Chocolate Beef Chilli

Chocolate Beef Chilli

Dark, good-quality chocolate slow-cooked with beef is brilliant. It might seem a bit odd but it’s a classic combination in French and Mexican cooking. The chocolate adds a fantastic silky texture and deep notes of cocoa. There are quite a few ingredients in this dish but once you have them all in the pot, you just let it simmer away. I always double-up the quantities when I am making it and freeze half. The flavours get better over time — you can make it a couple of days ahead.

Soak up the juices with these cheesy fiery scones and serve with a spoonful of natural yogurt. 

I discovered an amazing chocolate recently called Islands. It’s made by Wilf Marriott, who is just 24, using the cocoa from his family estates on St Vincent and the Grenadines islands in the Caribbean. They grow the cocoa on their own land and transform it into chocolate there.

This is unique because most chocolate companies either buy in ready-made chocolate to re-mould as their own brand or they buy cocoa at relatively low prices, often from Africa, and create chocolate from those beans. These beans have all been mixed up so you lose the origin and also the varieties of beans, which makes it difficult to control the flavours. 

More Cooking Videos