So here we go again! Another recipe, another picture. I really like hot dishes… so I decided to cook a flaming hot chili con carne and share it with you. Yeah, hispterish, isn’t it?
The picture above is actually the second attempt of taking a picture of my chili con carne. I tried it about two weeks ago and the result was the picture below, which I did not like too much. For my taste, it was a bit too minimalistic and isolated. I tried to work on that by adding some of the used ingredients in the background. For me, it is a huge improvement. But I am still not satisfied, yet. After editing the picture on the computer, I noticed some details that I should have paid more attention to (e.g. the empty spot in the upper left hand corner). But instead of waiting another two weeks to recook my chili and retry the shot, I wanted to post this as a report of how the devil is in the details in food photography.
Some technical stuff:
To get this nice depth of field, I shot with f/18 and exposed for about 6 seconds.
This was my first attempt.
But finally, here we go! Enjoy the delicious recipe of a flaming hot chili con carne!
Chili con carne (for 3 persons)
What you’ll need:
1 Onion
1 sweet pepper
1 clove of garlic
500g of minced meat
4 tomatoes
1 can of kidney beans (about 250g)
1 can of corn (about 140g)
6 tablespoons of tomato purée
1 chili pepper (or more, if you really like it hot)
1 tsp. of Cayenne pepper (or more, if you really like it hot)
3 tsp. of paprikapowder
Preparation: Chop the onion, garlic, sweet pepper, tomatoes and the chili pepper. You’ll find it easier to peel the tomatoes after blanching them (putting the tomatoes into boiling water for a while)
Take a pan, put 5-6 tablespoons of oil in it and heat it. Sear the minced meat and add the onion and garlic after a while (but don’t forget to put down the temperature or they will burn).
Add the kidney beans, tomatoes, corn, sweet pepper and the tomato purée. If the consistency is still a bit dry, add some bouillon or water. Let it cook for about 20 minutes. If the water or the bouillon is evaporated, add some more until you reached the consistency you like after 20 minutes. Add the cayenne pepper, the chopped chili pepper and the paprikapowder and let it cook for 10 more minutes. Add a pinch of salt and serve it with some nacho chips 
Bon apétit!
Charlie
