Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Chili with Cornbread

At some point in your cooking life, you stop wondering about what goes into a recipe, or trying to follow a recipe, and you just coast through the aisles of the supermarket and pull things off the shelf that you've got the urge for, and voila!

Tonight I decided to make a pot of chili and a pan of cornbread. For some reason, though I probably ate hundreds of pounds of cornbread baked by my mother as a child, the cornbread that is the most forward in my mind is Andrea's. The way you heat the shortening in the skillet in the hot oven, throw the batter into the hot oil so that it crackles. And when it comes out, you turn it upside down on a plate so the bottom cools properly. (Sorry, Mom.)

So, my cornbread turned out fantastic. The chili is good too, if a bit thin. But that's probably because I don't really like hot liquids--tea, coffee, hot chocolate, cider, and thin soups, apparently. I'm always reminding myself of this.

And--how do you make soup for one? Or even soup for three or four, so you have leftovers for a few nights, but not so many that you want to die before eating another bowl of FUCKING CHILI. And for some reason, I made about a gallon. At least. I live alone. What is wrong with me?

Ed. note: I put most of it in two-portion tupperware and put all that in the freezer.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This week I made a gallon of vegetable soup and a pan of cornbread. The cornbread was prepared in much the same way as Andrea's, except that I from now on I will turn it upside down on a plate as my mother used to do. I usually leave it to cool in the iron skillet, then remove it to a plate. We ate the last of the soup tonight. It was good to the last carrot, and so comforting to come in from the cold wind and have a warm bowl of homemade soup.

Andy S. said...

I love the chili & cornbread! We must compare recipes. I use my mom's recipe but substitute ground turkey for ground beef. The cornbread is boring -- off the side of the Quaker corn meal container. But it's still yummy :) I also cook it by the galloon. We are two kidney beans in a Crock Pot.