Got it all prepared.

Its finished.

It's stunning.

Yes.

It's great.

It's all so ready.

So just let it all begin.

Hi, I'm Chris Fennimore, and welcome to the QED Cooks Kitchen.

Today's theme is recipes for chilly days.

And I don't necessarily mea for when the weather gets cold.

These just happen to be two very different and equally delicious recipes for chilly.

Our first segment comes from the program we did on soups and stews.

It's called tequila, lime white chili.

Sort of a long name for chili, but there it is.

Our guest cooks are Cindy Foyt and her friend Christine Caropresi.

So let's make some chili.

Just let it all begin.

This is a sort of a two stage process, right?

Because we have to make a marinade.

That's right.

So let's let's do that.

We have the chicken.

Let's pul that over here into the front.

Because this is where we can see everything that's going on.

And the recipe calls for about 2 pounds of chicken which you have a nice chicken breast.

So you don't have to worry about exactly trimming it or anything like that a thing to it.

But so you want boneless chicken.

Yes.

Chicken breast.

And then pretty muc I guess we can just get started.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You want to do that?

This is the of the lime juice that's in here or not.

All this is just.

Oh, yeah, that's that's just little runoff from the chicken.

So the first thing you do is you just, zest one lime, right?

You want to ge those essential oils in there?

They taste so good.

And so you just kind o I really love the smell of lime.

Oh it smells so good.

Yeah.

It was so fresh.

And you'll see it really comes through.

So this is a you could call this like margarita chicken or something.

You could we were going to bring our sombreros up.

Decided against what you could do is put salt on the rim of your soup bowl.

You can just there's all kinds of fun things you can do in a recipe.

So there's your one lime zested.

And then, I'll actually need can I steal your knife for a moment?

And then we just cut the three limes in half.

There you go.

Great.

And then you just want to, kind of squeeze the juice into the bowl.

You brought that grapefruit?

Yeah.

Come on.

Creamer with me tha I just bought a few weeks ago.

And I thought it'd be a fun tool to play with.

So perfect.

It is indeed.

So you just want to try to get as much lime juice out as you can.

Okay.

Okay.

Look at that.

And there you go.

There's your Okay.

And three limes the other ingredients in the marinade.

It says just in case, you know, we got to put the diced plum tomatoes.

Yep, yep.

Got those already.

I'll just move the bowl over and, nobody drank the tequila yet, right?

Not yet.

Are we allowed to?

I don't think so.

It's just an ingredient.

It's just an ingredient.

That's right.

So put we put the the tequila in.

And a teaspoon of cumin and a teaspoon of cayenne pepper.

Oh my goodness.

There's the cumin.

And quite honestly, it's really good when you put even more in.

Is it like a spicier.

So we'll put the.

And I think that' more than a teaspoon you know.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Just don't use all of that.

Yeah I think yeah.

Exactly.

Because you use it again in the.

Oh okay.

Right in the soup.

You just put a teaspoon of that and then you save the rest of the time pepper and red pepper flakes for the flakes.

You boy.

That's a lot.

It's got a little spice to little.

Yeah, a little punch.

Okay.

All right.

And that's basically it.

So then this just marinates.

And then what you do is after you marinate it for about three hours, that pretty much gets the flavor set in.

Put it in the fridge.

I usually like to pull it out.

And if it's in a bag or bowl, whatever, either stir it or shake it about midway through just to make sure all the everything is good, everything gets mixed in, and then you just pull it ou and you put it in a nice little, baking dish, baking dish, and cover it with foil and bake it for an hour.

And with all the juice and everything it gets.

So the chicken is just which we can bake, which we have done, as a matter of fact.

And so there's that one.

Okay.

That's ready to go.

Yeah.

Just use these right here.

Those are baked so that.

Yeah, if you want to work over here, it's better.

All right.

I'm going to switch.

We'll switch.

There we go.

And then we're just going to cut these.

And and Christine where did you get your cooking skills.

Is this a homegrown thin or did you start later in life or a homegrown thing?

