Chili is one of my favorite comfort foods. But I have not been able to find a recipe that satisfies my sense of what is a traditional chili. So, in the spirit of GreatGrub, I pulled from a number of recipes, including a few on this site, to create the kind of chili I was after. It turned out to be delicious and was exactly the meaty flavorful kind of chili that I was after.

Ready

• Olive Oil [a few healthy splashes]
• 2 lbs. ground beef
• 1 lb. ground pork
• 3 medium or 2 large red onions chopped [most chili recipes call for yellow]
• 4 chopped carrots
• 8 cloves of garlic minced
• 4 stalks of celery chopped
• A few seeded chopped jalapeno peppers [I used canned and probably 4 or so]
• ½ cup chili powder
• 2 tablespoons of ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon of ground oregano
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 ½ cups of lager [I used Samuel Adams]
• 2 cups of beef stock
• 1 can of crushed tomatoes [about 32 oz.]
• 1 15oz. Can of kidney beans
• 1 15oz. Can of pinto beans
• 3 tablespoons of masa harina [corn meal]
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Sour cream (optional)
• A good Italian bread (optional)

Set

• Large pot
• Bowel

Go

1. HEAT oil in large pot or saucepan and BROWN the meat…do it in sections if the pan isn’t big enough. You can drain the fat but don’t get rid of it, I used it later when I needed liquid. No sense in using water or beef stock when you have beef and pork fat to use…..SET MEAT ASIDE.
2. In the same pot [if you used a pot] HEAT a little more of the oil so you can sweat the veggies. I started with the onions and carrots and SAUTEED them for about 10 minutes until they started to soften.
3. After that, I ADDED the garlic and celery and SAUTEED for another 5 minutes or so.
4. Finally I added the jalapeno and dry mixture [chili powder, cumin, oregano and coriander] and STIRRED until it was well combined. Note: This is where I decided to ADD a few tablespoons of the fat….the dry mixture is, well dry, and needed a little oomph…. STIR that for a solid 5 minutes or so before you make the next bold move.
5. Next you ADD the lager, the beef stock, the tomatoes and the meat mixture you browned earlier and bring it all to a gentle SIMMER, STIRRING intermittently for about an hour.
6. After about an hour I ADDED the beans and masa harina [corn meal] and let it all join in for about 10 minutes.
7. that could be the end of the recipe but I find that the longer it SIMMERS the more flavorful it all becomes
8. Serve with SHREDDED cheddar cheese, sour cream and good Italian bread in my house.

What you should know

NOTE: I toyed with the idea of adding chocolate or balsamic reduction or sugar but didn’t….

Note: you could also top with scallions but I’m not an onion – especially raw – fan so I didn’t.