Canning Chili Con Carne

Chili Con Carne

3 quarts tomatoes, pureed

1 quart tomatoes diced

2 onions, diced

3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups pinto beans, dried

3 pounds hamburger meat, cooked and rinsed

6 to 8 tablespoon chili powder (your personal preference)

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons cumin, ground

2 teaspoons paprika

2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon beef bouillon

1 teaspoon black pepper

Place the dried beans in a dutch oven and cover with about 3 inches of water and soak for 12 to 18 hours. Then drain the bean and and add 5 ½ cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. You can add salt to the beans if you want, but I typically do not. Once the beans have cooked for 30 minutes remove them from the heat and set them aside.

Core, score and blanch 5 to 8 quarts of tomatoes in boiling water for 90 seconds, then dunk in ice water so that the skins can be easily removed, then cut the tomatoes into a small to medium dice depending on your preference. Save the tomato skins for your compost pile or you can do like we do and feed them to the chickens, they love them! Anyway, set aside 1 quart of the diced tomatoes and puree the rest. Now depending on the size and type of the tomatoes it may take 4 to 5 quarts of diced tomatoes to equal 3 quarts when pureed.

Brown your ground beef. Now typically I use cheap 73/27 for chili, after it is browned I rinse it in hot water to remove and excess fat. If you are interested in why I use the cheaper ground hamburger in my soups and casseroles check out my blog and read the article on ground beef on this blog (November 24^th, 2014).

Once the ground beef has been browned and drained add it to a large stock pot with all the remaining ingredients except the beans and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Do not thicken the chili, you want it to be a little soupy in order to process safely, you can always thicken it later if it is not thick enough. While this is cooking, now is a good time to prepare your canning jars and lids and get all the necessary supplies you will need to can your chili.

Fill you hot jars leaving 1-inch headspace. Remove any unwanted sir bubbles and adjust headspace as necessary. Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean dampened paper towel, add lids and process as below:

Pints 75 minutes in a weighted pressure canner at 10lbs.

Quarts 90 minutes in a weighted pressure canner at 10lbs.

Marinades work extremely well with rabbit as it is firmer in flesh than chicken and can be marinated longer allowing more flavor to enter the meat as well as tenderizing the meat. I you have ever been to the Caribbean you will know that jerk chicken is probably it's most popular dish. Originating in Jamaica, jerk chicken is simply Caribbean barbecue. Well jerk spices go really well with rabbits mild and firm flesh leaving you with a delicious way in which to savor the tastes of the Caribbean.

The base for my recipe came from a Jamaican jerk cookbook which over the years I have made small subtle changes. Having been to Jamaica three times I can attest for it's authenticity and flavor. I hope you will enjoy it as much as my family and I do.

Now we raise both rabbits an chickens on our small place in Canton, TX. Besides marrying my wife, eating Jerk chicken is one of my favorite memories from our journeys to Jamaica. This recipe works equally well with both chicken and rabbit, so while the meat in this recipe is rabbit, you can simply substitute chicken if you prefer. 

Jerk Rabbit

2 to 3 pounds rabbit (forelegs and hind legs work best)

1 recipe 'Jerk' Marinade

Combine marinade ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Wash and clean rabbit and place in a one gallon plastic zip lock bag or container and pour marinade over the rabbit and marinate for 24 hours for best flavor, turning every 8 hours or so to make sure the meat gets thoroughly marinaded. After 24 hours the meat will look dark, almost to dark, but this is a product of the marinade (primarily the soy sauce), just relax it is supposed to look like this and I promise you the rabbit will taste great.

Fire up your gas or charcoal grill, personally I use a gas grill as it is easier to regulate the heat with a two burner grill. Once the grill comes up to temperature, turn off one burner and that is the side in which you place the rabbit. The other burner maintains the heat and you do not have to worry about burning the meat (this is known as cooking by indirect heat). Cook the rabbit for 12 to15 minutes and then turn both burners back on and move the rabbit to the other side of the grill and then turn off the burner on the side of the grill in which you have just moved the rabbit and cook for another 12 to 15 minutes. Check the meat to see if it is done and continue the procedure until you are satisfied the rabbit is cooked to your liking.

