Back before ground beef doubled in price I would make a huge batch of chili for canning. I did the math in January of last year and it worked out to a 28% savings over buying it but the downside was that it cost $50 to make the batch.
Of course the upsides were knowing every ingredient and here I am two weeks short of a year later eating chili that now costs way more to make because of beef cost increases.
This time I added a can of black beans during the reheat because I didn’t feel like making corn bread.
Cost per person: $3.06
Are you telling that a home canned this chili?
Yes. One of 12 quarts I made that day.
Wtf is a quart? Isn’t there a larger unit for 12 of them?
It’s not recommended to can in anything larger than a quart for food safety reasons. A quart is .94 liters
That was the total amount canned. They didn’t can 3 gallons of chili in one container.
I’m the one that canned it. I know.
Oops, ha!
A quart is a bit larger than a liter. Four of them make a US gallon.
A British quart is larger than a litre (≈1.14l), US quart is smaller (≈0.95l).
Thanks for the correction! I’ve memorized that the other way around.
Every canned or frozen chili around here is absolutely swimming in salt, and only one or two aren’t mediocre or downright weird-tasting (looking at you, Hormel). Plus, they all need to be zipped up with some sauteed onions, garlic, peppers, cheddar, more spices, maybe some cilantro and cumin seeds, etc, to really make the dish pop.
Give me fresh or homemade chili every time, hombre.
To be clear, this is homemade chilli. They “canned” it themselves in Mason Jars. It makes long term storage much easier without a chest freezer.
I’ve had three freezers fail in the last 8 years. Not only is kidding, shelf-stable at room temperature so it doesn’t care about those kinds of things, but it stops it from taking up space in the freezer.
Entire reason for me to can! So it won’t take up valuable fridge or freezer space!
Yes, I was referring to the commercial stuff.
I’ve found that ground turkey makes a great substitute for ground beef in dishes like chili where the meat isn’t the main flavor (also see meatballs and meatloaf). It’s cheaper, lower in cholesterol, and a little more sustainable to boot.
It’s cheaper than pork. But I’ve never been a fan of ground poultry other than in Asian foods.
I wish ground turkey was cheaper than pork here. Pork is the cheapest meat I can get where I am. Here are the current cheapest prices I can get shit per pound.
Ground Turkey - $3.78
Ground Chuck - $5.22
Chicken Breast - $3.77
Chicken Thighs - $3.83
Chicken Drumsticks - $.98 (last package I bought had an actual meat yeild that made them $2.70 w/o bones. etc.
Whole pork loin - $2.48
We can get frozen 1 pound tubes of ground turkey for $1.98 but if you want it not frozen it’s gonna cost at least double. And I’m pretty sure even that stuff has been frozen.
Ground pork is about $3.50 a pound but sold in 20 ounce packaging.
Here the tray of thawed, and the tube of frozen, ground turkey are the same price. Ground pork, that is ground by the meat department, is the same price. Various brands of ground pork are a little more expensive though. I also believe that almost all meat has been frozen before making it to the store, local butchers, and specialty places may differ.
Give it a try in a small batch. The texture and flavor should match.
I will.
I’ve tried ground turkey in chili before, and as with most dishes where it’s not the featured item, it tends to almost completely disappear, flavor and texture-wise. I hate to say it, but ground beef or maybe finely-cut cube steak stands out far more to me and adds a hearty level of flavor that turkey just can’t.
That said, nutritionally I’m not a fan of red meat at all, so mostly I just make veggie chili, with kidney beans usually being the featured player. Still quite delicious when I don’t boof it up, somehow.
I’ll second that but also depends on the chili
- if I make chili, it’s intensely flavored and spicy. Ground turkey is oddly bland so doesn’t really work
- if my ex makes chili, it’s more of a mild bean and vegetable stew and ground turkey goes well with the other mild flavors
Not sure what you’re doing to cause the meat to disintegrate, but I’ve never had an issue with the texture. I do try to get a nice deep browning on each side of the flat of ground meat before turning, and cook the onions with.
I didn’t say “disintegrate.” It’s that the ground turkey just barely registers as an ingredient of the dish.
But, hmm… browning.
I’m not sure I’ve ever tried that, and yet I seem to remember OP talking about that as something that can really boost meat’s flavor, I think?Brownong meat is an essential step to just about any dish. The maillard reaction does an amazing amount of work.
I thought the maillard reaction was based on temperature and time, not on specific cooking methods.
Applying the combination of temperature and time is method. High temperature over a short period of time results in the creation of “umami” compounds.
Okay, so to be clear-- browning via searing is just one of many, many ways to achieve the result. For example, simply by sprinkling ground turkey in to the chili dish, then cooking around 300°F for an adequate time will produce the maillard reaction in the turkey (plus whatever other ingredients), right?
100%. Its also good for, as an example, cooking whole sausages in soups. The chemical reaction(s) of browning both alters/enhances a meats flavors as well as keeps them generally juicer throughout extended cooking methods by basically making a crust that makes it a bit easier to retain internal moisture.
And I hear you on ground turkey. Very easy for it to fade into whatever else you’re throwing it in. Browning could help this for sure, but I haven’t worked much with this ingredient, so I cant rightly state what to expect. Id be very surprised if it wasnt worth a try though!
Okay, thanks, I’ll deffo give browning a try then with some turkey.
Actually… browned, shredded turkey sounds really interesting in chili, altho I’ve never heard of that before.
I would destroy that right now.
I’ve been looking up so many canning recipes and chili is right up there! That looks amazing!
Needs more sour cream though :D
It was the last of that sour cream and I wasn’t going to open a new one.
I tried a lot of different chili canning recipes before settling on this one. When reheating I tend to add a teaspoon of chili powder or taco seasoning to pop the flavor.
Chili Mark XII canning batch.
Servings: 12 quarts.
3 tbsp olive oil.
3 onions, chopped.
18 cloves garlic, minced.
12 oz. tomato paste.
6 lb. ground beef.
1 cup chili powder (Alton Brown recipe).
3 tbsp. ground cumin.
2 tbsp. ground oregano.
1 tbsp cayenne pepper (optional).
1 tbsp Kosher salt.
Freshly ground black pepper.
3 (40-oz) can kidney beans, drained.
3 (28-oz) can crushed tomatoes with basil.
3 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes.
Shredded cheddar, for garnish.
sour cream, for garnish.- In a large pot over medium heat, heat olive oil.
- Add onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute more
- Add ground beef and cook until no longer pink.
- Drain fat and return to heat.
- Mix in chili powder, cumin, oregano, cayenne, salt and pepper
- then add tomato paste, stirring to combine.
- Stir in kidney beans, tomatoes and crushed tomatoes.
- It’s going to be thick. You are not trying to cook it. You’re just getting it mixed so it can cook in the pressure canner.
- Fill the prepped quart jars leaving jars leaving 1-In headspace and no air bubbles.
- process quarts for 90 minutes.
Thank you oodles! I’ve gained all but one of the dried peppers for the chili powder, and the beef! So soooon I will also have chili! <3
I use ground pork these days and it tastes just fine. Even better is venison or something local.
I use pork frequently in Italian recipes. When I do make a ground meat chili, I’m usually doing it in these super size batches. So I can get a big tube of ground beef or a lot of packs of ground pork. But I only do that about once or twice a year tops.
If I’m making chili the day of the meal then I typically break out venison or go meatless.
