Every amateur cook has that one dish they’re more confident in than any other. The one dish that they know can truly run with the pros. Or can it? Today, one amateur chef takes on two very professional Mythical chefs to see if they got what it takes. Everybody welcome today’s contestant, Jordan Morris! Yeah, Jordan! Hi guys, great to be here. Or, you’re going down! Whichever vibe is more fun. I think we’ll probably wax between the two throughout the day. I’ll be really friendly and then real aggressive. Tell me what your dish is. What are you making? Yeah, my dish is a frying pan chili. So, no Crock-Pot. It’s like one of my favorite just weeknight meals. You can throw it in the fridge and eat it all week long if you want to. Fun. Easy and a little spicy. Just like you. Just like me. We’re all going to make our best version of frying pan chili. Then it is going to be up to a judge to decide who the winner is and see if they can catch the imposter chef! I do not believe that Jordan can make a better frying pan chili than me, and that is not an indictment against his talent as a person, because he can do several things that I can’t, including write an incredible graphic novel called Youth Group that’s actually based on where I grew up and all the megachurches that I grew up around and frankly have a fair amount of trauma behind. So Jordan, I cannot wait to dive in, and read this book. I think Jordan is phenomenally talented. Don’t know about the chili department, but I think he’s borderline a polymathic performer and writer and comedian. But chili is my game, GD it! And you’re playing in my wheelhouse right now. We’re going to start by getting a bunch of 70/30 beef in a rip roaring hot pan. I think chili, especially something like frying pan chili, where you don’t have a lot of time to let flavors develop, is like a deceptively really chefy dish. I’m calling this my divorce dad trying his best frying pan chili. Now, somebody who grew up with a divorce dad trying his best He made really bad chili, but man, he would just throw it in there and he, you know, you throw the Ro-tel tomatoes in, you throw the can of beans in with all the liquid, and that’s something that keeps you fed and satisfied as a large beefy teen for a long period of time. So this is a special dish to me. I’ve said before that I believe chili is an American curry, right? When you do it right, you’re like toasting the spices in the fat, you’re rendering the aromatics down, you’re deglazing with some sort of liquid. It’s deceptively technically skilled. And I think, listen, if Jordan comes in hot, if he seasons everything perfectly, he’s got a shot right here. It’s like Buster Douglas versus Mike Tyson, but I, I don’t want to compare myself to Mike Tyson. He’s done some bad. Hi, I’m Jordan and I am really out of my comfort zone. Oh boy, I wish I had on a weird beard and was saying gross stuff to someone. That’s my lane, but here we are. I’m gonna cook and talk and that feels weird. Okay. So, I have my little recipe that I brought with me and I also just because I’m nervous about the talking thing I printed out some icebreaker questions from a corporate team building website. So, Nicole, can I just give these to you and if it? You can give them to me! Yeah here. Thank you. There you go Vee. So, yeah if it seems like I’m floundering and I don’t know what to talk about just feel free to throw me one of those corporate team building questions and. Where did you grow up? Oh, that’s, thank you for asking. I grew up in Orange County, California. It was the 80s and 90s and we wore flip flops everywhere. Ska was back for a little bit. Fun times. Okay, I’m gonna make chili. First I’m going to oil this pan. Oil this hot, hot pan. Josh called this a divorced dad meal. I think this is very observant. I think this is also a good sad bachelor meal. I think it’s something you can like, just have between your legs and you can take bites of it between games of Elden Ring and rewatching The Sopranos. Just a nice meal for pretty sad bachelors out there. Okay. I’m gonna ground beef, got ground beef here. We’re gonna brown it in the pan. Salt and pepper, of course, everybody’s favorite two seasonings. A classic combination, salt and pepper, call me basic, but I love them. Oh, guys. I have a confession to make. When I was growing up, I had no idea what the hell chili was. Like, I grew up in a Hispanic household. The only chilis you ever saw was actual chili peppers. And I used to think it was just people eating that by itself. Like, oh yeah, chili. Like, yeah, I don’t want that. And then I go to a house when I’m 15, my friend’s house. It doesn’t matter what race they are. But. Anyway. I’m making a game day chili today. It’s not going to be their version because it was kind of weak, so I’m just going to elevate it a little bit. And I have this beautiful Neapolitan style of meats. Venison, bison, and elk. I’ve never had elk, so this is actually going to be really fun to use. And it’s