The Great Chili Showdown 2011

Last weekend, Stud had a day off from saving lives and we were going to make a huge batch of chili for the freezer/Superbowl (we ended up having snack dinner...more for the freezer!).  As I was researching recipes and talking to my mom on how she makes hers, Stud was over my shoulder trying to add things like red and green peppers to the recipe.  Peppers had no place in my house growing up and I would never mar my mother's chili with peppers!  So Stud began to pout since he wanted peppery-sweet chili and I was making a big batch of meaty spicy chili.  With beans.  Yum yum yum.  I refused to compromise since this is my blog and I wanted to make meaty chili!  So we did what all newlyweds would do.  We had a chili cook-off and each made our own batch!

I went the secret weird ingredient route and filled my chili with a long list of ingredients.  But they are in the average pantry, so I didn't have to buy anything weird and I'm not sure if I added enough of all of them to make a difference.  But I went for it.  Chili is so hard to mess up, I was adding spices until the very end.  Next time, I'll add a few more of the weird ones and see how it goes.

Alex's Chili (Meaty Chili)
3 1/2 lbs ground beef
2 yellow onions
4 cloves of garlic
3 jalapenos
1 beer
1 can Rotel
1 28.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes
4 T. cumin
3 T. chili powder
2 T. oregano
2 T. molasses
2 T. cocoa powder
1 can of pinto beans
1 can of black beans
Salt
Pepper

Dice the onions, jalapeno, and garlic and add to a large pot with some canola oil, salt, and pepper.  Cook for about ten minutes until everything is tender.  Add the ground meat and brown.  Once the meat was done, I drained all the fat out of the pot just to you know, make it a wee bit less bad for you.  Add the beer and cook until most of the moistre has been cooked off.  Then add in all the spices - the cumin, chili powder, oregano, molasses, and cocoa powder and cook for a few minutes with the beef and the onions.  Add in the cans of tomato and Rotel along  with the beans and bring to a simmer.  Simmer for about two hours, covered.  The chili will darken significantly.  Make sure you taste it and add any more spices!!  Then serve with sour cream, cheese, and avocado.  And if you want to be true to the local methods, serve over spaghetti.  Yay Louisville!

I actually did mine with half turkey and half ground beef to again, attempt to make it a little healthier.  If you want to do this, I would add a tablespoon of beef concentrate because chili just needs to have that meaty taste.  The lengthy list of ingredients leads to a subtle after burn and a great rich flavor.  And of course, if you are a non-spicy person, go easier on the chili powder and just add enough to your taste.  This chili was a giant experiment and I'm sure it will never be the exact same again, but this batch was oh so good.