Cucina Archive · Secondo

Casa Caputo Chilli

Two days. A rubbed roast goes in low under a chile slurry and cools overnight; the next day it is cubed and everything else is built around it.

C05 · Developed formula · yields One crock pot

A rubbed roast in the crock pot on a bed of red pepper rings, coated in dark red chile slurry.
A rubbed roast in the crock pot on a bed of red pepper rings, coated in dark red chile slurry.

Formula

Day one: the rubDry-rubbed and set aside to cure.
Roast2 lb
Smoked paprika1 tsp
Cocoa powder1 tsp
Saltto taste
Cracked pepperto taste
Day one: sangueThe chile slurry. Half goes on the roast, half is kept back for day two.
Beef broth1 boxplus fresh broth for the blender
Ancho chiles3seeded and stemmed
New Mexico chiles2seeded and stemmed
Pasilla chile1seeded and stemmed
Guajillo chile1seeded and stemmed
Green chiles1 small caninto the blender, not the boil
Day one: the pot
Red bell peppers2sliced into rings, under the roast
Apple cider vinegar1 Tbspsplashed over the top
Day two: sausage and onion
Butter1 Tbsp
Smoked sausage1 lb
Large yellow onion1finely chopped, caramelised
Jalapenos2diced, seeds out
Day two: beef
Ground beef1 lb
Serrano peppers4diced, seeds out
Garlic6 clovesminced, in halfway
Cumin1 Tbsp
Worcestershire sauce1 Tbsp
Day two: into the pot
Crushed tomatoes29 oz can
Diced tomatoes12 oz can
Worcestershire sauce1 Tbsp
Refried beans1 can
Reserved slurrythe rest
Beef brothto top off

Method

Day one

  1. Rub the roast with the paprika and cocoa, salt and pepper it, and set it aside to cure.

  2. Seed and stem the dried chiles into a pot. Add only enough beef stock to cover them and bring it to a boil, then simmer 15 minutes.

  3. Lift the chiles out and throw the boiling liquid away. It is bitter and it does not get better.

  4. Blend the chiles with the canned green chiles, adding fresh broth until it is a slurry.

  5. Lay the sliced red peppers on the bottom of the crock pot and set the roast on them. Splash the cider vinegar over the top.

  6. Add only enough slurry to cover and coat the roast. Keep the rest for tomorrow.

  7. Low for 7 hours, then let the meat and any liquid cool overnight.

Day two

  1. Cube the cold roast.

  2. Brown the sausage in butter, add the onion and let it caramelise, then the jalapenos. Five minutes, and into the crock pot.

  3. Brown the ground beef, add the serranos, and cook five minutes with the garlic going in halfway. Into the crock pot.

  4. Add the crushed and diced tomatoes, the Worcestershire, the refried beans, the cubed roast and the reserved slurry. Top off with beef broth.

  5. Low for 6 hours.

Notes

The first boiling liquid is discarded on purpose. The chiles give up their bitterness into it, and keeping it for the sake of not wasting broth costs you the pot.

The peppers go under the roast rather than around it, so the meat is lifted off the bottom of the crock.

Cumin and the day-two Worcestershire are listed with the ground beef but the method never says when they go in. Treated here as going in with the beef.

While it sat

Dried chiles simmering in a steel pan of beef stock, the liquid gone deep red.
Dried chiles simmering in a steel pan of beef stock, the liquid gone deep red.