going to be really cool to experiment with. This is looking pretty rendered. Now is the time when all that beef fat is rendered. You want to get your spices in there. So we got some chipotle chili powder. That’s nice and smoky. That’ll give you some depth of flavor. We got New Mexico chili powder. This is going to be like the real base of the chili. Got a little bit of beef bouillon. I just want to, like, kind of spike up that beefy flavor. Fresh toasted cumin. So, we got some cayenne pepper in there. We’re going to get the onions in there. We got to sweat those down. Poblanos. A lot of people might use something like bell peppers. I don’t like that. I think bell peppers have like a little too much fruit forward nature in them. What? Why are you laughing? That’s funny. What? Yeah, I am the, not current defending champion. I wonder how many times the Westwood Floral Shop held a chili cook off after I won it in 2013, but I did win that chili cook off and I’m very proud of that. It was only like six people and again they were all florists. Had it been a flower arranging competition I don’t think I would have fared as well, but I’m still proud of that record. I won a soccer game against electricians. Did you? No, god, I wish. Oh, maybe you shouldn’t speak then. Describe myself in three words? Nervous. Out of my depth. And imposter. Ooh, it’s Imposter Chef and I’ve got imposter syndrome. What am I doing here? Jordan, tell me about this recipe. You’re world famous for it. Yes, I am world famous for it. Yeah, it’s, it’s It’s, it’s easy, it’s quick, I’m sure I’ll find a way to mess it up here. But yeah, I think I really like to cook, but, I don’t challenge myself. I like to, give myself something easy, like, you know, to, to, to bring up video games again. Like, if cooking was video games, I would just play Mario Kart. I make a lot of sheet pan meals, I do a lot of, like, slow cooker stuff that’s kinda easy. So yeah, that’s my favorite stuff to make. And then, you know, I leave the sous viding to the sous viders out there. So yeah, this is cooking pretty fast. It maybe is too hot. I’m going to turn the heat down. Is that okay? Can I turn the heat down? Alrighty. Jordan, you wrote this recipe yourself? Well, funny, you should mention that Josh. I thought this was a secret between me and the producers, but this is a HelloFresh meal, this is a meal, that I got when I was getting the HelloFresh delivery service five years ago and I just saved it because it was, I thought it turned out really good, fun and easy, so, yes. HelloFresh, promo code Jordan. Is that appearing? I don’t know. I have some tallow right here that I’m gonna start with. My cast iron, it’s not scorching hot, Jordan. You gotta wait for it to get a reasonable temperature. I’m not going to tell our judge later, I promise, because then they’re going to know you made that one. Vee, what’s your proudest achievement? My proudest achievement? Not being pregnant by 30. Not pregnant! You beat teen pregnancy. I did. I got through high school and I was like, wow, didn’t get pregnant. Good job, Vee. Made it through college. Still not pregnant. And then hit 30. I said, oh, this is getting concerning now. Okay, tomato paste, tomato paste. I’m not using any crushed tomatoes in the chili. I’m only using tomato paste. Traditionally chili, like a bowl of Texas red, doesn’t even have tomatoes in it. Just spices, onions, all that beef. But I want like a fair amount of tomato paste just to give it body and I’m gonna kind of cook that in there as The aromatics are rendering, the spices are getting nice and toasty in the beef fat. We’re caramelizing those tomatoes down in there God, I’m so jacked up. Do we have any Ball Park wieners? Ball Park wieners, but Vandy Camp buns because the Vandy Camp buns were cheaper than the Ball Park buns, but the Ball Park wieners always on sale. All the divorce dad memories are flooding back to me. I’m gonna make such a great divorce dad one day. What? Oh, 50 percent of marriage’s ending in divorce. We’re not immune We’re not immune. How many married people we got in here? More than two? One of you ain’t gonna last. All right, okay, that beef looks, pretty brown, pretty brown. Let’s, let’s. We’re gonna put the beef into a bowl. This is a heavy pan, oh my gosh. You know what? Josh, I don’t, I mean, I know you, you know, left your beef in and seasoned everything together. That’s probably the way to do it. This is probably an unnecessary step, right? Would you say as a pro? I would say, but if the HelloFresh demands it, The HelloFresh demands it. Exactly. Yes, don’t argue with the fine folks at HelloFresh. They’re mailing meals all across this great nation. Hey, okay, it’s veggie time! So hey, we got a scallion here. We’re gonna separate the whites from the greens. Don’t worry whites and greens, you’ll be together again soon in my poop. All right, so as that’s getting nice and brown, I have some bell peppers and yes, they are fruity. There’s nothing wrong with