My mother always cooks.

She's a fantastic cook, so I have to experiment on my family.

So I don't know if they like that all the time, but.

Just make these into smaller pieces.

That' going to go right into the soup.

Okay.

We'll put them aside once we're done.

So we're going to heat some oil in a stockpot because these things are going to go we're going to put some onions in there.

Right.

I'm going to I have a stockpot going here.

Okay.

There we go.

So we just keep those on the side right there.

And do you, do you use this juice to do you save that.

You know what we what we usually do is, take kind of take with a straining spoon, take out the tomatoes and the, you know, the, the chunks out of there.

Now put the whole thing in because it's a little bit too citrusy if you put the whole thing.

But the tomatoes get that wonderful lime flavor from marinating.

So if you know, for the color to the soup, right, okay, okay.

Get this out of the way.

Okay.

So remember there.

Okay and we just do it quick.

And you don't have to cut the onion.

It's actually this particular recipe's good if you kind of leave the onion chunk because it cooks right up and, the big chunks just kind of make it a little hardier.

Yeah.

And you would cook this until the, the, obviously until the onions are wilted.

Right.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yes, yes.

And what we usually do is we have garlic also, which is part of the recipe.

I usually let the onions go for a couple minutes before, I put the garlic i because it just keeps the garlic a little bit more fragrant and a little softer than if you cook it at the same time with the onions.

Right?

So, so you use quite a bit of garlic.

Let me show you how much is in here.

Garlic is good for five cloves of garlic like garlic.

We like to say well you know and again I always tell people when you see a recipe and you like a part of it, you use more of it.

If you don't like that part of it, use less of it.

And, so now what do we add?

We got to add the rest of your ingredients.

Right.

I think we're going to get the beans in the stock okay.

They're all set to go.

Let's do that.

So the beans go in.

Make sure I don't lose any.

And these these are, kind of leany beans that we're using white beans but you could use other kinds.

I, I'm assuming you.

Absolutely.

I mean, you know, they're being great northern.

You can even use beans if you have them.

Yep.

Okay.

The stock.

There we go.

Put the stock in.

Okay.

And you're using chicken stock.

Yes.

Chicken stock.

Yeah I believe it's six cups.

Yep.

Okay.

Yep.

And then you just kind o let that that go for I mean it calls for 15 20 minutes just to simmer and let it go.

You know.

So this, this is what the stage where it simmers for a while.

Right.

Yeah.

All right.

Soften up all the veggies and let all the flavors mix together.

Okay.

Then what.

And then we're basically done.

We're going to add the chicken and the chili, the chicken.

And then we just thicken it and put the cheese in and that's it okay.

Let's put in the green chilies and put the chicken so you don't cook the chicken forever in there.

Because that would get tough I guess.

Yeah.

Because it's really tender.

Yeah.

It's already baked.

It's already cooked all the way through.

And then the chilies go in.

So these are chopped green chilies.

Yep.

Two small two jars.

Make sur we drain it with the beans also.

Oh yeah.

You drain the bean the beans and drain the chilies okay.

Which they had already done right.

Okay.

Great.

The next step is if we put, a little bit more cumin in.

So you just take that there's a tablespoon left of cumin.

So you just add that to the broth okay.

I think that looks like abou a tablespoon of the marinade in.

You're like I am Cindy.

If it looks right that's what it is.

That's how I cook.

That's why I like to cook and not bake because I'm not precise.

No.

And then a little bit more cayenne pepper.

And agai this is something that you want to kind of do based on your taste.

If you like spicy like we do put a lot.

Yeah.

We put that looks like that's, that's what that's about.

Right.

For my son, he, he likes things.

Pretty spicy.

Spicy.

Yeah.

Okay.

So then this simmers and you're going to thicken this sauce, and then we just thicken it.

I actually I usually add make a slurry with the cornstarch we use probably about to 3 tablespoons of cornstarch.

And again I'm not real precise.

Oh and then if I have a little bowl that we can do that.

Yeah.

We can just cut right in there a little bit of water before to something.

