Sounds silly, but makes perfect sense! This is really an old hack newstalgized! And it gives me an op-portunity to showcase a truly ancient pairing of spice and sweet. You may be surprised when you learn what one recipe blogger says your Chili has been missing!
Yes… That IS a Reeses’ Peanut Butter Cup poised over the chili pot…
Not long ago, in this space, we looked at a unique phenomenon involving classic sweet and spicy ingredients. At first glance, someone new to the culinary world might be shocked. At least confused…
Royal roots
The ‘chocolate’ tradition, as such, dates back to the Mayan Empire, which thrived in Central America from about 250 to 900 AD. Mayan royalty and the priesthood revered cocoa as a gift from the Gods and used it in their votive ceremonies. According to Whitaker’s Chocolates, “They fermented it, roasted it, and then ground [it] into a paste mixed with water, cornmeal, and various spices.” Not exactly what we call chocolate today…
The Mayans also used cocoa beans as currency, and revered them as a fertility symbol.
Our connection
But there’s one more way the ancients used cocoa… In cooking. And today we have the chocolate-chili preparation we call Mole Sauce as a reminder.
“Moles [say: ‘MOLE-ay’] come in various flavors and ingredients, with chili peppers as the common ingredient,” Wiki-pedia tells us. “The classic mole version is the variety called Mole Poblano, which is a dark red or brown sauce served over meat. The dish has become a culinary symbol of Mexico’s mestizaje, or mixed indigenous and European heritage, both for the types of ingredients it contains and because of the legends surrounding its origin.”
Mole is used as a pour-over sauce, a marinade and a stew/chili base.
Today’s recipe, unpacked
Recipe blogger Kristina Razon recalls: “Someone whose culinary opinion I deeply trust, revealed that a good friend of theirs ‘always finishes a pot of chili with a crumbled Reese’s cup or two — to give it a little bit of mole-style richness from the nuts and chocolate’. Call me intrigued. I just had to try it for myself!”
Kristina’s recipe is pretty traditional. By that, I mean, it has a monster 17-item ingredient list – with 6 more ‘serving options’. But don’t let that phase you… It’s the PB Cup that counts!
But you can try her PB Cup hack in your fave chili, no problem. She says it will enhance ANY chili – with meat, or vegetarian. One suggestion: Kristia opines as the hack works best with a tomato-based chili.
My take
I have enough experience with authentic Mexican recipes and Tex-Mex concoctions that I can vouch for Kristina’s recommendations. But I’ve never considered how a sweet component – such as both the chocolate and peanut-based filling in a PB Cup – would affect the flavour of a chili-based dish.
I can tell you this, though: Authentic Mole Sauce always contains peanuts and cocoa. And I’ve made a number of chili pepper-flavoured dishes that called for peanuts and cocoa/chocolate, and they tasted divine! On reflection, I think the hint of sweetness from one or two (max) PB Cups in a whole pot of Chili would add depth and richness, and help balance out any abiding bite or bitterness…
~ Maggie J.