Old-fashioned 1950s canned chili
November 6, 2014 3:40 PM   Subscribe

Mr Sally makes great chili from scratch, green or red, but he longs to create the flavor of -- yes -- the canned chili of his youth. Which we don't eat, given the high sodium, bad fat, etc. He says they all had a certain taste he has yet to replicate. What was it?

Campbell's & Hormel had it; so does Steak & Shake, in-house and in the can. The ingredients don't give much of a clue -- for example, here are one Hormel variety's:
Water, Cooked Beans, Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Beef, Seasoned Cooked Beef (Beef, Water, Salt), Contains Less Than 2% of: modified food Starch, Potato Starch, Salt, Chili Pepper, Sugar, Onion Powder, Spice, Dehydrated Garlic, Spice Extract, Garlic Powder, Citric Acid.

Mr Sally uses beef, beans, tomato, onions, garlic, cumin, chili powder (which he grinds from dried red chilis), and oil. What's he missing?
posted by SallyHitMeOntheHead to Food & Drink (20 answers total)
 
The tiniest bit of liquid smoke should do the trick.
posted by thatone at 3:45 PM on November 6, 2014 [2 favorites]


Not to be too flip, but -- the can? Canned food often tastes slightly of the metal that it is in.
posted by Night_owl at 3:46 PM on November 6, 2014


My vote for a likely culprit: the sodium (in whatever form).
posted by kuanes at 3:51 PM on November 6, 2014 [1 favorite]


Tomato paste. It has a certain sourness that you just can't get from fresh tomatoes.
posted by monospace at 3:55 PM on November 6, 2014


Cinnamon or cayenne or both?

Or maybe use Hormel or some other brand chili powder?

I'd suggest chocolate, but I am not sure that can be hidden on a label as "spices." Same deal with jalapeƱo or bell peppers.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 3:58 PM on November 6, 2014


Tomato paste. It has a certain sourness that you just can't get from fresh tomtoes

It's not just sourness. They've been cooked down and concentrated to bring out lots of umami flavor. And I bet a lot of canned chili has exogenous MSG as well; it often masquerades under different names. Also use powdered onions and garlic rather than fresh. There is a different flavor profile there as well.
posted by TedW at 4:02 PM on November 6, 2014 [4 favorites]


more cumin, cheaper spices overall. have you gotten a can recently to make sure he remembers the flavor he's going for?
posted by nadawi at 4:07 PM on November 6, 2014


Sometimes I've found that the secret ingredient in older recipes is just long, slow cooking--like multiple hours. It brings out the fuller, umami flavors in a way that is difficult to replicate any other way, and it also cooks the ingredients down to a more uniform consistency. You could also try MSG (it's sold as Accent) and see if that helps.

On preview: TedW is copying me!
posted by ernielundquist at 4:10 PM on November 6, 2014


A lot of processed foods contain Worcestershire sauce, and it adds a very particular but not necessarily immediately identifiable flavour. In any case, most things containing beef and tomatoes will benefit from a bit of Worcestershire sauce, so it's worth giving a try.
posted by howfar at 4:15 PM on November 6, 2014 [1 favorite]


Missing sugar and a little bit of cinnamon. Also try commercial "chili powder" rather than ground dried chiles, it has other spices in it.
posted by Daily Alice at 4:31 PM on November 6, 2014


There does exist vegetarian Worcestershire sauce, in case that helps.
posted by Morrigan at 4:34 PM on November 6, 2014 [1 favorite]


MSG.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 5:19 PM on November 6, 2014 [2 favorites]


(Aka modified food starch)
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 5:20 PM on November 6, 2014


Seconding the suggestion for onion and garlic powder rather than real onions and garlic.

Googling for copycat recipes for Steak & Shake chili, basically everything I'm finding looks like a variation on this one. The ingredients they have in addition to the usual suspects are powdered French onion soup mix or canned onion soup, cocoa powder, and Coke. That's more evidence in favor of onion powder, and also suggests that throwing in some extra sugar might help.
posted by nebulawindphone at 5:38 PM on November 6, 2014


A dash of soy sauce can really bring out both the beefiness and the 'been in a can' flavors. (Perhaps he could make a batch, divide it, and add a little of each suggestion to each bowl to see what works, rather than making a gazillion batches to test each separately?)
posted by AliceBlue at 5:54 PM on November 6, 2014 [3 favorites]


Pork/bacon?
posted by unknowncommand at 7:46 PM on November 6, 2014


> (Aka modified food starch)

(Modified food starch is a thickening agent; it's not MSG. Glutamate is an amino acid, and is the thing we detect as the umami flavor of protein-rich foods; modified starch is a just a carbohydrate, so tastes starchy or sweet. Maltodextrin's a common one.)
posted by Westringia F. at 9:26 PM on November 6, 2014 [1 favorite]


I could be that the pressure canning of these types of chilis modifies the taste. try making chili in a pressure cooker.
posted by Infernarl at 11:14 PM on November 6, 2014 [1 favorite]


Pressure cooking is probably a good idea, for the malliard effect, as is a spoonful or two of tomato paste. When I think of canned chili, my first memory is the sugar. Just one spoonful, or maybe even less, of sugar may make a big difference. Instead of msg, you could try some yeast extract.
In EU, there are stricter rules for declaration of content than in the US, so I googled this - maybe you can find some inspiration in that? I noticed the boullion with celery in it, and coriander and parsley, as distinct tastes I would want in a canned chili.
posted by mumimor at 5:51 AM on November 7, 2014


The last answerer beat me to it but I just came back to this question because I am in the middle of making some awesome chili; I added a small squirt of honey, and it became markedly more Hormel like. In a good way. It did not take a lot at all.
posted by ftm at 1:31 PM on November 22, 2014


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