Wick Fowler's Famous Texas Style 2 Alarm Chili Kit

For two decades I've made Wick Fowler's Famous 2 Alarm Chili. I'm not sticking to that spelling: chili. By all rights it should be: chile. Due to differences in whether chile is or is not made with beans, I will not be going into details of my finished product. Or why I spell as I do.

I'm here to talk about those ingredients. As I said for 2 decades . . . and then the maker, Reilly Foods removed the salt from the package. And idiot that I was (or am), made a batch of chile and forgot the salt. I know that everyone has rising costs. As I type this in July of 2022, gasoline is over $6 a gallon, up from less a gallon only a short time ago. So I forgive Reilly Foods for removing the salt packet. But I'm unhappy that they did this and I would have paid more for the original recipe box. (I'm also the guy who wants to hear the sounds of the baseball game, but not the sportscasters.)

Some while ago, I got out my small electronic scale that can resolve to .1 grams. I weighed each of the Fowler spices packets in their bags, as the weight of those bags isn't much. And I did weigh the empty packets and it is an insignificant amount by comparison with the ingredient inside it.

I went to my nearest Hispanic market. They carry a large wall of spices. There I purchased, all Chulada brand of spices.

Ingredient List

96 grams Chile Pasilla Molido -- This is finely powdered chile pasilla (dark brown)

9 grams onion powder

9 grams garlic powder

6 grams cumin powder

7 grams oregano (I have flakes or dried leaves)

10 grams salt

7 grams paprika

6 grams Chile Arbol (labeled Red Pepper on the packet)

The above list is a your-mileage-may-vary scenario. Please don't leave snarky comments about how this doesn't taste like 2 Alarm. I would agree it does not. But it gets pretty close and the above list is what I used. As the recipe requires 96 grams of pasilla, you will have leftover spice mixture. My first attempt at this is in July of 2022, so it's a work in progress. 

Before I go any further, you will not be saving money making your own "kit". Fowler's is about $3.50 per box and I bought all fresh spices and that came to pennies under $7. But if you have read this far, perhaps you are foodie enough to try it yourself.

I did not weigh the packet of masa corn meal. I don't generally use it. I apologize. By law, ingredients listed on packages of food sold in the USA, must be by weight. From the 2 Alarm box:

Chile pepper

Corn Masa Flour (my guess is 2 ozs.)

Salt

Onion

Cumin,

Paprika

Red Pepper

Oregano

Garlic

If you read my list of ingredients and compare with the list above, it is inconsistent. I can only suggest you play around with the quantities. Who doesn't love making chile anyway?

The cumin and oregano are both in one packet in Fowler's. I guesstimate that it is equal parts of each. I can say that I like the flavor of this mixture I made. It's spicy enough to my taste. However, I used no Red Pepper (I believe this is Cayenne pepper or chile, as it is the most abundant commercially and therefore the least expensive to use.)

I weighed all the ingredients into a 2 cup jar; tightened the lid and gave it all a good shake. It stood on the kitchen counter for a few hours before being used. The aromas melded nicely together.

My one serious problem with Fowler's is that their packaging line has started to make improperly sealed packets. I see some onion flakes on the cardboard box I've retained. One box the onion/garlic packet was almost empty and the contents in the cardboard box itself. 

Lastly, next batch I'm going to use a mild New Mexico red powder or a California powder. It's got to have some chile taste, so I won't use paprika.

I made the standard Fowler's recipe. 2 lbs. of ground beef, 8 oz can of tomato sauce, 2 cups of water. The beef was browned and drained of excess fat. I added the tomato sauce and water and then the spices. Covered the skillet simmered for 30 minutes. The batch threw a good amount of liquid, which colored beautifully.

It's important to understand that the ingredients that Reilly Foods buys to make the 2 Alarm Chili is based on science and I cannot buy, at a market, the same ingredients with the same specific gravity or weigh by volume. My recipe is an approximation. Their onion flakes or garlic powder have food properties I cannot replicate (as much as I wish I could). The onion powder I have is not going to be the literally same thing as Fowler's. But I believe I have a good start and am narrowing the focus until that day of heavenly chile perfection arriving.

If you ever read: A Bowl of Red by Francis X. Tolbert, you will learn that in Texas, the spices are toasted to bring out their individual flavors. Whether Reilly Foods does that I cannot determine. I tried toasting cumin seeds for a batch of chile one time. I think I cooked the flavor out. And oregano leaves are almost impossible to toast without burning them.

Serious comments appreciated.

January 20, 2023. The price of Fowler's mix has gone up a bit. I tried another idea. I used All California Chiles with the seeds. It took two (or more) minutes in the blender getting the pods into powder. I should have removed the seeds. The first eating the dish was sort-of gritty. Not good. The next day, the grit was entirely gone. I think it is the seeds not being ground well enough. The all California chiles proved to be too mild, too. Next batch, I'm going to mix half California and half Pasilla. The flavor was good on the 2nd and succeeding days. Man! oh Man! I do love a bowl of red.

Carnes en Sus Jugos

Carnes en Sus Jugo

The plate is a little known speciality of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. I had my first taste of this at El Norteño in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was served this dish as a "taster" for the restaurant. It's delicious. No two ways about it. I never got the recipe from Leo, but did have it described in detail for me. But I have changed the recipe!!! I may have improved it. Well, not much. Why I say improves is I have improved the American "chile con carne" recipe. Purists may pull their hair all they want; this is my story and I'm sticking to it.

I can find two Guadalajaran restaurants that specialize in the dish. They are:

Kamilos 333

Karne Garibaldi

and I submit this as a tribute to those who invented this (yet another) splendid Mexican dish.