So perfect.

So use cornstarch to thicken it Like the cornstarch slurry.

Yeah, that's exactly right You can do better than before.

And then you have to, you know, make sure that that' kind of to a low boiling point.

And then you just thicken up with the cornstarch until it's the right consistency.

And everybody kind of likes a little different.

You know some people like it really, really thick.

Other people like it a little bit more soupy.

So I just kind of start doing it and stirring it until it's th right consistency that I like.

And then and then you just add the cheese in and okay let's do chili.

Let's finish it up.

So you actually put the you put some of the cheese right in here.

It's not a garnish.

Yeah.

We put a cup of it in there.

Put a cup right in.

Oh let's do it.

Yeah I just grab it, you add it all up, stir it.

You mind if I just.

No, no, no, just a portion for filling.

Pretty much know what a cup is.

There you go Yeah.

You get a little bit more.

Oh.

So it's almost like a cheese sauce that's in there.

It does.

Now you get really you don't like you don't.

You'll see.

It just adds a sort of creaminess to it.

It does.

It does indeed.

Yeah.

All right, let's, let's clear the deck here.

That and, See if we can't, have a taste of this stuff because that.

Part of why I'm here is just to make sure that al this food is safe for us to eat.

All right, we have, Oh, I'll let you serve it up.

Okay.

That's why I put it.

Make sure we get some of them.

Yeah, get some of the down and the all of that stuff.

Oh, my goodness, that look delicious.

I'm a little ladle full.

And we're going to garnish that with so we're goin to put a little cheese on top.

Christine can do the alright a little bit cheese on there.

A little of sour cream.

What do you think.

Oh it good.

Looks fabulous.

Oh yeah.

Okay.

Oh.

So there's one that's all rigged out.

Oh, yeah.

Now I just need a spoon gang.

And you'll notice we didn't put salt and pepper in it.

The chicken broth between the chicken brot and the, you know, everything.

The beans, everything's kind of already pre-seasoned.

And you don't really need salt.

Oh my goodness, that is so delicious.

All the flavors just explode the.

Oh I don't taste the tequila.

No no I'm just teasing.

We got rid of it.

No this is wonderful.

I was just kidding about the tequila.

But you should know that most or all of the alcoho from the tequila is cooked off.

The wa that Cindy and Christine make.

This is more like a soup, but the combination of meats and bean makes this a chili in my book, whatever you call it, you're going to love the light citrus flavor combined with the richness of the bean and the texture of the chicken.

It's a great combo.

Now, over the years here on QED cooks, we have been fortunate to have so many wonderfu and generous people on the show.

Sadly, some of those cooks are no longer with us, but we remain forever grateful for their contributions and our next segment features Frank Durante.

He was on our firehouse show.

I didn't even know that Frank was a firefighter.

I only knew him and his family as icons of the food world here in Pittsburgh.

Do you remembe Duranti's restaurant in Oakland?

But when I told my friend Julia Morante of Morante's Market on Bates Street that we were going to do another firehouse cooking show, she said, you've got to have my Frank on to make his chili.

So here we are with fond memories and deep gratitude.

We have something, that's, as I said, it's sort of cliched.

On the other hand, it' one of those it's representative to me of firehouse cooking because it's hearty.

It's a lot.

You know, there's you've got to have plenty you can't lay in short for the appetites of firefighters.

You know, they're working hard.

And so you're going to show us how to make your version of a of a firehouse chili.

Okay?

Okay.

All right, I got the the pot is heating up here.

Okay.

First opening of oil.

When it started.

Pretty much everything I d when I cook, I like simplicity.

There are so many so many things that you can do and so many ways that you can, you know, make any recipe.

But I just like simple, basic, cooking.

Right.

So first, yeah, it slice up an onion and some peppers.

I know traditional wisdom is to brown the meat with the onions and peppers and everything, but I like the caramelized onions first.

I like to let them cook, probably 10 or 15 minutes or so, and that until they're, well, caramelized.

Right.

And then add the, peppers.

