4/17/2021 – This chili turned out good and was inspired by the James Beard recipe in our copy of his book Barbeque with Beard on page 163. With all the peppers we added it turned out to have some kick but not too much for us. This is a true Texas Chili other than the addition of our canned tomatoes.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs. of lean stew meat cut while almost frozen in ½” or less cubes. Sprinkle salt to dry-brine the small pieces for an hour or so.
- ¼ lb. butter
- A circle of peanut oil in the bottom of the blue enameled dutch oven
- 2 large yellow onions chopped into 1/2″ pieces
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 2 tbsp. Chipotle Powder
- 2 tbsp. Ancho Chile Powder
- 1 tsp Oregano heaping
- 2½ tsp Cumin
- 1 tsp Cayenne Pepper flakes from our garden
- 1 tbsp coarse ground black pepper
- 1 qt. of canned tomatoes from last year’s garden
Directions
- Melted the butter in the oil and added the onions to saute until hot. Added the meat a handful at a time to not chill the pot too much.
- Added the garlic and all the spices. Stirred until the spices are evenly distributed.
- Added the quart of our tomatoes and stirred.
- Heated the pot until simmering. Simmered covered for 2 hours then tasted and added more peppers that are included in the above amounts.
- Simmered for another couple of hours then let it sit until close to dinner time and warmed it up.
Next Time – In another recipe they browned the meat first on moderate to high heat to get the small pieces to stick to the pot. The meat was removed and the onions sauteed in the oil so the browned meat bits blended into the onions. Consider adding flour to the meat so the flour later adds to the sauce of the chili.
