In roughly five seven hours, thirty forty dollars worth of ingredients will become either Julia Child’s Beef Bourguignon or a smoking pile of culinary wreckage.  Unless I chicken out and order Indian. And after I clean the stove.

For 30 years I’ve been cooking chili recipe after chili recipe to find the best one. In all that time, I’ve never found one that turns out as good as Wick Fowler’s chili kit.  So a couple weeks ago I gave up, ordered a case, and now there’s 4 pounds of chili on the stove.  Gonna eat some, freeze some, and take some down to my doorman. Dinner will be a chili mac. More after the jump.

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Mellbell wanted to see how the raisin and pine nut meatballs came out last night, so here it is … recipe and commentary after the jump.

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Last night I had a craving for crabcakes, so after a bit of googling I settled on this recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 LB. LUMP CRABMEAT (DARK LEG MEAT MAY BE USED
• 2 ½ CUPS SOFT BREAD CRUMBS
• 1 EGG, BEATEN
• ¾ CUP MAYONNAISE
• 1/3 CUP EACH: CHOPPED CELERY, GREEN BELL PEPPER, GREEN ONION
• 1 TABLESPOON SEAFOOD SEASONING (OLD BAY PREFERRED)
• 1 TABLESPOON MINCED FRESH PARSLEY
• 1 TABLESPOON LEMON JUICE
• 1 TEASPOON WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE
• 2 TEASPOON YELLOW MUSTARD
• ¼ TEASPOON BLACK PEPPER
• DASH OF HOT PEPPER SAUCE

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So, this weekend, I might try Julia Child’s

Beef Bourguignon

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I think it will be the most complicated thing I’ve attempted, so think good thoughts.