# Making Chili "The Old fashioned Way"



## The OutDoor Chef (Jun 13, 2011)

Hola everyone. 

I have a Griswold Dutch Oven A full bag of coal left over from my comp. 

I like to dig a big enough hole to drop about a chimney and a half full of Lump coal in to the hole, And lower my dutch oven in there for making Chili?


Any tips?


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## pacanis (Jun 13, 2011)

Good luck.
I have never been able to cook any kind of bean dish that way. Not one that used dry beans anyway. I could never keep the coals from snuffing themselves out long before the beans tuned soft. I finally resorted to setting the DO by the campfire. I imagine I was doing something wrong, but I played with it four times before giving up. 
I'm interested in your results.


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## The OutDoor Chef (Jun 13, 2011)

pacanis said:


> Good luck.
> I have never been able to cook any kind of bean dish that way. Not one that used dry beans anyway. I could never keep the coals from snuffing themselves out long before the beans tuned soft. I finally resorted to setting the DO by the campfire. I imagine I was doing something wrong, but I played with it four times before giving up.
> I'm interested in your results.


Did you Bury the char coal and the dutch oven?

They seemed they didn't get enough oxygen?

Mine will be a shallow hole. And I will show some results.


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## pacanis (Jun 13, 2011)

Yes, the recipe I was using called for coals in the hole, then set the DO in the hole, then coals on the lid, covered with a thin layer of dirt. Everytime I took the DO out of the hole the coals were only 3/4 burned, the DO _was_ warm, but the beans were always hard still. I _will_ say it retained heat 12 hours later... but never cooked enough, obviously due to the charcoal going out. I played around with the hole size and depth some, but could never get the charcoal to stay lit and still bury the DO like I was supposed to.

ETA: without soaked navy beans that were still basically hard, it may have worked. Or if I precooked them first. That would not have stopped the coals from going out though.


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## The OutDoor Chef (Jun 13, 2011)

Pecanis, 

I am cheating I am going to use canned beans. 

I may just use my weber grill to do them properly.


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## Andy M. (Jun 13, 2011)

The OutDoor Chef said:


> Pecanis,
> 
> I am cheating I am going to use canned beans...




Wouldn't that make it semi old fashioned?  Sandra Lee might be interested.


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## The OutDoor Chef (Jun 13, 2011)

Andy M. said:


> Wouldn't that make it semi old fashioned?  Sandra Lee might be interested.


Ok you got me Andy. You are right. That would be semi old fashioned.


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## Andy M. (Jun 13, 2011)

The OutDoor Chef said:


> Ok you got me Andy. You are right. That would be semi old fashioned.





...but still good.  Nothing wrong with canned beans.


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## pacanis (Jun 13, 2011)

Semi old fashioned would be good, just so it doesn't come out semi cooked ;^)


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## The OutDoor Chef (Jun 13, 2011)

pacanis said:


> Semi old fashioned would be good, just so it doesn't come out semi cooked ;^)


I hear you Pacanis.


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## justplainbill (Jun 13, 2011)

Glad to hear a favorable discussion about chili with frijoles but I think the use of charcoal for grilling meat or baking pizza is more rewarding.  I can make good chili on a stove but can't say the same about grilled meats or pizza.


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## Andy M. (Jun 13, 2011)

justplainbill said:


> Glad to hear a favorable discussion about chili with frijoles but I think the use of charcoal for grilling meat or baking pizza is more rewarding.  I can make good chili on a stove but can't say the same about grilled meats or pizza.




Didn't someone recently post an article discussing the authenticity of beans in chili?


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## justplainbill (Jun 13, 2011)

Andy M. said:


> Didn't someone recently post an article discussing the authenticity of beans in chili?


Either I missed that article or the article was consistent with what appears to me to be  the generally negative tone on this forum regarding the use of beans in 'real' chili.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jun 13, 2011)

Every-time I make chili it starts with, "Soak one pound of beans..."


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## pacanis (Jun 13, 2011)

Well, to be honest, I can't remember the last time I made chili with beans 
I'm in a "chili has beans" area, and I like beans in chili, I just don't add them anymore. Probably because I don't set out to make chili and then buy the ingredients. Chili is always a by product of smoked pork or brisket, so I use what I have on hand... and I don't got no beans in the pantry


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jun 13, 2011)

pacanis said:


> Well, to be honest, I can't remember the last time I made chili with beans
> I'm in a "chili has beans" area, and I like beans in chili, I just don't add them anymore. Probably because I don't set out to make chili and then buy the ingredients. Chili is always a by product of smoked pork or brisket, so I use what I have on hand... and I don't got no beans in the pantry



No beans???  How do you have fun after the meal???  Yes, life in an Ogre fambly!