And then you add the meat later.

Yes.

Okay.

Correct.

The other half.

Just a you know, rough dice is fine.

Doesn't have to be.

Well, it's.

Yeah.

Again, we're not we're not talking about, haute cuisine.

It's, it's chilly.

It could be nice and rustic and actually chilly.

Something that you can do to.

We can do it the day before, you know, when the tomatoes, the meat, the vegetables, when everything sits.

Yeah.

Sit together, the flavors mingle.

Right.

Oh, rack.

Oh, yeah.

Here you go.

Thanks.

I got me.

All right.

That's starting to turn.

So I tell you a little bit, I like to cook them till they're well browned.

And that natural sugar, the onions.

Come.

Come out.

Yeah.

Peopl don't really think of an onion as a sweet vegetable, but it really is.

Yeah.

So, now, how often do you cook for the guys?

We have, there's four rotating chefs, the crew guys, and they cook every day, typically lunch and dinner day, day time chef.

night time chef but we train on Monday nights.

That's our drill night.

So all the volunteers and typically there there could be anywhere between, 40 and 60, 60 guys that show up.

Wow.

So we coo pretty much every Monday night because a lot of the houses that I've talked to, you know, they they're now they're down to like four, six eight people for their dinner.

There's not that many.

Right.

Because it's typically like in the city of Pittsburgh, they staff their houses with with a specific engine company or a truck company, a rescue company.

Right.

But Mount Lebanon, we're one station and our, our, our one station responds to everything.

All the career guys that are on duty.

We'll take the initial call and then upgrade, you know as necessary call to volunteers.

But but we do train regularly, and that's when we all get together Monday night.

Yeah.

Now, I noticed in your recip that you use, red bell pepper.

Yeah.

You know, every, you know, green peppers use to be so popular and so cheap.

Yeah, but now red peppers, orange peppers, yellow peppers are so cheap.

And I like the red peppers a little bit better, especially when they cooking the frying.

They get to me.

They have a little bit better flavor I, I love them pepper.

Yeah.

Now the hot peppers.

Yeah we have Latinos like a small one.

Now typically I'll put little bit of that in there too.

But I don't like to make the chili too hot.

A lot of people know myself I like spicy, I like very spicy.

Yeah.

But a lot of people don't.

So we're just gonna pu a little bit in there right now.

Now we're gonna do a little something afterwards with the peppers.

And then you can have the spices, like, right.

Actually, on Monday nights, we have, we we have actuall a trophy committee, we call it.

And, Ray Bickers, also a firefighter.

He's been there forever.

And Ray and I pretty much, you know, plan the meals.

We do a lot of advanced planning.

Typically Monday, 9:00 in the morning.

What are we doin the night, Frank, I don't know.

What do you want to do?

Lots of advanced flavors.

Plan.

So, so, again, typically what you would, you would, you would have cooked these until the, the onions ar really caramelized, right now.

They're just sort of translucent and whatnot.

Right.

Yeah.

But okay so let's pretend, as we always, do her that, that this is cooked down and nice and brown and caramelized.

And what you have here is, some ground beef.

Just regular ground beef.

Okay.

And also hot sausage.

All right.

Now.

All right, well, while that's browning, we'll season it up.

Okay.

And the same thing I said before, just, you know, basic seasoning, a little salt.

Salt, pepper.

This.

Right.

Just go back and forth.

Oh okay.

Yeah.

Oh there we go.

Okay.

You can always adjust the flavors also you know, to your own taste right.

Salt pepper, I like to put a little bit of oregano basil sometimes garlic of course.

Okay.

A lot of times we don't, don't have an awful lot of time to cook.

So, Yeah.

Fresh garlic, kind, not cut corners, but.

All right, what else we have?

And then chili powder.

Yeah.

And this is something I guess you could add a lot or a little, depending upon how spicy you want it.

Yes, exactly.

So we'll let that cooking brown down.

And then after the meat's fully browned in the sausages, it's fully cooked.

And where the tomatoes, and then let that cook.