Jerk Marinade (Makes 1 ½ to 2 cups)

½ cup soy sauce

½ cup pineapple juice (or water)

1 onion diced

3 scallions or green onions, chopped

1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil

1 tablespoon vinegar

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon allspice

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Although I like the heat of the habanero or scotch bonnet pepper, I substitute 1 teaspoon cayenne for one pepper in this recipe for two primary reasons. One, because it is more readily available where I live although I grow them in my garden most years. And secondly the habenaro is too much heat for my wife. If you do not like habanero peppers or cayenne peppers, drop a few jalapenos in there in it's place until you get the heat level you like or omit them all together. When using whole peppers, I put all the ingredients in my blender and puree, otherwise I just combine all the ingredients into a one gallon plastic bag with the rabbit.

I hope you guys will enjoy this dish, it is one of my families favorites and holds many memories for me and my wife as we were married in Jamaica. So turn on some Jimmy Buffet or Bob Marley, fire up the grill and have a cold one and transport you and your family back to Jamaica. Ya Mon! 

Homemade Hidden Valley Ranch

Around our house Ranch dressing is the king of salad dressings. At one time my grandson went through a phase in which just about everything he ate was coated in ranch dressing. And not just any ranch dressing, it had to be Hidden Valley brand. Now it is true that not all brands of ranch dressing taste the same, but for the most part, they are all similar in taste and ingredients. Because my grandson was so picky, and would not eat any other brand of ranch dressing I decided to save the empty bottle and I began to refill it with a cheaper brand. Yes, sneaky I know, but he never could tell the difference. Well, he never mentioned it if he did.

The problem was that even when we could find it on sale, I knew I could make a homemade version of ranch dressing that was quite a bit cheaper, even if I still had to keep refilling the 'Hidden Valley' ranch bottle with my homemade version to appease my grandson. Now there are two different approaches to making your own ranch dressing. The primary difference is whether you use fresh buttermilk (wet recipe) or a dry buttermilk power (dry recipe). I have made it both ways, but as I generally keep a container of SACO dry buttermilk powder on hand, if most often use the 'dry recipe' and use whole milk in place of the buttermilk. In addition to this being more convenient, the dry mix is more versatile as well as being quite a bit cheaper to make than buying the commercially available dry 'Hidden Valley' brand ranch mix.

There are many different recipes of dry ranch dressing mixes out here on the Internet some are more elaborate than others, but most have the same basic ingredients. I have made several different batches of dry mixes, and the following is my go to substitute for 'Hidden Valley' ranch style dry mix. Generally I just make a one time recipe equivalent to an individual store bought packet (1 ounce), but during the writing of this blog entry we are well into the holiday season which at my family gatherings means many veggie trays with ranch dip, Cajun Fire Crackers, and lots of ranch salad dressing. For that reason, I have included both a single portion packet recipe as well as a recipe for make your own powdered ranch mix in bulk quantity it you wish.

The Ingredients

So why go to all the trouble of making your own version of 'Hidden Valley' dry seasoning mix? I mean the commercial 1oz packets of the dry seasoning mix are convenient to use, and they taste good. In my case the two primary concerns is that first, I can control what goes into my seasoning mix, and secondly it is quite a bit cheaper to make. The fact that I think it tastes just as good or better than the store bought is of course an added bonus. So let's look at the ingredients used in both the 'Hidden Valley' ranch seasoning mix, versus or homemade version.

Hidden Valley Ranch – Maltodextrin, buttermilk, salt, monsodium glutamate (MSG), lactic acid, dried garlic, dried onion, spices, citric acid, less than 1% calcium stearate, artificial flavor, xanthan gum, carboxymethycellulose, and guar gum.

Homemade Ranch Seasoning – Cultured buttermilk powder (includes sweet dairy whey and lactic acid), parsley, dill, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, sugar, white pepper, paprika, and monosodium glutamate (optional).

Now, I am not the monosodium glutamate (MSG) police. I have never known or met anyone who has an allergy to this flavor enhancer, but maybe you have or if you have concerns regrading the safety of it's use simply omit it from this recipe. Sometimes I use it in my mixes, and sometimes I do not. That's the beauty of making your own seasoning mixes, you have total control of the ingredients that you use.

