Update: I've been making my grandma's chili wrong for years and just figured it out

So I was going through a box of my mom's old stuff and found a handwritten note from my grandma tucked in a cookbook. It was her chili recipe, but it had a line I'd never seen before. It said 'brown the meat in bacon fat, not oil, and let it get real dark, almost crispy.' My mom had typed up the recipe for the family years ago and left that part out. I've been using vegetable oil and just cooking the beef until it wasn't pink. Made a pot last night with the bacon fat and really let it cook down, and wow. The whole flavor changed. It tasted exactly like I remember from her kitchen when I was a kid. I feel kinda dumb for not asking more questions while she was still around. Has anyone else had a family recipe get messed up in translation like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

beth_webb761mo ago

Guess we should all just assume bacon fat is the missing step in every old recipe.

the_stella1mo ago

So the secret ingredient was just... more bacon? Classic grandma move.

the_lucas1mo ago

Honestly, what isn't fixed with more bacon? My grandma's "secret" potato salad was just the normal recipe but with a whole pack of crumbled bacon stirred in. @the_stella, you're right, it's their universal solution. I tried that trick with a grilled cheese once and just made a huge, greasy mess. Maybe some rules are meant to be broken, but not the bacon one, right?