What is it about rainy days that makes us turn to comfort food? Amy and I woke up this am and both thought that it would be a great day for chili and cornbread. (Not to mention the grilled cheese and tomato soup lunch, and the fried egg “chicken on a raft” breakfast.)

Good time to share a couple of recipes.

We’ve tried dozens of chili recipes. But generally come back to this one, that Amy has perfected with time. I think it originated with the Cook’s Illustrated Best Recipes cookbook which, if you only have room for one cookbook, should be the one.

Beef and Beans Chili

2 T canola oil
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 red pepper, seeded and finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chili powder (choose the best quality you can find, such as this one)
1 T cumin powder
2 t ground coriander powder
1 t red pepper flakes
1 t ground oregano
1/2 t cayenne pepper
2 lbs ground beef (shoot for 85% lean)
2 cans (15-oz) dark kidney beans
1 can (28-oz) diced tomatoes
1 can (28-oz) tomato puree
salt

Heat the oil (at medium) in a Dutch oven and add the chopped vegetables and spices, stirring until the they’re soft and starting to brown. Increase the heat to medium-high and add half the beef and cook 3-4 minutes until just no longer pink. Then add the rest of the beef and do the same, breaking it up and cooking until just beyond pink.

Add the tomatoes, the puree, and the beans, and salt to pleasure, bringing the whole thing to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer covered for about an hour, stirring occasionally. Then do the same for another hour, with the cover off.

Plain and Simple Cornbread

4 T butter
1-1/2 cups medium-grind cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1-1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1-1/4 cups milk

Heat a cast iron skillet (10″ would work best with these amounts), with the butter in it, in the oven to 375 deg. Meanwhile, stir together the dry ingredients. Mix the eggs into the milk. Combine the two, stirring only enough to wet all the ingredients. Once the oven is preheated, the butter will be melted. Pour the mix into the hot skillet and bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is browned and the sides have pulled away.

That’s it, though you can certainly fancy this up if you’d like. Over the years, we’ve added sour cream, creamed corn, fresh corn kernels, scallions, bacon, jalapenos, roasted red peppers, and more. You will just need to adjust the amount of liquid in the original recipe to accommodate the additions.