Saturday, September 20, 2014

Fred and Red Chili

Recipe for Fred and Red Chili



This is my attempt at recreating the infamous Fred and Red chili recipe. I have talked to former employees and experimented with this recipe for quite a while. I also grew up on it. Please leave suggestions in the comments. I would love to hear from you so we can make this recipe better. One of the ingredients you will find missing from this list is suet. It was in the original recipe but I have left it out here. The chili suffers from not having it because you don't get the same mouth-feel. It's also not quite as rich as the original, but it's close. If you want to add some suet, I suggest getting it ground very finely and adding maybe 4 ounces when you're browning the ground beef. This chili is also good if not better if it has spent some time in the freezer. So feel free to make a big batch and freeze it in blocks like they did at Fred and Red's.

Cook time: 1 hour minimum (preferably longer)
Servings: 4 quarts - enough for about 12 plates of spaghetti red
Recipe can easily be halved

Ingredients:
5 lbs - Ground beef, 73/27 mix (I buy the 5lb plastic tube at Walmart)
4 ounces - Williams chili seasoning, about 3/4 cup (Sam's sells it in a big container for SUPER cheap) Link to buy online
1 tbsp - Garlic powder
2 tbsp - Paprika (not smoked paprika)
1 tbsp - Ground cumin
1 tbsp - Dried oregano
2 tbsp - Kosher salt (or 1.5 tbsp regular salt)
1 sleeve - Saltine crackers (Lance brand if you can find them)

Directions:
1 - In a large pot (at least 8 quarts), brown the ground beef until it's just brown. You don't want it crispy. I find it easier to do this in two pots, then dump it all into the biggest pot after browning. Make sure to break up the meat into a very fine texture. You don't want big chunks.
2 - Don't drain the grease!! I know there will be a lot of fat at the top but don't drain it.
3 - Add the garlic powder, paprika, cumin, oregano, salt and 2/3 of the chili seasoning to the beef. Stir it up really well.
4 - At this point it will be dry, colorful and aromatic. Cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes.
5 - Get the crackers ready. If you have a food processor, add the sleeve of crackers to it and pulse until there are no pieces bigger than a pea. If you don't have one, mash the crackers with your hands or a potato masher until they are in really small pieces.
6 - Add 6 cups of hot water and the crackers to the chili.
7 - Stir well and bring to a boil.
8 - Once boiling, stir well so the chili doesn't burn at the bottom and reduce heat to a low simmer. Simmer at least 30 minutes up to 3 hours. Stir every 15 minutes or often enough so the bottom doesn't burn.
9 - After the chili has been cooking for a while, there will be a nice layer of red grease at the top. If you are making spaghetti to go with this (and you better), ladle off about 1/3 cup of the grease and save to mix in with the spaghetti after it's cooked.
10 - About 15 minutes before you are ready to serve, add the remaining 1/3 of the chili seasoning and stir well. Taste and add salt if needed. You can add up to 2 cups of water if the chili is too thick.
11 - After cooking the last 15 minutes, the chili is ready. Make sure to stir it thoroughly before serving.

This chili is served over a bed of spaghetti to make Spaghetti Red. You can also serve it over Fred and Red tamales (recipe coming soon). It's also good just by itself. Typical toppings are pickles, white onion, ketchup, saltine crackers, parmesan cheese, hot sauce and/or vinegar. You can also lay down some pinto beans on top of the spaghetti before adding the chili. The picture above shows a typical place setting.

If making spaghetti:
Cook the spaghetti until al dente. Don't let it get mushy. Drain well then add to a bowl and dump the reserved grease over. Mix well and keep warm.




22 comments:

  1. Thank you for the recipe to try!

    After moving away from Joplin, I've spent my time trying to perfect Springfield-style cashew chicken. I'm almost there, just need the perfect breading now.

    Spaghetti red is the next recipe to tackle. I just need to find the Williams' chili seasonings. Probably will order it online since I've not noticed it in the markets that I shop at. I can remember hearing that Fred and Red's used saltines in their chili so this recipe seems much more authentic then many of the other recipes available online.

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    1. Can you send me your recipe for springfield style cashew chicken? I would love to try your version!!! brwneyesilky@gmail.com
      Thanks
      Shawna

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    2. If you have a Krogers, they have Williams

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  2. Thanks for the comment! I know Williams chili seasoning is not what was used in the original recipe but it's the closest thing I can find.

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  3. I wouldnt be so sure he didnt use Williams. Mine is pretty much the same but i dont add any other seasoning other than Williams and salt. Also I put the same amount of crackers ti only 3lbs of meat. Nice work tho it looks good!

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  4. Great recipe. I was told by an old employee that they also added left over ground tamales. I added a small can of tamales (pureed in food processor) to above recipe. Real good

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  5. Has anyone perfected the tamale recipe? PLEASE!!!

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  7. Something seemed a bit off balance so I added about a Tbsp of white sugar. In my opinion, this was a big improvement. Never having the pleasure of tasting the original, I'm not sure how this affected the authenticity. Good stuff!

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  8. Spot on F&R clone. I also passed on the suet. There is plenty of fat without it anyway. I might try 80/20 beef next time to cut the grease a bit. Good work on this recipe!

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  9. Williams seasoning is a good bet since Williams was started in Carthage, Mo just 20 minutes from Joplin and it makes sense that when Fred and Red's was opened in the twenties they would have used local suppliers.

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  11. Ryan: Ken B. here. Do you mind if your recipe is cross-posted to the FB group? There's room in the Files area for more than one version, IMO. :)

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  12. I'm positive it was Williams chili seasoning and Larry boiled the hamburger.

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    1. Boiling the burger makes it crumble finer -- like for coney dog chili.

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  13. How much spaghetti to 1 ladle of grease?

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  14. Isn't the original spaghetti red from Skyline made with Cincinnati chili, i.e. with a pinch of cinnamon?

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  15. Try using a frozen brick of Mannings chili

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  16. About as close to the real thing as I have found so far. Great recipe thanks!

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  17. No, Skyline Chili started in 1949, not the 1920s, and copied Empress Chili, founded 1921, where the owner worked for many years. While Cincinnati Chili may be a bit older than Fred & Red's spaghetti red, the only similarity is meat sauce over spaghetti - Cincinnati Chili tastes a lot like the filling you'd find in moussaka, not a traditional chili inspired by Tex-Mex cooking. We eat crackers and often onions on it, so that's another similarity. It's been 20+ years since I've been to Fred & Red's, but my folks used to work there all the time when they got into Joplin when my dad worked as an auditor for General Tire in the central and southern Plains States after leaving Ohio and we settled in K.C. for almost thirty years, but Joplin was never a place we went to often, being out-of-the-way in the age of interstates.

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  18. I am looking for Fred and Red's tamale recipe and having no luck. Any suggestions? My real email address is beverliedp@yahoo.com. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

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