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| Tommy's Original, chili cheeseburger and chili cheese fries |
Perhaps the greatest hamburger I've ever tasted came from a little restaurant in Los Angeles called Tommy's. "If you don't see the shack, take it back."- was their mantra referring to the tiny red building on all their signs, and homage to the original Tommy's location that this burger legend began from. Named after it's inventor, Tommy Koulax, the Tommy's
Original chili cheese burger is as much of a part of Los Angeles as the Hollywood sign is. Indeed, the location on Hollywood Boulevard became my second home while living in southern California. Tommy's is famous for one thing in particular, their chili. It's a robust, tangy combination of chili that's undeniable the world's best condiment chili. You can get it on a cheeseburger, french fries, or even a sausage breakfast sandwich in the morning. However, you can't get any of this if you don't live in California. (Well, and now Vegas.) In fact I've never tasted a chili similar to Tommy's anywhere else in the world, especially here on the east-coast where everything is mild tasting and filled with (gasp) tomato sauce. Do I sound passionate about this chili? When it comes to Tommy's Original Chili recipe, I certainly am. I also know there are a lot of displaced Los Angeleans out there who also crave a Tommy's Burger. So here's how to manage the addiction, when you can't get to Tommy's World Famous Hamburgers.
Original Tommy's Chili Recipe
Ingredients:
7 beef patties (Ground Up)
flour (amount equal to drained fat of beef)
1 14.5 oz can of beef broth
1 cup water
3 tablespoons chili powder
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne powder
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/4 of a whole onion diced
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon onion flakes
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon of cumin
Pinch of black pepper
Method, and The Secret to Chili Success:
The Beef:
Originally, I used regular ground beef" (about 1-1.5 LBS), and while the chili was good, it wasn't exactly what I was looking for. I was looking for that "Original Tommy's" taste, and after an epiphany one day, I hit it perfect. "Burger joints don't have ground beef, they have flash-frozen patties." (Some disagree here that Tommy's does this, but for the purpose of replication of taste, they work perfectly.) Now I've been told by some expat Tommy's burger aficionados living in Moscow, that patties are difficult to come by or not available. In this case I'd recommend the fattest ground beef you can find. 70/30% (but no less than 80/20) for example. I've also been told many burgers in Europe use soy fillers, which again, I've been told to avoid if reproducing this across the pond.
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| Beef, it's what's for dinner. |
Now you've got to be careful here if you're not familiar with "flash frozen beef". Not all of it is the same. For instance you can go into the local supermarket here in town and buy "beef" burgers which are actually beef hearts, brains, and various less appealing parts of a cow, or you can buy the real beef. Not that it will be exactly the same where you live, but here, the Frankenmeat comes in an orange box, and the first ingredient on the list is "beef hearts." DO NOT BUY THIS! No, you want to find the one labeled "100% Pure Beef Patties". At the local Supermarket they come in a box of 32 for 24.00, but go to Walmart and you'll find the following for only $12.00.
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| Patience is not my virtue |
What makes this even more interesting is you can use the patties also for the burgers you'll likely be making too. You'll need about 7 to make this recipe just for the chili. If you feel extra rebellious, add an eighth. The simplest method I've found is to place four of them on a plate and microwave them on high for a minute, flip, and repeat. They should be fairly defrosted and ready to toss in the pan. Cook and crumble.
The Roux:
If this is your first attempt at cloning Tommy's chili, a word of advice is, the roux- the flour and oil mix that makes Tommy's unique is easily burnt. This one step can make or break your recipe. You're going to want to cook your beef, and drain the fat. Then measure that fat, and an equal amount of flour to it. (1:1 ratio, though some report their preference for 3:1 - flour:oil) Keeping your beef separate, you now want to cook your roux over medium heat, stirring it till it just starts to turn reddish brown. Then immediately add your beef and all seasonings, reduce the heat to medium low, and cover, continuing the stirring to prevent from burning. (5-10 minutes) Cover, stir, cover, stir, cover. (It's a workout.) The chili is near complete, when you can no longer taste the raw flour in the mix.
It should look like this:
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| Tommy's Original Chili Clone |
Notice the little red puddles of chili goodness? The flavor should be rich, and tender, not pasty.
It's at this point I think we need to discuss how to construct a proper burger. In this case you need to be thinking "double cheese" unless you have some medical rubber band around your stomach whereby this recipe is sure to kill you.
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| Where can I get the wrappers? |
- bottom bun
- beef patty
- cheese
- beef patty
- cheese
- Tommy's Original Chili
- onion
- pickles
- mustard
- tomato
- top bun
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| A San Diego Tommy's Fry |
Think of the Mustard as a salad dressing. You want it around your vegetables to bring out their taste. The onions should be placed on top of the chili so that the heat can permeate into them and release their oniony goodness. I should also note, on this type of burger the onions should be diced not sliced. On a chili burger, the onion should be white, or yellow.
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| Enough for a small chili army. |
One last note is pickles. DILL people, DILL! If you're one of the troglodytes who adorns their burger art with some other variation of pickle on their burger, then I hope your sexual organs dry up and you go sterile. I remember going into restaurants as a child and occasionally getting a burger that had been randomly assembled with a sweet pickle. Oh, no... no. no. I weep for you who adore these blasphemous pickles.
Refusal to follow my instruction limit your ability to fully enjoy the greatest chili burger ever made. I take no responsibility if you go mucking up perfection because you "like a little more here, and a little of this here".
Good luck and God speed.
