Uncle dirty dave's chili

1 big batch

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
5 pounds Beef
2 pounds Lean pork
3 Fist sized onions
2 Bell peppers
6 Ancho peppers, seeded
7 Whole chili (red) peppers
4 tablespoons Kraft beef base (no more, this is very salty) *
2 mediums Bay leaves
1 can Old El Paso chopped green chiles
1 large Tomato, blanched, peeled, seeded and diced fine, (1/4-inch)
1 can V8 or house brand veggie juice
4 tablespoons Cilantro OR-
2 tablespoons Dried oregano
4 tablespoons Garlic powder
¼ cup Cumin
1 cup Strong coffee OR-
1 tablespoon Nescafe or Yuban instant coffee
2 tablespoons Hershey's cocoa
1 Stalk celery with leaves
¼ teaspoon Cinnamon (use caution)
2 cups Chilli powder (I've used Mexene, Chilli Man, Golden Age, Pocohantas, and Kraft with good results)

Directions

NOTE: ALL INGREDIENT MEASUREMENTS ARE APPROXIMATE! * You can substitute Swansons or College Inn Beef Broth. Use low-salt variety if the beef broth is too salty.

I use a 2 pan method for my chilli. A cast iron 10" skillet for browning the meat and a 12" Dutch oven for cooking the brew. Put V8 juice, coffee, bay leaf, beef base, garlic, cumin and chilli powder in Dutch oven. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. Stir in cocoa and let simmer.

Brown meat in skillet and transfer to chilli pot as it is ready.

Stire into the liquid as you add the meat. Cut the base from celery stalk and cut into 3" pieces. Peel and quarter onions. Crumble Anchos into blender, add onion and celery to fill blender loosely.

Add enough hot water to let blender work easily and operate until all ingredients are chopped fine. Repeat until all onion and celery is chopped, pouring result into chilli pot. Add chopped green chiles and whole chili peppers, stir, and let simmer stirring just often enough to prevent sticking.

Seed, de-stem and de-vein the bell peppers and dice to ¼". Add peppers and tomato chunks to brew. Let simmer for 30 minutes more.

If mixture is getting too thick, add some beef broth or V8 juice (your choice). Sample for taste. If not fiery enough for your taste, add red (cayenne) pepper using caution....that is, use small quantities and let the chilli simmer for a few minutes before you re-sample for "heat". It is very easy to get a brew that's too hot for any sane person to eat if you get too free with the red pepper.

(My kid brother is *not* entirely sane. He eats habanaros straight up). If you feel that the mix needs more cumin or garlic add some during this time. Once again, use care. We're looking for a delicate balance here and it's easy to overload. Begin fishing the bay leaves and whole chili peppers from the pot as they surface while you're stirring. Remember, this is a courtesy to your guests but not totally necessary. Just remember that a guest who bites into a red pepper may never trust your cooking again.

Cook chilli until you think it's done. 5 minutes before you remove it from the fire, stir in the ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon. The cinnamon will blend the flavors in your chilli and smooth off any rough edges.

It will *not* add a cinnamon flavor to your pot...unless you get too much. ¼ teaspoon is safe.

If you have beans with your chilli, heat them in a separate pot and mix them in the serving bowls. I recommend Brooks Chili Hot, Bush's HOT Chili, or Lady Lee Chili Beans. These brands will not alter substantially the flavor of your pot of chilli. Kidney beans on the other hand will chill things out and add a "different" flavor.

NOTES: About the meat - sometimes I use ground meat.."Chef's Grind" or coarse ground if I can get it. Sometimes I get frisky and dice the meat by hand to ¼' cubes. If you are ambitious and dice the meat, do a partial freeze on it first. This will stiffen the meat and make it much eariser to work with.

About the fat - when cooking this at home, I skim the excess fat from the pot and reserve it in a separate container. Later, I clarify the fat in 225 degree oven and save it to pop popcorn or cook Buffalo wings. BTW - Buffalo wings cooked in chilli fat need nothing else added to the mixture.

When cooking away from at chilli cook-offs or at a friend's home, I strain the meat as it comes from the frying pan. This removes the excess fat whilst leaving enough to carry the flavors. If you use round or sirloin steak and/or pork loin well trimmed for your meat you may not need to strain or skim.

BTW - the pork is not essential. It's just that I happen to like it.

If for whatever reason (dietary restrictions, allergies, etc.) you choose not to use anything but beef, increase the amount of beef by the amount of pork left out.

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