Almost Angus’

DEAR SOS: Some time ago, I asked you to try to obtain Black Angus Restaurant’s marvelous chili bean soup. I also kept looking and found an almost perfect match in the Junior League of Albuquerque’s “Simply Simpatico� cookbook. It is delicious and, oh, so easy. Here it is.

--MRS. F.B.

DEAR MRS. F.B.: The soup is wonderful for a chilly chili night. Thanks for looking after all of us chili soup fans.

CHILI BEAN SOUP

1/2 pound dried pinto beans

Water

1 small onion, minced

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1/8 teaspoon dried thyme

1/8 teaspoon dried marjoram

3/4 cup canned beef broth

1 cup canned stewed tomatoes

1/2 (1.25-ounce) package chili seasoning mix

Rinse, sort and soak beans in water to cover overnight. Drain.

Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot.

Add beans, onion, garlic salt, thyme and marjoram. Cover and simmer until beans are tender, about 3 hours. Add more water as needed to replace liquid that evaporates during cooking.

When close to serving, add beef broth, tomatoes, chili seasoning mix and 1/2 cup hot water. Heat 10 minutes to blend flavors.

Makes 6 servings.

Each serving contains about:

154 calories; 384 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 1 gram fat; 29 grams carbohydrates; 9 grams protein; 3.21 grams fiber.

CHASING CHILI

1/2 pound dry pinto beans

Water

5 cups chopped tomatoes

1 pound green bell peppers, chopped

1 1/2 tablespoons oil

1 1/2 pounds onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup chopped parsley

1/2 cup butter

2 1/2 pounds ground beef, preferably chuck

1 pound lean ground pork

1/3 cup chile powder

2 tablespoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds

Soak beans in water to cover overnight. Drain. Cover with cold water and simmer until beans are tender, about 1 hour. Add tomatoes and simmer 5 minutes longer.

Saute green peppers in skillet with hot oil until tender. Add onions and cook until tender, stirring frequently. Add garlic and parsley.

In another skillet, melt butter and add beef and pork. Cook, stirring, until crumbly and brown, about 15 minutes. Add meat to onion mixture and stir in chili powder. Cook 10 minutes. Add meat mixture to beans along with salt, pepper and cumin seeds.

Simmer, covered, 1 hour. Remove cover and simmer 30 minutes longer.

Skim fat from top.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Each of 8 servings contains about:

643 calories; 2,064 mg sodium; 138 mg cholesterol; 41 grams fat; 36 grams carbohydrates; 36 grams protein; 4.25 grams fiber.

Further Blanketing the Chili Front

And while we’re on the subject of chili, here are two of our more popular chili recipes from past years. The first, “Chasing Chili,� is our version of Chasen’s famous chili. We were never able to convince Chasen’s, now closed, to share the recipe, but this one is from a reader who clipped it, she said, from a publication crediting the source as a friend who knew a waiter who knew a chef--you get the idea.

From C.V. (Woody) Wood, the late native of Amarillo, Texas, who may have been Southern California’s most famous chili cook, comes a chili recipe with Pepsi as its secret ingredient. “I don’t know what it is about the carbonation,� Wood told me in 1991, “but it sure does something good to the chili.�

As for the meat to be used, Wood said: “You gotta have a piece of meat that an old boy with false teeth can eat.� Wood used fillet of beef but said that a less-tender cut should be used if the chili will be reheated several times. At the old Rangoon Racquet Club in Beverly Hills, where Wood’s chili recipe was used for at least 20 years, the cooks used flank.

One last chili pet peeve from Wood: “It has always bothered me when a recipe calls for chili powder. Do they mean chili powder, which is a blend of oregano, cumin, garlic, salt and powdered chile peppers, or do they mean chile powder, which is just plain powdered chiles?�

If you use Wood’s recipe, make sure the powdered pepper is chile with an E.

