Read at Joe’s

I’ve been tweeting this weekend about making chili. I love chili and over a lot of years, I’ve refined my recipe to the point where it’s easy to make and tastes great. When I started out making chili, I experimented with different recipes and ingredients. I threw everything but the kitchen sink into it, usually to no good end. After a while, I realized that chili recipes are sort of like Japanese gardens. They’re not complete if there is something you can still take out.

My recipe tends to be more old school, and includes no tomatoes, only meat, onions, chili peppers, jalapenos, a bit of sweet pepper and spices. Here it is:

Joe’s Exothermic Chili

Serves approx. 8

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. stew beef
• 1 lb. hot Italian sausage. I use Perri’s.
• 1 small can diced green chilis
• 1 small can sliced jalapenos
• 1 sweet pepper
• 1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
• 4 - 6 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tbsp cumin
• Olive oil
• 1 can red kidney beans
• (optional) 2 cloves garlic
• (optional) 1 - 2 tbsp Masa harina (southwest corn flour, NOT corn meal)

Directions:

1. Grind or dice stew beef into small pieces. I use a Cuisinart for this.
2. Remove casings from sausages
3. Mince onions, sweet pepper
4. If you use garlic, mince the cloves
5. Cover bottom of a large sauce pot with a generous amount of olive and heat.
6. When oil is hot, fry garlic until brown, then remove.
7. Add minced onions, sweet pepper and diced green chilis
8. If jalapenos are in vinegar, wash them off with cold water before adding add to pot
9. Cook vegetables until onions are soft
10. Break sausage meat into small pieces and add to pot. Break up as much as possible using cooking spoon.
11. Add minced/diced beef
12. Cover and cook on low heat for at least 45 minutes, stirring often, until fat and juices are generated, making a stew-like mixture. This much meat should generate enough liquid to almost cover the meat and other ingredients
13. Add chili powder and cumin. Broth should turn a dark reddish-brown color.
14. Cover and let simmer, stirring occasionally for at least another hour.
15. Add masa harina slowly to achieve desired thickness.
16. Test for taste, add brown sugar slowly to taste, add more chili or cumin if necessary, or tabasco to desired heat level.
17. Add beans, let simmer until bubbling again.
18. Serve with shredded jack cheese and/or sour cream garnish.

Like any stew-type dish, it really benefits from spending a night in the refrigerator so the flavors blend nicely.

A while back, I posted a video blog entry of my chili-making process. Here it is:

Enjoy!!