Recipes

The Best Chili Ever

The Best Chili Ever

Ingredients

Boiling water
20 dried Guajillo chili peppers. (stemmed and seeded and torn into small pieces. Can be found in the Latin section of most Latin grocery stores. This will make 4 cups of chili puree
1 large can of skinless Roma tomatoes with juice.(break up tomatoes with a wooden spoon)
1 small can tomato paste
2 cups of chicken stock
3/4 cup of dry red wine
1 dark beer
1 whole head of garlic. (Peeled and chopped into small dice)
1 large Spanish onion (chopped fine)
2 tbs ground cumin
2 tbs dried oregano
2 tbs dried marjoram
2 tbs kosher salt
2 tbs brown sugar
3 tbs red wine vinegar
2 tbs fresh lime juice
2 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs liquid smoke
1/4 cup masa flour (mixed with water to form a slurry. Add at the end of cooking to thicken chili if necessary)
8 pounds of ground chuck or 8 pounds of cubed sirloin. (whichever you prefer)
2 cans of kidney beans (drained of liquid) If you don't like beans don't add them.
1 small bunch of cilantro (chopped fine, added in last 1/2 hour of cooking)
There is an on going debate regarding what is “authentic chili”.  Beans or no beans, ground meat or cubed. My response to this is, who cares! If you like beans use them, if you prefer ground meat to cubed use it. The point is that  you should use any recipe as a basic guide, and if desired adapt it to you own particular tastes. That’s half the fun in cooking. The other half is eating, and enjoying it with your  friends and family! Secondly always use the best ingredients available.

Making chili for us is akin to a zen experience.  The recipe that we are going to share with you is the result of many  years of tinkering with  adjusting, and using our friends as guinea pigs. This is a very easy recipe once you have assembled your ingredients. As we have discussed in our previous recipes, “Mise En Place” is the key to good cooking. In other words, have all of your ingredients prepped and ready up to the point of cooking. Once your ingredients are ready, you just add them to a large pot in the prescribed order, give it a few stirs, then leave it alone!  Cook your chili low and slow and let the ingredients do the work.

Note: We use chili puree as opposed to chili power. But you may skip this step and use chili power if desired. We think the chili puree gives deeper flavor.

Chili puree:

 

  • Add chili  pieces to boiling water. Turn off heat and cover. Let chilies soak for 1/2 hour.
  • Pour off  all but 1/2 cup of boiling liquid and add chili pieces and the liquid to a blender and process until smooth.
  • Transfer the puree to a sieve set over a bowl. With a wooden spoon, push the puree through the sieve  into the bowl. (this removes the skin’s and tough pieces)

 

  • Add all ingredients in the prescribed order over low heat.
  • When you add the  ground meat take care not to break it up too much. just put it in and it will break up into nice chunky pieces on its own.
  • When you stir, be gentle.
  • Let chili cook for 2 hours on low-medium heat.
  • Taste along the way and adjust seasoning if necessary.
  • If desired serve over rice

Note:

  • If you like your chili real hot, feel free to add some cayenne pepper, Serrano chilies or habanero’s.
  •  This chili is Great served with corn bread and garnished with shredded cheddar cheese and sliced scallions.

 

Servings

10

Prep

1 hr

Cook

2 hr

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    Skill Level

    Easy