And then you can adjus the seasoning as you go along.

Yeah.

Right.

So okay.

Well let's let's add those in now as if, all right.

You know, because, you used crushed tomatoes just canned crushed tomatoes, canned crushed tomatoes.

Okay.

I like to use a good tomato.

Bette tomato.

Right.

A little sweeter.

And I think it gives a chili a better flavor.

This would cook for about an hour, and it says in your recipe, and then you add some, let's see those beans because they're chili flavored beans.

You said you just chili flavor bean.

Yeah.

I'd like to to be able to actually cook.

I'm going to take a great northern bean or some of that kind of thing like that and actually cook it, but like I said, for time.

Yeah.

Now the starch in the beans will actually help.

Thinking that up a little bit more to, well, this you can stand this practically stand this up in there.

Okay.

Yeah.

All right.

And then this would, you know, continue to cook and mellow and you adjust the seasoning.

But I also wanted yo to show one of your garnishes, which I think is just, it's just amazing.

And that is, you candy or caramelized some jalapeno peppers.

Okay.

So let's do that.

I got this pa heating up right in front here.

I'm going to lower this chil down and let it finish cooking.

All right.

We're in a slice to a jalapenos.

You can leave the seeds in or take them out a lot of times I'll take them out.

How.

Peanuts are extremely hot.

And you take the seeds out that kind of middle and down a little bit.

But.

Yeah, we'll just cut them in rings.

Let's work with these.

Yeah, that's.

That's good.

All right.

You don't have a firehouse full of people.

Although we have a lot of volunteers who are more than happy to sample this, but.

Okay, okay.

Same thing a little bit of olive oil.

Get that nice and hot.

It is.

That is hot.

Okay.

All right.

There we go.

Now we're just going to let those.

But there's sauté that oil.

Frying the oil.

Until they start to caramelize too.

And you know, the peppers have a little natural sugar in them also.

But we're also gonna put a little on a regular sugar, get a little bit of the brown just a little bit.

So then to this, all you add is, a little bit of sugar.

It's a little bit of sugar after it starts to caramelize naturally itself.

And we'll put a little bit of sugar in and just a very, very little.

And then that takes a little bit of the bite away to now add a little bit more, a little more sweetness.

To the peppers.

And then of course, when that's done, we have some that are already, completed.

So what I want to do is to get a nice bowl and let's garnish it the way that we would, I know we have a nice big batch of chili here that we made earlier.

Also, Chris, another thin I like to do is tortilla chips.

Oh yeah.

Tell them about that.

Just a regular corn tortilla or flour tortilla.

I just take it and slice it into small strips.

And then the same thing on a frying pan with a little bit of olive oi just front over to their brown.

They're a little better than crackers, a little softer than a cracker.

But, it also gives it that nice little.

Okay.

Like a little, Okay.

Just a little bit.

Just a little, I like it kind of spicy.

So I'm going to go crazy with the peppers.

Oh my lord.

Oh, you could never eat all those.

I think you could.

You could.

There we go.

And that's it.

That's our chili.

Let me have a spoon.

Frank, I got a taste of this.

You.

Now I'm accelerating I'm staying away from those peppers.

I gotta tell you, they're.

They were.

Wonderful idea.

But, yeah.

Well, the chili itself is pretty spicy.

But it has a wonderful, rich tomato flavor to it.

Unlike other chilis that I've had.

I'm sure that the guys around the firehouse love this one.

Frank, thank you for coming in and sharing.

Thanks very much Chris.

Thanks for having me.

For everything that you do for the community.

Through your work at the at the firehouse.

Let's hear it for the firefighters.

I think of Frank every time I make this chili.

And isn't it the way in the kitchen, our food preparation cooking techniques and recipes are filled with the memories of people who taught us and cooked for us, enjoyed our food, our moms, our grandmas, our dads, our grandpas, aunts uncles, and dear family friends.

I love spending time here in the kitchen with you and with all my memories.

So remember we do it for you but we can't do it without you.

Keep watching and keep cooking.

Let it all begin.