Cost Benefit Ratio

As you can see, at my local Walmart 4 individual 1oz packets of the 'Hidden Valley' brand seasoning mix will cost you $4.58 ($1.15 per packet/oz), whereas 12 ounces of the SOCO buttermilk powder will cost you $4.48 ($0.37 per ounce). The 4 ½ teaspoons of dried spices that you have to add to the buttermilk powder to make 1oz of homemade ranch seasoning mix will cost you about $0.05 to $0.08 for a total of $0.42 to $0.45 per 1oz, a savings of $0.70 per ounce. So making your own ranch seasoning mix will save you approximately 61% versus buying the 'Hidden Valley' brand prepackaged mix. There is no difference in savings between making a single serving mix, versus the bulk mix, as the price of the ingredients is the same. Therefore I only make the bulk recipe during the holiday's or when I want to share with friends and family.

Homemade Ranch Dry Mix (Equal to a single serving packet)

2 tablespoons dried buttermilk powder
1 ½ teaspoons dried parsley, divided
½ teaspoon dried dill, divided

¾ teaspoon garlic powder

¾ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon Accent (MSG) (optional)
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/8 teaspoon paprika

• Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix thoroughly with a fork. Use as needed.

Dry Ranch Dressing Mix (bulk Recipe)

1 cup dried buttermilk powder
2 tablespoons dried parsley, divided
2 teaspoons dried dill, divided
2½ teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon granulated sugar

1 teaspoon Accent (MSG) optional
½ teaspoon ground white pepper
½ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

• Remove two teaspoon parley and ¼ teaspoon of dill and place in a small bowl off to the side. Combine the rest of the ingredients into a small food processor and pulse 4 to 5 times. All the mix to settle for a few minutes before removing it from the food processor.
• Add the remaining ingredients and mix together.

Ranch Dressing – Combine the milk and the single packet homemade seasoning mix recipe, or 3 tablespoons of bulk recipe mix with 1 cup of mayonnaise and 1 cup of whole milk until smooth. You could use more or less milk depending on how thick you like the your dressing to be. Refrigerate for at least 1 to 2 hours before serving, although I find waiting 24 hours before using yields a better flavor. The following are a few of the variations that I have made over the years. I am sure there are many other possible combinations so I encourage you to experiment and expand your palate.

• Bacon Ranch – Add 4 to 6 slices of crispy bacon chopped fine.
• Buffalo Ranch – Add 3 to 4 tablespoons Louisiana Hot Sauce.
• Buttermilk Ranch – Substitute buttermilk for the whole milk.
• Chipotle Ranch – Add one chipotle pepper (smoked jalapeno) and one teaspoon of the adobo sauce. Remove the seeds if you wish as they contain most of the heat and do not attribute to the flavor of the dressing.
• Fiesta Salsa – Add ¼ to ½ cup of your favorite salsa.
• Santa Fe Ranch – Add 3 to 4 tablespoons of salsa verde (green chile salsa) or Hatch green chilies.

I find that when making any of the variations that have solid ingredients such as the 'Chipotle', 'Fiesta Salsa' and 'Bacon' ranch etc. That combining the milk, seasoning mix, and additional ingredients in a pint mason jar and pureeing them with my emulsion blender before adding the mayonnaise helps give the dressing a smoother creamier texture.

Sour Cream Veggie/Chip Dip – Add one single recipe of your homemade seasoning mix, or 3 tablespoons of bulk recipe into 16 ounces of sour cream (or Greek yogurt). Add 1 teaspoon dehydrated onions and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours before serving, although as with the ranch dressing, I find waiting 24 hours before using results in the best flavor.

I will be honest with you, most of the time we just use ranch dressing as a dip for vegetables when we make a veggie tray as we usually have one variety or another on had. The consistency of the ranch dressing is just right as a vegetable dip. This recipe really shines as a dip for chips as it is thicker and easier to scoop. Any of the additional ingredients used to make the dressing variations work well in the veggie/chip dip.

The Bottom Line

Making your own ranch seasoning mix is 61% cheaper ($0.45 versus $1.15 per ounce) than buying the commercially prepared 'Hidden Valley' ranch seasoning mix. Having control of the chemicals or lack thereof that goes into the dressing that your family will consume is well....”priceless”. In addition, making your own ranch dressings and or dips give you the ability to experiment with different flavors and textures and change them to suit you and your family's individual needs. I hope you and your family enjoy making your own ranch dressings and dips as mine does.