Very interesting recipe! Also pretty flexible in terms of substituting ingredients (I used cream of celery soup instead of cream of chicken, and used celery seeds instead of flakes). Also, since I did not have sherry or white wine, I ended up using 1/4 cup mirin (Japanese rice wine) and 1/4 cup broth (since I didn't know how the mirin would do, I was hesitant to use 1/2 cup of it). Well, I learned that you need to use the full 1/2 cup of wine or sherry (or in my case, mirin) because the sugar contained therein will balance out the saltiness from the soups and cheese. So as a result, I did find it a bit salty, but I think it would have been less so if the recipe was followed more precisely. Will probably use this again.

Reviewed On: Nov. 5, 2009

Very simple and flexible recipe - I used cream of mushroom soup (didn't have cream of celery), and instead of the additional chicken breast, I tossed in diced potatoes and chopped carrots. Perfect. To season, I added celery seed, dill seed, cracked black pepper and sage about 30 minutes before serving.

Reviewed On: Oct. 16, 2009

Just made it...and found it to be very much like chili, but without much complexity, flavor-wise; just very salty (even with low-sodium taco mix) and spicy (which is fine with me, I like spicy). Had to add some brown sugar to taper off the saltiness and add a bit of richness. If I made it again, I think I'd use dark beer instead of amber ale, and make my own spice mixture (ended up having to add some cumin, oregano and coriander at the end).

Reviewed On: Oct. 1, 2009