally try to follow those the first time. And I haven't been cooking long enough to look at a recipe and instantly know what should be tossed and what should be added.

I make the dish, and if it's not to our liking, but close, I'll tweak it.

Thanks for the suggestions!
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As a general rule of thumb...

If a recipe calls for water, I use chicken broth.

If a recipe calls for milk, I use heavy whipping cream.

And, if a recipe does not call for butter, I add a stick anyway. 😋
 
Alabamacoastie said:
As a general rule of thumb...

If a recipe calls for water, I use chicken broth.

If a recipe calls for milk, I use heavy whipping cream.

And, if a recipe does not call for butter, I add a stick anyway. 😋
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I'm with you on the water...
 
Chdamn said:
Always halve the amount of beans a recipe calls for unless what you’re making is just beans.

And always change the type to black bean when you’re putting them in any chili or soup. The taste and texture is much better and they add to the flavor instead of taking it over.
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Wait, what?

You mean people actually follow RECIPES for chili?
 
I don't generally rinse the beans when out of a can.

Now, when using dried beans it's a different matter, of course, because it isn't canned with all the other stuff the food companies put in it. I still follow the way Mom did it...dump the bag of beans out on the counter, sort out any bad beans or other stuff that might have found their way into the bag, cover them in water and let soak over night.

All you get is pure bean, then...no other additives which might change the flavor.
 
You may want to try "white chicken chili" next time. Recipe is easily found on internet. Uses only cannellini beans (all white, no dark beans) and green chilis plus a bunch of other stuff. It is really tasty. Sometimes we add a glob of sour cream or cream cheese (or both) to the bowl when we serve it.
 
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Papermaker said:
You may want to try "white chicken chili" next time. Recipe is easily found on internet. Uses only cannellini beans (all white, no dark beans) and green chilis plus a bunch of other stuff. It is really tasty. Sometimes we add a glob of sour cream or cream cheese (or both) to the bowl when we serve it.
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I saw those and had considered getting them, instead, but I try to follow the recipe, first.

That reminds me, at work, we were talking about different foods and one of my coworkers mentioned how good my BBQ meatballs were. Another coworker asked for the recipe.

When we got back from a Christmas break, I asked him what he thought of them. He said he didn't really like them. I was a little surprised. Then, he tells me that the amount of sugar seemed too much, so he cut it in half. Then, he didn't have Worcestershire sauce, so he substituted soy sauce.

I can't remember being madder at any other food related incident than that one.
 
Do you have an Instant Pot pressure cooker?

It cooks beans in less than an hour with no soaking.
 
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I almost always read “boil chicken” as “braise chicken then add stock.”
I’d skip the milk and serve with sour cream on the side.

Last fall I overseasoned a smoked chicken, was too spicy to eat. Cut it up and added it to sautéed onion, jalpeno, hatch, garlic, cumin, coriander and black beans. It was awesome. Gotta ruin another smoked chicken one of these days.
 
Shady Grady said:
Do you have an Instant Pot pressure cooker?

It cooks beans in less than an hour with no soaking.
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We have an Instant Pot. Two, I think, if I remember correctly. (There is always, with my wife, some story about matters such as this. Who needs more than one Instant Pot?)

Haven't used it for beans like this, but an Instant Pot is pretty frickin' awesome. My Mom, if she were still alive (she'd be going on 99 if she were) would have loved the convenience of an Instant Pot. She used a pressure cooker all her life, most especially during canning season. An Instant Pot would have made a lot of cooking very quick and easy in an automated way.

I imagine it would be as simple cooking the beans as it is when I use ours to make boiled peanuts.
 
I’m surprised that he didn’t make this in his bucket. Jus sayin…
 
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