Texas Style Chili

     Every cooking hack, like myself, thinks they make the best chili in the world.  I don't think any dish lends itself better to weekend cooks and braggarts better than chili does.  We guys love to get in the kitchen and toss manly ingredients into a bucket and see what we get.  Here in the Northeast, it's our winter equivalent to a guy's barbecued chicken.  If you are following my blog then you know these are only cooking guidelines; they are suggestions and ideas.  This approach will allow you to refine my chili to become your famous chili, which will be the best chili you have ever had.  I made this chili at our first annual Post Christmas Chili Off!  At the time of this entry, I don't know how I'll do, but I am always overconfident.  I have some general info on all the other chili recipes in this competition, and they each incorporate beans.  This is a common ingredient of local chili recipes, but my choice is a bold move against the local palate. This recipe is a classic Texas chili with no beans.   The recipe you're about to read is a combination of various other chili recipes and cooking methods combined to make it my Texas chili.

     Now on to the recipe!

   
     There are three things missing from the above picture.   First is the beer that I usually enjoy while preparing food, second is sour cream, and finally cornbread mix.  The beer is absent because I prepared this meal in the morning for our afternoon chili off contest and I try not to drink before 12:00 pm.  As the chili cooked down, I realized it needed thickening.  As cornbread is a great side for chili why not use cornbread mix to thicken the chili.  Of course, I made the remainder to go with this dish.  Finally, the heat of my chili suggested a bit of dairy, thus the sour cream at serving.

Ingredients-

2 1/2 to 3 lbs Beef Chuck

2 Onions

4 Garlic Cloves

1 1/2 cups Beef Stock

2 Chipotle Chilies in Adobe Sauce

2 Small Cans Mild Chili Peppers

2 10 oz cans Chopped Tomatoes with Chili Peppers

1/3-1/2 cup Brown Sugar

Kosher Salt

Black Pepper

Chili Powder

Cumin

Cilantro 

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Worcester Sauce

2 tablespoons Cornbread Mix

To serve-

Cornbread

Chopped Scallions

Sour Cream

Pickled Jalapenos

Let's make it-

     First I trimmed the meat of most fat while chopping it into 1"x 1" cubes.  Next, the meat is seasoned with kosher salt, pepper and cilantro.  Let it stand for a few minutes.

I sautéd the beef in an electric skillet over medium high heat in a few teaspoons of olive oil.  While the meet is simmering, add at least half the brown sugar.  Cook until browned and the sugar is carmeling a bit then remove from pan with a slotted spoon, leaving the juices behind.

      While that was cooking, I chopped 2 onions fine and seasoned them with kosher salt, pepper and cilantro.  After the beef was out, I added the onions to the beef juices and simmered them until they were soft.  While the onions simmered I minced 4 cloves of garlic and 2 chipotle peppers. 

     Add the minced garlic stirring constantly and reduce the heat a bit to prevent burning of the garlic.  After a few minutes add the chipotle peppers, seeds, sauce and all.  Stir well, to break the peppers up and blend them into the mix.  After a minute or two add 2 cans of chopped chilis.  After a bit more simmering, add the rest- 2 cans of chopped tomatoes with chilis, 1 teaspoon cumin,  2-3 heaped tablespoons of chili powder, a splash of Worcester sauce, 1 cup of beef stock and the remaining brown sugar.  Simmer this for about 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Be certain to gently scrape the bottom of the pan while stirring as flavorful sugars are hiding there.

     Transfer your mix and the beef to a slow cooker to simmer on high for about 4 hours.  After that time, mix 2 heaped tablespoons of cornbread mix with 1/2 cup of beef stock and add this to the slow cooker to thicken the chili.  Reduce heat to low and cook another hour or so before serving.  

This picture is prior to "cooking down".  The final chili should have a dark, rich, homogeneous look, as the ingredients have melted and blend together.

     Serve with a sprinkle of chopped scallions, a few pickled jalapeños, a glob of sour cream, and cornbread.

                                                 Don't forget the beer!

     How did the contest end?   Everyone was surprised by the lack of beans and they were a bit skeptical until they tasted it.  The chili eaters loved it; my Barbie, who has a 10 year old's palate, hated it.  That alone told me it was the winner.  There were compliments for all the chili recipes and anyone of them alone would have been a smash at a party.  Still no formal winner was announced as we wanted to avoid a drunken brawl, but I'm going to publish this recipe. So who do you think won?  Keeping in mind the theme of my blog, we all think we won, of course.  Try it and you'll have a winner.