How do I make a good chilli?

Chilli is a slow-cooked dish and it rewards the two steps people skip: proper browning and proper simmering. Heat is the easy part; depth comes from the Maillard reaction and from time.

What you'll need

• Mince or diced beef
• Tinned tomatoes
• Beans
• Onion and garlic
• Cumin, paprika, chilli powder (optional)
• Dark chocolate or coffee (optional)

Step by step

1. Brown the meat properly, in batches, in a hot pan.Do not crowd it — grey steamed mince has none of the flavour of properly browned meat. This is the single biggest determinant of the result.
2. Soften onions and garlic in the same pan.The fond from browning lifts into them. Eight minutes for the onions, then the garlic for the last minute.
3. Bloom the spices in the fat before adding any liquid.Cumin, smoked paprika, chilli powder, oregano. Thirty seconds in the hot fat transforms them; stirred into liquid they stay dusty.
4. Add tomato purée and cook it out for a minute.It loses its raw metallic taste and deepens considerably. Worth the minute.
5. Add tomatoes and stock, then simmer gently for at least an hour.Low and slow. Time is what turns the ingredients into a single dish rather than several in a pan.
6. Add beans in the last 20 minutes.Tinned beans only need heating and will break up if simmered for an hour.
7. Taste and adjust at the end.Salt first, then acid — a splash of vinegar or lime. A square of dark chocolate or a spoon of coffee adds depth without tasting of either.
8. Rest it, and ideally make it the day before.Chilli is markedly better after a night in the fridge. If you have the time, this is the easiest improvement available.

Tips

• Chipotle in adobo, or smoked paprika, gives a smoky depth that ordinary chilli powder does not.
• If it is too hot, add dairy, more tomato or more beans. Sugar and acid also blunt heat. You cannot remove capsaicin, only dilute and mask it.
• Serve with contrasting cold elements — soured cream, lime, coriander, raw onion. They lift a heavy dish considerably.

Common mistakes

• Crowding the pan when browning the mince — It steams grey instead of browning, and the depth of flavour that browning creates is simply absent.
• Adding spices to the liquid — They need fat and heat to release their flavour. In liquid they stay muted and slightly dusty.
• Simmering for only twenty minutes — Chilli needs at least an hour for the flavours to combine. A short-cooked chilli tastes like its separate ingredients.

Questions people ask