Here's our definitive guide to the best chilli con carne, chicken fajitas, chipotle lamb, and essentials for a fiesta, including a divine Margarita recipe. Plus our quick guide to chillies and Mexican ingredients.
Essential ingredients
Lime juice
A squeeze of fresh lime juice at the end of cooking adds a lovely subtle flavouring and helps to cut through the richness of the dish.
Mince
The best mince to use for a chilli would be made from the blade, shin and silverside.
Why use treacle?
Treacle adds depth and warmth to the dish, and the unmistakeable sweetness goes really well with the smoky, spicy flavours.
Special ingredients
Some people add any number of quirky ingredients to their chilli, including dark chocolate, molasses, tequila, coffee, honey, chorizo – even peanut butter!
Where to buy
Most large supermarkets will stock everything you need. For Mexican food products, visit Mex Grocer. And, for chillies, visit South Devon Chilli Farm.
Guide to chillies
Chilli peppers add heat, flavour and aroma to chilli con carne. The ultimate pepper for a chilli is a green jalapeño. There are more than 200 known varieties of chilli, and they differ greatly in size, colour and level of heat.
Bird’s eye (top)
Very hot, with a grassy flavour that varies from mild to sweet. Most popular in Southeast Asia, these small chillies come in green or red. Don’t be fooled by their size!
Ring of fire (far left)
Part of the cayenne family but slightly hotter, this is an easy chilli to grow at home as it’s quick to mature.
Scotch bonnet (far right)
This exceptionally hot relative of the also-fiery habañero is vital to Caribbean cooking. It is great in salsas and sauces. Be sure to remove the even-hotter seeds!
Jalapeno (bottom left)
This medium-hot chilli is ideal for nachos, stuffings and salsas. A chipotle is a ripe jalapeño that has been smoked.
Cayenne (bottom right)
Fairly hot with a tangy flavour, these are widely used in soups and sauces, and are often dried and ground to make the spice, cayenne pepper.