Chili con Carne

Folks, I've been making chili all my adult life, following the tradition of my parents and their parents before them. In Texas we don't call it chili if it has beans--that would be chili con carne, and it is somewhat disdained around here. Well, I've just decided to heck with Texas chili, from now on CCC is all I will ever make. I found a recipe at recipe.com called Blue Ribbon Chili, but I have added so many tweaks that I am calling this one my own. OMG, I wanted to lick the bowl! As written, this recipe is spicy with just a little bit of heat. You could step it up by adding cayenne pepper to taste. If you like CCC, I think you'll love this!!

CHILI CON CARNE (CCC)

3 lbs ground chuck and 1/2 lb chorizo
1 large white onion, diced and 1 large red bell pepper, diced
2 pkg Williams Chili Mix (or 8-10 Tb other chili mix)
Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes - 38 oz
Pace's Picante Sauce (Original) - 8 oz
Rotel Tomatoes & Green Chilis (Original) - 8 oz
Tomato paste or ketchup - a few Tb to taste
Ranch Style Beans - 30 oz (or any pinto or kidney beans)
Bush's Black Beans - 30 oz
1 head garlic, remove loose paper and wash
1 large jalapeno, whole, including stem (optional)
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp white pepper
kosher salt and seasoned salt to taste
Lyle's Golden Syrup (or any sweetener), 3 Tb
1/2 tsp ea. adobo, epazote and cinnamon (optional)
1 tsp garlic granules

Place meat in a large bowl and salt evenly. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in fridge several hours before starting chili.

Heat a 6 to 8-qt heavy pot over medium heat. Add a little oil and saute onion and bell pepper a few minutes. Add meat and continue cooking and stirring until nearly all browned. Sprinkle in 1 pkg of Williams Chili Mix, stir into meat; add 2nd pkg of Chili Mix and stir in. Continue cooking and stirring until completely browned.

Add crushed tomatoes, beans, picante sauce, Rotel tomatoes, whole head of garlic and the whole jalapeno pepper. Add the black and white peppers, adobo, epazote and cinnamon. Stir all together and heat through. Taste and add salt as needed. It will need a lot.

Cover and simmer, stirring frequently for at least 1 1/2 hours--or cover and put in a 300° preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours or longer. You don't need to stir if you cook it in the oven but check occasionally to be sure it isn't reducing--if so, add water as needed.

About 1/2 hour before finished, stir in the garlic granules. When finished, taste again for salt. Remove garlic head and jalapeno and serve hot
.

Condiments for the table:

Grated cheese, sliced green onions, sour cream, extra Picante Sauce, fried tortilla chips, Fritos.

(edited to change Chorizo to 1/2 lb)
(edited to add tomato paste)


This message was edited Oct 20, 2010 11:41 PM

This message was edited Oct 26, 2010 12:50 AM