Chili Con Carne

• In Spanish, chili is the name of the pepper-fortified tomato sauce that gives chili its distinctive taste. In Mexican and Mexican-American cooking, this sauce is used on a number of meats and in other dishes. Chili con carne translates as chili with meat; add beans to the basic sauce for chili con frijoles. In American cuisine, all three dishes fall under the chili name, and regional disputes range from seasoning to garnishing to the proper meat. Cooks tend to divide strongly between favoring ground or cubed beef.

About Bottom Round

• Bottom round is one of 29 cuts of beef meeting U.S. Department of Agriculture standards for lean meat. With 1.7 grams of saturated fat and 4.9 total grams of fat per 100 gram serving, bottom round ranks fourth in comparison with skinless chicken breast, at 0.9 saturated and 3.0 total fat. For comparison, 100 grams of highest-ranking t-bone steak has 3.0 grams saturated and 8.2 total fat per portion. Cut from the upper part of the back leg, bottom round is pure muscle, with very little of the marbling fat that makes meat tender. For this reason, most cooking professionals recommend braising or stewing bottom round, both methods which involve prolonged, moderate-heat cooking in liquid.

Cooking Beef in Chili

• The goal of tenderizing meat by cooking it in chili is accomplished in three ways. Prolonged cooking in liquid helps to break down tough meat tissues, rendering them more chewable. Simmering supports further tenderizing; cooking very lean meat over high heat can actually make tissues tougher. The acid properties of tomato-based chili sauce, like vinegar, citrus juice and other acetic foods often used in marinades, produces further softening of meat tissues. Cutting meat into small pieces enhances this interaction, since acids penetrate surface tissues to a depth of no more than a few millimeters. The more surface area exposed, the more effective acid tenderizing can be.

Cooking Your Chili

• Cooking with cubed beef markedly extends your cooking time. With ground beef and canned beans, a pot of chili can be ready in barely an hour. The convenience you lose, however, can be replaced by easy no-stir simmering in a crock pot or slow cooker. Cut beef round in 1/2-inch cubes. Once the meat has been browned in a little oil, it and all your sauce ingredients can cook for 3 to 4 hours without attention. If you are making slow-cook chili, you can reduce sodium and increase flavor by adding pre-soaked beans, or experiment with mixing varieties of canned ones. There are many recipes for old-fashioned chili, and trying a variety of them lets you feed your family a nutritious, traditional dish that has sustained generations.