The substance of carnes en su jugos is bacon and beef. The beans are served on the side. I have read reports about Texas chile con carne having the beans served on the side. And to Texans I understand that beans in chile is a sin. Then again, Texans may be confused about many things regarding chile con carne.

This is a wintertime dish. No two ways about it. It's like a beef stew without so many vegetables. I ask myself, "Why is that better?" and cannot find an answer. I probably chanced across the technique for this dish by making Clifford Wright's recipe from his encyclopaedic tome Mediterranean Feast: Beef Ragoût in the Style of the Boatmen of Arles. That dish uses beef, onions, garlic, anchovies, salt and pepper as the only ingredients. It to is a wintertime dish; rich and hardy.

Recipe - begin by preparing the ingredients, first

3 pounds top sirloin cut in 3/8" cubes, remove all fat, gristle, silverskin, nerve, blood and connective tissue.
12 ounces smoked bacon, cut in 3/4" slices
2 pounds of onions, sliced lengthwise
1/2 bunch of cilantro, leaves only
1 head of garlic, skinned and minced
3 teaspoons of salt
1 1/2 teaspoons of pepper
hierbas de olor

I will begin with a discussion of hierbas de olor. This is a Spanish cooking term which means herbs of aroma. As this is a Mexican plate, I suggest oregano, bay leaf, pasilla chile powder and one or two jalapeños. My pal, Leo, reminds me that this is a family dish in Mexico and chiles are for adults. So feel free to leave the chiles out of this dish. I am not going to give quantities for the hierbas de olor and I do this not out of not knowing, but as an attempt to get you, dear reader, to experiment a little.

Also, frijoles de olla are part of this dish.

16 ounces of pinto beans, check for dirt, small stones, broken beans, removing all
1 ounce of bacon fat, lard, cooking oil
4 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
2 sprigs of epazote
2 teaspoons of salt

Clean the beans, soak overnight in water. Drain, return the beans to the pot, cover with water by 2". Bring the pot to a simmer, add the garlic and epazote. Simmer, covered, for 2 hours. Add the salt after you remove the beans from the flame. Stir to incorporate the salt, remove the garlic and epazote. Serve the beans in a separte bowl on the side and allow diners to add beans to their taste.

The secret of Carne En Su Jugo is in the cooking technique. The bacon is added to the pot first, and over a medium flame, the fat is rendered. Once that is done, there are two ways of proceeding, the bacon can be removed, leaving the rendered Carne En Su Jugo fat behind for the beef, or the bacon can be cooked further with the beef. Add the beef and under a gentle flame, cook it until the beef juices render. This should take under 10 minutes. Maybe 12 minutes. Unlike making traditional American chile con carne, the meat is not seared or browned here in this dish. After the liquid has been released, cover with beef stock or water by 1" and raise the heat. Add the cilantro. Cover the pot and when the boiling begins, immediately lower to a simmer. Cook the meat 60 minutes. Taste it. If the beef is tough, cook another 30 minutes.

This plate is served in a shallow soup bowl, beans added by the diner. Tortillas also are part of this extraordinary meal.

This dish can be scaled up or down, but the ratio of beef to bacon is 4 to 1 or 25% bacon.

NOTE on hierbas de olor. 
Use one or two whole cloves. Use some bay leaves. Mexicans use oregano. If you choose oregano, use it sparingly. The herb seasonings here, in this dish, are to be a half-note. A subtle scent.

Chorizo de Don Marco Perfecto

While I don't usually "give away" my sausage recipes, I have decided to post my Chorizo de Don Marco Perfecto recipe.


Servings: 48
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Preparation time: 2 hours
Category: Main Dish
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients


* 1 1/2 pounds beef,stew meat all gristle, nerves, bone and sinew removed
* 1 1/2 pounds pork shoulder all gristle, nerves, bone and sinew removed
* 1 pound pork fat
* 2 1/2 fl. ozs. vinaigre de yema (see note below)
* 3 1/2 ozs. vinegar, white
* 2 teaspoons garlic powder
* 1 rounded tablespoon salt
* 1 rounded teaspoon ground black pepper
* 2 scant teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 2 scant teaspoons ground cloves
* 2 scant teaspoons ground oregano
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1 3/4 teaspoons ground chile de arbol
* 2 1/4 ozs. paprika (mild or sweet)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons ground achiotte (annatto)
* 1 oz. Morton Tender Quick (optional)


Instructions


Add the vinegars in a large measuring cup. Add the spices and salt. If you are making chorizo for dry curing, use Morton Tender Quick and omit the salt. Don't use both, or it will come out way too salty.
Grind the meats through the small plate, then the fat. Keep the fat separate from the ground meats. Add the spices to the fat and mix well. Add all the meat and fat together. Re-grind through the large plate. Stuff the sausages into 1 1/2" casings, about 10 to 12 feet in length. Stuff them loosely and tie into 2 1/2 inch bollilos.
Hang overnight to dry in cool winter air, whence refrigerate for up to 7 days or freeze for up to 30 days.


Notes
After 7 days under refrigeration, the flavors had melded with the clove predominating slightly.
If using fresh garlic, use 2 heads, peeled and minced.
Vinaigre de Yema is made by Presidente Brandy (Pedro Domecq). It is factitious sherry brandy. After hours of wrangling on the phone with Pedro Domecq and affiliated brands, some lady, who works in that behemoth called to tell me that it is not imported into the U.S.A. - You can find it at most larger Mexican  supermarkets

Safron versus Azafran

A food revelation of a very small character.


For years, I've purchased, in Mexico, Vinagre de Yema and could never get a sense of what it was used for. How it was different from white or distilled, wine or cider vinegar, all of which are found in Mexico. It dawned on me that this is a supposed copy of Sherry Vinegar in much the same way that safflower is called azafran in Mexico, factitious safron.