fruity. So good. I’m gonna add these, some Anaheim chilis. I actually really like these. My mom, she’ll take a whole bunch of Anaheim chilis and put, like, stuff them with cheese and then just throw them on the grill and let them do its thing at all of our family barbecues. And that’s the one thing I look forward to all the time. I will eat cheese that day. The tomato paste. Interesting that you’re not removing the meat from the pan. Nobody does that, bro. Who would be three guests at your dinner table? Oh, great question. Thank you. Thank you for asking that. The three guests at my dinner table. Well, I mean, to please everyone, it would be Beyoncé, Jesus Christ. And, I don’t know, a wild card. Matthew McConaughey. That guy’s fun, huh? Alright, so we got the whites here. And we’re gonna do the greens. This is nerve wracking. How do y’all do it? How do you talk and cook? It’s a. Nightmare every single day. Yeah. I’m scared. Honestly, I would rather someone film me pooping. It would be more comfortable. Yeah, you want to get, like, some of that crustiness on the pan. You can see there’s not a lot of grease because that’s all just soaked into the onions and the poblanos. Here’s the key, any divorced dad, even if you don’t drink. You gotta have some warm, expired Miller Lite sitting in your house. That’s how people signal to you. It’s like when you see the upside down pineapple outside someone’s house, you see a warm Miller Lite. You know there’s a divorced dad ready to party. What’s the pineapple mean, Josh? Oh, they’re from the formerly sovereign nation of Hawaii. Where pineapples are from. Gonna add some onions. Just a little bit of everything. Some tomatoes. I’ve been watching the Olympics the last couple days. And it’s just been so exciting. It makes me wish I had a British accent. Can I do it? No. No, I can’t. We’re gonna add some garlic now. I like all of it. So, we’re gonna add that. We have some paprika, some chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, chipotle, some worcestershire house. We have some brown sugar. Plop that in. I had to channel like my inner mole, put some chocolate in here. Broth. I’m only going to put half of it in there. I don’t want it to be too wet. This is looking so nice. And then I’m going to add my beans, my frijoles. Okay, cool. So my chili’s looking nice. I’m going to go ahead and let that go for a little bit. Then I’m going to plate it and garnish it and we will be ready to go. Poblano, I’m also using a poblano. Josh, I agree with you, it’s the best pepper. Bell peppers are too fruity. But I think something fun about this recipe, something I’ve liked doing as I’ve used it over the years, is like you can riff a little bit, you can try different peppers, you can try different beans, you can try different proteins. So yeah, it’s a fun, versatile recipe in that way. All right. That. And you’re gonna put some garlic in, that’s fun. Thank you for mincing it for me. I would have a heart attack if I had to mince garlic on camera. So thank you to the prep team for doing that. And, hey, we got a Mexican spice blend. I’m a cat guy, I have a cat. Her name’s Bug, she’s 17. She’s an older gal and I love her every day. Add a little water. So, this is a very HelloFresh move. Let’s evacuate the building! Again, I’m eyeballing everything. I don’t want it to be too bean forward. Give this a stir. Let it run unattended 10 minutes. Go make sure the child support payments have gone through. We’re gonna let this boil for like seven, eight minutes. Still come in under that 20 minute time cap. I’m gonna pop it in a bowl, garnish it up. That’s your divorced dad trying his best chili. We’re gonna add our beans. I think these are chili beans, right? Are we good? Okay, chili beans. Again, something fun. You can riff with the recipe. So, and then crushed tomatoes. All right. And that’s like all the stuff. All the stuff is in there. The smoke has died down. That’s nice. And I think we’re gonna like let, let it simmer. Let all those flavors just get in there. Let the flavors. Yes. Nicole, you have a question? Do you want to put your beef in there? You know what? I’m gonna go wild and add beef to this chili. This beef, if, if this wasn’t sitting in a bowl, it would already be in the pan, so yes. Why, why did we separate it? While we’re letting it simmer, seems like a great time to mention the graphic novel Youth Group that Josh talked about at the top of the show. Yes, it’s written by me and illustrated by a great illustrator, Bowen McCurdy. It is a YA horror comedy about teenage exorcists, Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibes, Shaun of the Dead vibes, available wherever you get your books. Amazon, Barnes Noble, better yet, your local indie bookstore. Youth Group, it’s a comic book. Okay. Welcome Gwynedd from sporked.com Hi. Before you, you have three chili dishes. Please enjoy. Okay. I think I’m going to start with this one. I like the accoutrement because it’s got these, these here Fritos