Exploding Chili

That's what we had for dinner tonight. It started with a pound and a half of dried red beans, a huge onion, and a pound and a half of ground beef. Actually, it started with a can of beans I was going to put into a casserole, but decided they were too spicy. So since I already opened the can, I had to use it right away. Hence the chili.

The beans, onion, and beef filled my four quart stockpot so I moved to my eight quart stockpot. Added canned tomatoes, canned beans, and lots of spices. Filled the pot to within a couple inches of the rim. A calls this method of cooking, "Exploding Whatever" since I do this all the time to soups, stews, chili, etc. Good thing I stopped at the 8 quart pot. If I get desperate, I can always use my 16 quart stockpot, lol.

I oversalted the chili (something I rarely do) and tried the add-a-potato-to-absorb-the-extra-salt trick. It worked! I remember trying it before and it didn't.

Anyway, I don't really have a recipe for this, but here's the basics.

Cook dried beans (way cheaper than using canned, plus you can avoid the extra sodium)
Chop onion and brown with ground beef.
Add to cooked beans.
Add a couple of chopped carrots (for color and sneaking in a bit more veggies)
Add a can or two or three of diced tomatoes
Season with cumin, chili powder, lots of garlic (prefer fresh, but can use powdered), fresh ground pepper, a dash of soy sauce, and a bit of salt.
Simmer for an hour or longer to blend flavors.

I added canned beans to today's chili because it ended up being too spicy in addition to being too salty.