chilli con carne

debT | 22:30 Thu 27th Mar 2008 | Food & Drink

7 Answers

What is the traditional thickening and sweetening ingredient for chilli con carne?

conny onney

ikon maidstone????

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jack daniels

I usually find that the long cooking, plenty of tomatoes and the beans themselves thicken the con carne quite well.
I have added some chocolate, which to my surprise, went really well. I have added sugar (when not using chocolate) to sweeten and take the acidity away from the tomatoes but don't add too much (you shouldn't be able to tell it's there)

http://www.astray.com/recipes/?show=Chili%20co n%20carne%20-%20mexican%20style

http://www.astray.com/recipes/?show=Red%20chil e%20con%20carne

HTH

Brooksy

I`ve always put a teaspoon of sugar in (assuming making enough for 4). If you simmer it for at least 1/2 hr you shouldn`t need thickening as the tomato juice will reduce itself (I put at least one 400g can in, sometimes 2 & perhaps some tomato puree). As with curries, the heat from the chillis needs to properly permeate the ingredients which requires time.

Kim A

You can also use a product called Mole (the e has an accent over it, but can't do it on my keyboard!). This contains chocolate and spices and ground corn and is a classic 'finishing' ingredient in a lot of Mexican recipes. Don't know where you can get it in England, but I'm sure some clever person on here will be able to tell you - I got mine from my sister who brought it back from Mexico for me.