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## pacanis (Jun 13, 2011)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> No beans??? How do you have fun after the meal??? Yes, life in an Ogre fambly!


 
I have progressed beyond the need for outside stimuli


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jun 13, 2011)

pacanis said:


> I have progressed beyond the need for outside stimuli


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## Andy M. (Jun 13, 2011)

justplainbill said:


> Either I missed that article or the article was consistent with what appears to me to be  the generally negative tone on this forum regarding the use of beans in 'real' chili.




On the contrary.  The article was arguing that beans in chili were authentic.  The argument sounded valid to me.  It stated cooks on the trail would use beans as a filler to stretch meat meals.  Dried beans would have traveled well and provided needed nutrients.


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## justplainbill (Jun 13, 2011)

I'm a big fan of beans.  They were a mainstay in my paternal grandfather's diet and he lived to be 96.


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## CWS4322 (Jun 13, 2011)

What I do is soak the beans overnight, cook them, and then I measure them out into 2 c containers (with some of the liquid), and freeze them. I do this with garbanzo beans as well. That when the mood strikes to make hummus or something else with beans, all I have to do is pull the amount I want out of the freezer. I do find there is a difference between canned and soaked dry beans...the canned ones are too mushy for my taste.


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## Dawgluver (Jun 13, 2011)

Andy M. said:
			
		

> On the contrary.  The article was arguing that beans in chili were authentic.  The argument sounded valid to me.  It stated cooks on the trail would use beans as a filler to stretch meat meals.  Dried beans would have traveled well and provided needed nutrients.



And great material for the Blazing Saddles campfire scene...


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## pacanis (Jun 13, 2011)

Dawgluver said:


> And great material for the Blazing Saddles campfire scene...


 
That was the first thing that came to my mind.


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## The OutDoor Chef (Jun 13, 2011)

Sorry everyone, 

I didn't mean to start a war world 1 on a chili debate.


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## Andy M. (Jun 13, 2011)

The OutDoor Chef said:


> Sorry everyone,
> 
> I didn't mean to start a war world 1 on a chili debate.




We're not at war, we're just Discussing Cooking.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jun 13, 2011)

The OutDoor Chef said:


> Sorry everyone,
> 
> I didn't mean to start a war world 1 on a chili debate.



Oh no, it's not you...It's just round 53...grab a seat and a bag of popcorn.


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## buckytom (Jun 13, 2011)

pacanis said:


> I have progressed beyond the need for outside stimuli



you admit to trying to smell your own farts?   lol.

tmi.

are we talking the posts between audeo and lifter?


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## buckytom (Jun 13, 2011)

to be sure, just like there are different types of meaty and vegetable-y tomato sauces, there's different chillis for different dishes. all meat,  meat and beans, meat beans and peppers, and so on.


chilli has come that far. "authentic" is lost in it's posterity.


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## CraigC (Jun 13, 2011)

pacanis said:


> Good luck.
> I have never been able to cook any kind of bean dish that way. Not one that used dry beans anyway. I could never keep the coals from snuffing themselves out long before the beans tuned soft. I finally resorted to setting the DO by the campfire. I imagine I was doing something wrong, but I played with it four times before giving up.
> I'm interested in your results.


 
Who puts beans in chili?

Craig


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## CraigC (Jun 13, 2011)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> No beans??? How do you have fun after the meal??? Yes, life in an Ogre fambly!


 
If you eat a bowl of my chili, better eat some ice cream afterwards. The fun begins the next day.

Craig


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jun 13, 2011)

CraigC said:


> If you eat a bowl of my chili, better eat some ice cream afterwards. The fun begins the next day.
> 
> Craig



That is not the fun I am looking for  Yeow!

More along the lines of needing a dog to blame.  Of course, I have Shrek...but he's usually the person I making problems for.


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## ChocolateFrosting (Jun 14, 2011)

justplainbill said:


> I'm a big fan of beans. They were a mainstay in my paternal grandfather's diet and he lived to be 96.


 
Have to agree, you can't knock beans! Great source of fibre  
That and they're just so yummy!!


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## forty_caliber (Jun 14, 2011)

Suddenly this thread has become....like an episode of Star Trek...filled with gaseous anomalies.

Cooking with a DO in a fire pit works.  Beans, chili, biscuits, cobbler.  It sounds like the problem is with the size of the pit not the ingredients.  When I've seen this done in the past, the pit was 12 inches deep and 2 or 3 feet across.  A wood fire had been burning in it for hours cooking for a dozen ranch hands all day and a thick bed of coals filled the pit.  Use a shovel to clear an opening in the coals, put the DO in, and bank coals around and on top.

