Entrée — Chili — Texas Style! (no beans) by dvdlee

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Entree -- Chili -- Texas Style! (no beans)
Submitted by dvdlee on August 27, 2004 at 9:51 am

DESCRIPTION
Entree -- Chili -- Texas Style! (no beans)

SUMMARY
Yield 0 File under Family / Ethnic / Regional

INSTRUCTIONS
There are a 1000s of chili recipes. Here is a 'Texas Chili' that I like to make. One of the reasons for so many ingredients (and all of the different chiles) is because chili needs to have a deep slow-cooked complex taste. Using several chiles also gives a more complex flavor -- you aren't trying to just blast people's taste buds out with "hot", but creating a full-bodied, robust taste that stimulates the entire mouth.

A Four Pound (approx.) boneless chuck roast (hand cut in 1/8" cubes)
1 large Onion (diced)
4 cloves garlic (minced)
1 & 1/2 Tablespoons Chili Powder (I like Pensey's Medium)
1 & 1/2 teaspoons Oregano (dried)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 28 oz. can Diced Tomatoes (include juice)
1 & 1/2 teaspoons ground Ancho Chile powder
1 large whole dried Sanaam or Ancho chile (stem and seeds removed)
1 canned chipolte Chile with a bit of the Adobo sauce** (just 1 pepper NOT 1 can! LOL)
1 & 1/2 teaspoons Adobo spice
1/2 teaspoon crushed Red Pepper
1 fresh jalapeno (seeded and diced)
2 to 3 teaspoons Pensey's Beef Base (or 2 beef boullion cubes)
2 Tablespoons Masa Harina (corn flour)
2 Tablespoon Lee & Perrins Worcheshire Sauce
1/4 to 1/2 oz. dark chocolate (or 1 dark chocolate kiss!)
2 Tablespoons mesquite Barbecue Sauce (commercial)
Salt
Black Pepper
Water
Picante Sauce
Fresh Cilantro
Green Onions (diced)

**Tip: Take the rest of the can of chipolte peppers and place each pepper on waxed paper with a bit of the adobe sauce. Place in freezer, after frozen, wrap each pepper in waxed paper and put in a plastic bag and store in freezer. To use, take out a pepper, and just throw it in whatever you're cooking.....

ABOUT THE MEAT
Traditional chili is prepared from a whole piece of beef -- not ground meat. It's a lot of work to take a big chuck roast and dice it into 1/8" cubes -- but this makes a truly wonderful chili. There is a coarse ground beef available in TX called "chili grind". It is not as good as 100% hand-cut beef, but is OK. Hamburger is awful I think -- but everyone has their own opinion....

BROWNING AND SEARING
Take a heavy pot (a heavy dutch oven is great) and add 2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil and heat for a minute or two. Add onions and cook until translucent (for those who like green pepper with their chili -- add it with the onions). I usually sprinkle a little salt and sugar (just a touch) over the onions when cooking. When the onions are finished, add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds (until the garlic is fragrent).

Add the meat to the onions and continue to brown. Do not cook the meat long enough to form a crust -- you just get the meat lightly cooked. Add all of the powdererd spices to the onion/meat mixture and cook and blend well.

BRINGING IT TOGETHER

Add the tomatoes, the peppers, the beef base, Worcheshire, barbecue sauce, chocolate, a bit of salt (undersalt at this point!!!) and around 9 cups of water or so (until the mixture is covered). Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer. Let the chili simmer 3 hours or so, stirring occasionally. (You can remove the dried peppers at any time you like.) Adjust spices and seasoning as you go. (I usually tinker with it every hour.)

FINAL PREPARATION
Adjust salt and finalize the spices/seasoning. Combine the masa harina (cornflour) with just enough water to form a slurry (around 2 Tablespoons of water). Stirring constantly, slowly add the masa slurry to the chili, increase heat and continue to cook for a three minutes or so. (If you like a thicker chili, just add more masa slurry.)

SERVING
Serve in large bowls with beans on the side (those who want too can add them to their bowl. Have available cilantro, picante, and green onions to top the chili. Some people like grated cheese. Homemade cornbread should also be available!

Feel free to make your own special chili. This simply gives you a base to work from......

(Pensey's is a great source for all of the dried spices... and if you can't find them anywhere else they have whole dried peppers too.)

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