"chili" news and stories

Having a few friends over this weekend? If you usually make the standard chili from the recipe on the back of the can, this is the year to ramp up the richness and complexity with these unexpected additions -- the crowd will roar.

Rich Chocolate
Just a teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa or solid unsweetened baking chocolate will add body and depth and is an essential ingredient in Mexican mole sauce. Add the chocolate toward the end of cooking, starting with one teaspoon and tasting before adding more.

Hit Them with Heat
Chipotle chile adds smokiness and heat at once, so start with just half a chipotle pepper, plus a tablespoon of the adobo sauce straight from the can. Add it after you sauté your onions and garlic and cook for one more minute. I recommend the Morena brand for its mouthwatering adobo.

• Chili may be the truly all-American dish. Read on for the reason -- and the recipes.
• Now that you're making chili, how about some cornbread to go with it?
• Mexican restaurant Antojitos Carmen, a veteran of street fairs, now has a proper home (but still sets up a sidewalk cart for old time's sake).
• Allagash Brewing ages its Belgian-style tripel ale in bourbon barrels. Curieux? Check it out.
• The Vinoteque on Melrose rounds out a revitalized neighborhood restaurant scene. As the name suggests, go for the vino.

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week:

• Yes, you can! -- ditch the supermarket and make these 10 food items, that is.
• In these lean times try easy on the pocketbook and easily jazzed up red beans and rice.
• This plastic will fit nicely next to your ATM card.
• Say hello to the banana's big brother.
• With only two pans and some cans of soup, you too can make a panini.
• Do you know what this squashing machine is?
• Chili purists, turn away -- delicious meatless chili in a slow cooker.

• Red shouldn't be reserved for poinsettias and gift wrap. Nathalie Dupree suggests enlivening the holiday table with gingered tomatoes and tomato conserve.
• TV anchormen, state legislators and at least one highway patrolman are readying their entries for Charleston's tenth annual Celebrity Chili Cook-Off.
• Breakfast is the most important meal of the day -- even when the day's a holiday. Breakfast casseroles and bagels are popular with busy home cooks.

Barbecue ribs. Photo: biskuit, Flickr.

Oktoberfests are ubiquitous this month. For those not interested in the chug-a-thons and oompah bands, check out this list of alternative options.

Dixon Lambtown USA, Dixon, Calif., Oct. 3: Break out the mint jelly! Attendees can participate in such culinary slugfests as the National Lamb Ribs Eating Contest and Barbecue Cook-Off, not to mention a shearing competition and sheepdog trials. For the kiddies, there's Mutton Bustin' -- a buckin' bronco bruising of the woolly kind.

The Food Network New York City Wine and Food Festival, New York, Oct. 8-11: Hosted by and benefiting the Food Bank for New York City and Share Our Strength, this festival brings the toque and the home cook together. Everyone from sous chefs to casserole queens can attend wine seminars, recipe-creation panels and cooking demonstrations. For the kiddie cook, check out the Kids Get Cooking! series. Your favorite celebrity TV chefs will be there, en masse, including Ming Tsai, Paula Deen, Rachael Ray and Anthony Bourdain, as well as culinary heavyweights such as Sue Torres, Marcus Samuelsson, Odette Fada, Daniel Boulud and David Chang.