.40


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## pacanis (Jun 14, 2011)

CraigC said:


> Who puts beans in chili?
> 
> Craig


 
Lots of people, and me several years ago. I was talking about a baked beans recipe though. Cooking beans with a buried DO is something I never got a handle on.
Actually, that may have been the OP's original request, info on cooking with a DO. We've moved beyond that now 

Back in my hunting days we had a guy bring chili to deer camp that had macaroni in it. That did not go over very well


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## justplainbill (Jun 14, 2011)

pacanis said:


> Lots of people, and me several years ago. I was talking about a baked beans recipe though. Cooking beans with a buried DO is something I never got a handle on.
> Actually, that may have been the OP's original request, info on cooking with a DO. We've moved beyond that now
> 
> Back in my hunting days we had a guy bring chili to deer camp that had macaroni in it. That did not go over very well


  Squirrel Gun pretty much answered the open pit question.


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## CWS4322 (Jun 14, 2011)

Being able to make a good chili is one of those dishes I have on the list of "things one should be able to make." It is right up there with scalloped potatoes, roast chicken, roast turkey, spaghetti, cesear salad, and mac-n-cheese. There are things one should be able to make that are always TNT. The comfort foods in life. And, a dynamite homemade chicken noodle soup and just-like-grandma's apple pie. If you can make these things, you can survive in the kitchen.


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## CraigC (Jun 14, 2011)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> That is not the fun I am looking for Yeow!
> 
> More along the lines of needing a dog to blame. Of course, I have Shrek...but he's usually the person I making problems for.


 
We don't need a dog to blame, we have four pugs! One has a built in JATO for going up the stairs at night.

Craig


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## pacanis (Jun 14, 2011)

justplainbill said:


> Squirrel Gun pretty much answered the open pit question.


 
True. Don't cover with dirt. The coals need oxygen.
Lots of DO camp recipes call for it to be buried. I sure would like to know if they are venting it somehow. Not that I'm going to try it again


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## justplainbill (Jun 14, 2011)

Wood ashes from a fair sized fire.  Not something I'd want to try in a national forest.  O.K on a sandy beach if you have enough driftwood.


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## gwallace (Jun 14, 2011)

My semi-chili chili:

Heat Oil in pot, add cumin seed and asafetida powder, cook til brown.  add ginger pieces and big chunks sweet peppers, finely chopped spicy peppers, then add soy burger and break into pieces in pot.  Add can of kidney beans, can of black beans ( or pinto beans, red beans, whatever) cook until stick to bottom of pot.

add corn, stir, and let water from corn pick up sticky flavoring from bottom of pan.  when sticking again,  mix in a couple blanched tomatoes or can of sauce, and some water, add salt and other spices as you like.

cook it down with a lid on until done.  

**i add whatever veggies i want/have at the time... like fried potatoes, green beans, greens.   makes for an interesting bowl of chili.  


 not sure what to call it, except chili.


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## Andy M. (Jun 14, 2011)

gwallace said:


> ...not sure what to call it, except chili.



Vegetable stew?


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## gwallace (Jun 14, 2011)

i make a lot of vegetable stews... sometimes its nice to make claims as chili :p


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## chopper (Jun 14, 2011)

Andy M. said:


> Wouldn't that make it semi old fashioned? Sandra Lee might be interested.


OK, I still think it is old fashioned if you are digging a hole for your DO, even if the beans are canned.  Just saying...


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jun 14, 2011)

chopper said:


> OK, I still think it is old fashioned if you are digging a hole for your DO, even if the beans are canned.  Just saying...




It's old-fashioned if it doesn't involve a slow cooker or microwave.


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## buckytom (Jun 14, 2011)

awww, slow cookers?


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jun 15, 2011)

buckytom said:


> awww, slow cookers?



Okay, a diesel powered slow cooker can count.


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## The OutDoor Chef (Jun 15, 2011)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Okay, a diesel powered slow cooker can count.


Are Dutch Ovens essentially slow cookers?


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jun 15, 2011)

The OutDoor Chef said:


> Are Dutch Ovens essentially slow cookers?



Aren't they so much more?   Daffynition: Slowcooker=Electric CrockPot.

Try to be funny, everyone goes all obtuse...


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## buckytom (Jun 15, 2011)

not everyone. my mama said i'm acute.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jun 15, 2011)

buckytom said:


> not everyone. my mama said i'm acute.



LOL!  Well, from this angle, she's right!


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## pacanis (Jun 15, 2011)

Clever, Fi.


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