Today is the second time I'm using the crock pot I acquired 4 months ago when an acquaintance of mine moved to Arizona. The first time we made pulled pork, which was ok (although I definitely made too much, since we ended up eating pulled pork sandwiches for a week and a half, which means I'm all pulled-porked-out for now).
This week I went on an internet crock pot recipe search, and found a fantastic blog, where the writer is trying a new crock pot recipe every day for a year. Complete with pictures and reviews of the food.
So yesterday at the grocery store I bought all the ingredients for the pomegranate beef recipe, which I'll be making later next week or next weekend maybe. But today I'm trying a recipe I didn't find on this blog: An imitation steak and shake chili recipe.
See, B, my fiance, is from the midwest. Something the midwest has that I haven't seen east of Ohio is Steak and Shake- a kind of chain diner thing. B LOVES Steak and Shake chili, and every time we go to visit his parents he ends up dragging me there around 5 times a week. Not that I don't love their food too, but this fact directly contributes to me gaining 5 pounds every time we visit his parents.
So since we are without steak and shake until Christmas time, after much internet research today I am attempting to make a passable imitation of Steak and Shake Chili in the crock pot. I just put everything in, and it should be finished around 4:30 tonight.
Chili:
1.5 pounds of ground beef
2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 can Campbell's condensed French onion soup
1 can kidney beans
1 can chili beans
1 Tbsp Chili powder
2 Tsp Cocoa Powder
2 Tsp Cumin
1/2 Tsp Black Pepper
1 8 ounce can Tomato Sauce
1/2 cup Ketchup
1 cup Dr. Pepper (not diet)
Serve with:
Pasta
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Brown meat in oil and salt. Meanwhile, blend the soup in a blender or food processor until completely smooth. Once meat is browned, drain and then add the soup and let it simmer a few more minutes. Add beef and soup to crock. Drain beans and add to crock. Add everything else to crock. Cook on low for 6 hours. Serve over pasta and sprinkle some cheese on top.
I'll let you know how it turns out in approximately 5.5 hours.
Well, you must be off the derech now, or you would have been using the crock-pot to make cholent every week. ;-)
ReplyDeleteheh I actually want to try and reproduce my mom's cholent at some point.
ReplyDeleteSounds delicious! Pomegranate beef...mmmm.
ReplyDeleteForgive my off the derech ignorance, but what is pulled pork?
What's 'derech?' Is it the same thing as 'dreck' - (I do know what that is, at least I have heard it used in conversation!) I hope I'm spelling that properly? What's 'cholent,' and why wouldn't your mother just give you her recipe for that? You could have a superficial conversation with her about cooking, she'd really enjoy that, I'm sure! Inquiring minds want to know, well at least my inquiring mind.
ReplyDeleteI saw a Steak and Shake in Tampa Florida. First time I'd ever heard of it. Only reason I noticed it was that my wife is scared of snakes and back then even of words that look like snake in English! Which is pretty amazing considering she is Chinese.
ReplyDeletePS - I guess Tampa isn't east of Ohio.
ReplyDeleteAnd I made crock-pot venison white-bean chili today.
ReplyDeleteIt's very nice.
And yes, I do believe that Tampa is east of Ohio.
ok well I meant the northeast. I've never seen steak and shake in the Northeast (as in directly east of Ohio, Tampa is south east). :)
ReplyDeletepulled pork is pork slow cooked for a really long time so it's really tender and then "pulled" like..shredded with a fork, and then you eat it in a sandwich with BBQ sauce.
"Derech" means path, "off the derech" is the way orthodox jewish people refer to people who are no longer religious.
Cholent is a type of jewish bean and beef stew thing...it's like lentils and beans and barley and beef and potatoes and chili sauce, at least the way my mom makes it.
I don't really want to talk to my mom about anything right now, even superficial things.
The chili turned out super tasty, although next time I will add another can of kidney beans. It's not exactly the same as steak and shakes, but it's close...and we both really like it. Yay for winning recipes! We're going to save some for tomorrow and freeze some for later this winter. :)
Tampa seems to be at about the same longitude as Cleveland.
ReplyDeleteespecially since they have religious disagreements, i don't think such a religiously-associated food as chulent would be a neutral topic of discussion.
ReplyDeleteCholent is religiously- associated? I highly disagree. Cholent is one of those things that are associated with Jewish CULTURE and not with religion. Or maybe I'm mistaken...show me where in the torah they mention cholent?
ReplyDeleteAE - you are correct that there is no biblical reference to chulent (unless you want to stretch the story of Esau asking for a bowl of chulent from Jacob...) But if chulent is culturally, it is closely linked to the culture of Frum or highly observant practitioners of the faith.
ReplyDeletethe reason why Jewish people started making cholent is for religious reason. It is forbidden for a religious Jew to cook on shabbos, but people still wanted to eat hot food so they created a dish that cooks for 24 hours that way they would have hot food for Saturday lunch without having to warm anything up
ReplyDeletethat still doesn't make it a religious dish. I think, as an atheist, I can still make cholent if I wanted to. :)
ReplyDeleteOMG nobody is telling you to not make chulent because you're an atheist!
ReplyDeleteThey're just saying that since chulent is so closely associated with Shabbat, that it might be tricky for you to talk to your mother about.
Sheesh!
Hmm, it seems that your attempts to do the regular-old-shiksa-in-the kitchen thing aren't going so swimmingly. If they were, I would suspect a post about chili recipe wouldn't end up discussing the religious nature of other recipes.
ReplyDelete