There is a jar in my kitchen. It was originally a jar of chilli con carne sauce, but it is now used to keep all my small change. At the end of the year the jar, and all the contents thereof, will be given to charity.
Yesterday, I was transferring some change from my wallet to this jar, when I considered that I haven't had chilli con carne for some months, and that I really would quite like to do so. However, Jamie's book has a recipe, and so I decided that, even though I hadn't reached the "Homely Mince" chapter, I would skip ahead a bit, get the ingredients, and cook it up.
Chilli con carne is one of my favourites, which means that this represents a third chance to compare Jamie's method with the 'packaged' version. The chicken fajitas were a wash; the results from the book were marginally better, but they were a lot more hassle to prepare. The ckicken tikka masala, though, was a clear win for the book.
As was the chilli con carne.
The resulting meal was very different from that which comes from the jar. It was a lot more open, and less gloopy, which was a distinct improvement. And, although the meal was a bit less hot than I was used to (and a bit less hot than I would prefer), that will be easily fixed in future.
The method itself was nice and simple, which is always a bonus, but it does have an hour-long simmer stage (requiring periodic stirring, too). However, this made enough for six meals, which reduces the pain somewhat.
As with the curries, therefore, the lesson to learn from this is that I need to cook up a batch every couple of months, as time permits, and freeze the other five servings. This will give me a freezer absolutely loaded with all sorts of fine foods, ready to be defrosted and eaten at will. Huzzah!
Of course, the major problem with this outcome is that I don't know where I'll get a new jar for next year's collection...
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