Scoops, which is really like an elite chili chip. I think we can all agree on that. This one also looks like it went in like a little bit of a Mexican direction because we have a lime garnish. I’m a little scared of the jalapeño, but I’m just going to go with it. This also has cheese on it, and I see one of these doesn’t have cheese on it, and I find that disappointing. I’m just going to say that right off the bat. We all like cheese on our chili, right? Very meaty. Looks like we have some kidney beans. Really, like, the beef, I’m guessing this is beef. It tastes very good. That is such a good bite of food. I love it. I love the big pieces of meat in this. One moment please, I’m going to scoop. I feel like this is the way to go. I love the cilantro too, it really tastes delicious. I’m gonna start. I actually would add cilantro to my chili at home. My husband has that, the soap thing, where he thinks it tastes like soap. I don’t know if that makes you cool, or not cool. Next one, no cheese, but has Fritos. This is a very dark, like, very deep looking color, which is nice. That’s outrageous. I don’t know if I’ve ever really tasted chili like this before. And I think I like it. It has a lot of like, peppery heat to it. This also looks like it has like, I don’t know, poblanos in it maybe? Not your average bell pepper in this chili. I love it, it’s so interesting and so weird. I think Josh made that one, but we’ll see. Now we have a lot, someone went absolutely bonkers with like, the green onion in this one and I like that too. And cheese. Okay. It’s good. Very savory. It’s a very beany tasting, in a way that I think is good. I don’t know why I had to think about that so hard. It tastes good. Chili’s such a good meal. This is a fun episode. I hope we’re all having fun, cause I am. I want to take one more bite of this one. I think this one reminds me the most of chili that I would make at home. And I’m kind of an Imposter Chef myself. Just saying. Okay, I think I have, I think I know things. Okay, Gwynedd, we would like to know which one was your favorite and which do you think was made by the Imposter Chef? So, this one that does not have cheese on it is actually my favorite. It’s so interesting. It’s really like nothing I’ve ever had before and I like it. I’m going to have another bite of it. And then I think this one was made by Imposter Chef. What do we think? Gwynedd, you are incorrect. That dish was made by none other than Vee. The dish on your left was the Imposter Chef made by Jordan Morris. Hey! I made it! – That’s my buddy. – What? It’s strange looming over someone while they eat. I know, I know. I normally just do that at the Chipotle. Vee, you got got. I know, isn’t that crazy? I’m so sorry. I’m I think it’s just like the mixture of ingredients or something like that. And I don’t think like, this has such an interesting flavor. What did you put in it? I’m so curious. Chipotle chili powder, cumin, a little bit of beef bouillon. Oh, yeah, half a can of Miller Lite. This is my divorced Dad trying his best chili. Yeah. I love it. Wow. He’s invited to the next chili cookout at my house. Jordan, great freaking work! Oh my gosh, thank you so much! Thank you! Really fun to make! You fooled them! Wait, what’s your, like, secret ingredient? The fine people at HelloFresh. hellofresh.com Slash Jordan. HelloFresh! It’s just a HelloFresh recipe? That is so funny. It’s good, I like it. And you know, I’ve always said this with chili, you gotta separate the meat. I’m sorry guys, I’m sorry everybody. That’s my secret. Is that why I lost? You separate the meat. And you know, just a good old, like, when you’re seasoning those veggies, just a good old, like, Lawry’s taco seasoning packet. Yes! Oh, I love this. Tell her what the beefy taste in your chili was. Oh yeah, so this is three kinds of meat. It’s elk, venison, and bison. Wow! It’s so good. We were, we were eating a lot of chili between setups. Yeah. And, you’re right, it’s the most fun I’ve ever had. Just standing around eating various chilis. You’re welcome. This is the most fun we’ve ever had. I’m so glad we could do it together. Let’s do this every year, around this time. This is a win for Jordan. This is really a win for chili in general. Thank you so much. And definitely HelloFresh getting tens of thousands of dollars worth of branding out of this episode. Gwynedd, thank you so much. Jordan, congratulations. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much. This is so much fun. I gotta try it. Vee, you gotta go back to the lab. It was so nerve-racking. No, what? Get some shots up in the gym. I gotta go get divorced first. And thank you all so much for stopping by Mythical Kitchen. We have new episodes out every week. You know what the deal is. Tell us what dish you wanna see us make next or who you wanna see on Imposter Chef. We’ll see y’all next time. Life’s too short to cook on medium or whatever Ratatouille said. Shop the new Hot Stuff Apron now at mythical.com