C.V. WOOD’S RACQUET CLUB CHILI

1/2 pound beef kidney suet or 1/2 cup oil

2 stalks celery, diced

7 cups chopped peeled ripe tomatoes (about 6 large tomatoes) or 3 (14-ounce) cans tomato sauce

2 teaspoons sugar

3 Anaheim green or New Mexico chiles or 1 (4-ounce) can diced green chiles

2 teaspoons oregano

5 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon finely cracked black pepper

2 teaspoons salt

5 tablespoons (unblended) chile powder

1/2 teaspoon chopped cilantro

8 ounces cola beverage, light beer or club soda

5 pounds thin-cut center pork chops, trimmed of fat and bone, cut in 1/4-inch cubes

1 quart chicken broth

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 pounds filet mignon or flanken, trimmed of fat and cut in 3/8-inch

cubes

2 white onions, cut in 1/4-inch cubes

2 green peppers, cut in 3/8-inch cubes

1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

1 pound shredded Jack cheese, optional plus extra for garnish

1 lime

Soup crackers

Additional diced white onion

If using kidney suet, render it in a large saucepan to make 6 to 8 tablespoons rendered fat. Discard the kidney suet and reserve the rendered fat. If a commercial blend of chili powder is used instead of chile powder with no added herbs or spices, use 1/2 cup but omit the oregano and cumin.

Heat 4 to 6 tablespoons fat in Dutch oven. Add celery, tomatoes and sugar. Simmer over very low heat about 1 hour or until tomato mixture is thickened.

Roast chiles over flame until scorched. Place in plastic bag to cool, then peel off skins. Remove seeds and cut chiles into 1/4-inch squares.

Combine oregano, cumin, black pepper, salt, unblended chile powder, diced chiles and cilantro in bowl. Add cola and stir until lumps are dissolved. Let stand 15 minutes.

Heat 1 tablespoon fat in skillet and brown pork, batch at a time. (Do not overcook.) Add chicken broth to tomato mixture along with beer mixture and garlic. Bring to boil, stirring. Add cooked pork and simmer 30 minutes.

Brown beef in remaining 1 tablespoon rendered fat. Add to chili and cook, covered, over low heat 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Add onions, green bell peppers and thyme, and simmer 1 hour, stirring every 10 minutes. (Meat should be tender but not falling apart.) Adjust seasonings to taste.

Cool chili 1 hour, then refrigerate 24 hours to allow spices to blend.

Reheat as needed over low heat. (Note: Freeze any remaining chili until needed.) If desired, just before serving, add Jack cheese to chili, stirring with wooden spoon until dissolved.

To serve, squeeze lime over chili and stir to mix. Serve with soup crackers or with shredded Jack cheese and chopped onions on side.

Makes 6 quarts.

Each 1-cup serving with cheese contains about:

384 calories; 516 mg sodium; 90 mg cholesterol; 28 grams fat; 6 grams carbohydrates; 28 grams protein; 0.72 gram fiber.

Each 1-cup serving without cheese contains about:

314 calories; 414 mg sodium; 73 mg cholesterol; 22 grams fat; 6 grams carbohydrates; 23 grams protein; 0.72 grams fiber.

Send requests to Culinary SOS, Food Section, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053. Include restaurant address when requesting recipes from restaurants. We are unable to answer recipe requests by mail.

Chili With a Kick

Dear SOS: I loved the Kick-Ass Chili at 72 Market St. in Venice. What are the chances of a recipe?

--JOY

DEAR JOY: Joyful. The restaurant’s first chef, Leonard Schwartz, came up with the recipe. Current chef Roland Gibert keeps his version close to the original. This recipe came from Gibert, who encourages readers with questions to check out the restaurant’s Web site at www.72marketst.com

72 MARKET STREET KICK-ASS CHILI

1/4 pound bacon, diced

3 pounds beef stew meat, chili grind

1 1/2 pounds pork butt, chili grind

2 tablespoons peanut oil

1 2/3 cups chopped white onions

2 jalapen~os, diced

1 3/4 teaspoons oregano

1 teaspoon cumin

2 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh New Mexico serrano or California green chiles

2 1/2 tablespoons ground pasilla chiles

1 1/4 tablespoons cayenne

1 3/4 tablespoons chopped garlic

Salt

1 (16-ounce) can tomato puree

1 pound plum tomatoes, diced

6 tablespoons water

1 1/4 cups ale

3/4 tablespoon lemon juice

Cook bacon in skillet until crisp. Strain and reserve drippings for another use. Set bacon aside.

Saute beef and pork in hot skillet with peanut oil until brown. Add onions and jalapen~os. Cook until onions are tender.

Add oregano, cumin, New Mexico and pasilla chiles, cayenne, garlic and salt to taste. Stir, then add tomato puree, tomatoes, water and ale. Bring to complete boil and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer until meat is tender, about 1 hour. Sprinkle with lemon juice just before serving.

Makes 5 to 6 servings.

Each of 6 servings contains about:

647 calories; 531 mg sodium; 165 mg cholesterol; 36 grams fat; 21 grams carbohydrates; 58 grams protein; 3.01 grams fiber.