Before we begin cooking Johannes Brahms Chili, you will note that some of the ingredients are fresh, some canned, some frozen and some are recorded on a compact disc.
Fresh ingredients, when available and practicable are always preferred.
If you can squeeze a fresh symphony orchestra into your kitchen, you better make more chili.
Johannes Brahms Chili
Ingredients
2 Tbls olive oil
2 Tbls chili powder
1 Tbls ground cumin
1 Tbls dry mustard
salt and cracked black pepper to taste.
1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped bell pepper
1/2 cup frozen whole kernel corn
1 bag of vegetarian crumbles or 1 pound ground chuck.
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, seeds removed and finely chopped
1 pint chopped stewed tomatoes
2 15 oz. cans of kidney, pinto or black beans
2 6 oz. cans of tomato paste
1 Tbls Worcestershire sauce
1 quart of tomato juice
1 Brahms Violin Concerto in D, Opus 77
1 Brahms Symphony No. 3 in F, Opus 90
1 Orchestra of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
1 Neville Mariner
1 Dmitry Sitkovetsky
Let's begin:
Start the Allegro no troppo in the CD player, peel and chop the onion.
Wash, core and chop the bell pepper, wash and chop the celery.
In a large pot heat the olive oil and add salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder and dry mustard. Have the dry seasonings pre-measured so you can add them all at once to the hot oil. You want them to sizzle a bit, as Johannes felt in the presence of Clara Schumann. Don't let the seasonings burn!
Reduce the heat to medium, add the celery, bell pepper and chopped onion and saute it until the onion is soft and just beginning to brown. If you are using ground chuck, add it with the vegetables. If you are using vegetarian crumbles, add them with the corn after the onion is browned. Stir this mixture often enough to keep it from sticking or burning.
When most of the moisture has evaporated from the onion and seasoning mixture, add the tomato paste, stewed tomatoes, chipotle pepper, Worcestershire and beans. Before the Adagio ends, feel free to toss in an extra tablespoon or two of the adobo sauce. If you like it hotter, add some tabasco, red pepper flakes or salsa to taste. I had a few tomatoes left from the last picking in our garden, so into the pot they went.
Last of all, add the tomato juice and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer, covered for at least 45 minutes or let it go all day.
While the chili is simmering, it should be stirred every 15 minutes or so. The strings in the Poco Allegretto may cause you to weep. If a tear falls into the pot as you stir, you will be forgiven.
Serve with some rolls or cornbread and cheese. Garnish with your choice of chopped scallions, salsa, sour cream, grated cheese and swelling horns and cellos in the final Allegro.
To drink, I recommend a locally brewed dark beer or a hearty red wine.
Strauss always goes well with dessert.
You might have known I would hide a poem down here.
The moon may hide her face.
She never lies.
When dew drips from her breast,
quicksilver slips down furrows.
Tilts and tides in turns
reveal her inclinations.
Her changes never cease, never transform.