Chili

Chili is a great accompaniment to nachos and hot dogs, or is a meal by itself.

The recipe I used is mostly based on Drew Magary's chili recipe. I've made some small tweaks to the meats that I include and the amounts of certain other ingredients. I like to use a mix of both meat chunks and ground meat for different textures.

Ingredients

• 1 lb chuck roast
• 1 lb pork shoulder (or pork butt)
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb ground veal
  • If you can't find veal or prefer not to use it, you can use ground pork instead.
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 shallot, minced
• 3 jalapeno peppers, seeds removed and diced
• 1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 6oz can of tomato paste
• 1 15oz can of kidney beans, drained (optional)
  • Some people prefer chili without beans (Texas style)
• 1 15oz can of corn, drained (optional)
• 1 12oz can or bottle of beer
• 1 14.5oz can of chicken broth
• 1 tsp liquid smoke
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp fennel seed
• 2 tbsp cumin
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 cup Frank's hot sauce
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Cut the chuck roast and pork shoulder into bite sized pieces.
2. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large pot on medium until hot. Add the meat pieces into the pot and season with salt and pepper. Stir occasionally, but let the meat cook undisturbed for 1-2 minutes between each stir to let a nice sear develop. When the meat is seared on all sides, remove from pot and set aside for now.
3. The meat should have left a decent amount of fat in the pot, but if there's not enough, go ahead and add another 1 tbsp of olive oil. Add the onions, garlic, jalapeno, and shallots. Cook until soft, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the ground meat, and season in the pot with salt and pepper.
5. Cook the ground meat, breaking up with a spatula, until browned.
6. Add the seared meat pieces back into the pot and stir to combine.
7. Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, beans, corn, beer, broth, liquid smoke, sugar, fennel seed, cumin, chili powder, vinegar, and Frank's hot sauce. Bring to a simmer.
8. Reduce heat to low, and half-cover the pot. Let simmer for 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally. I like to scrape off the browned bits on the sides of the pot above the chili line and stir them in each time. By the end, the chili will have reduced and thickened significantly. You can tell that it's ready when you dip a tortilla chip into it and it sticks to the chip.
9. Remove from heat and serve with any toppings you like (shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped scallions, tortilla chips, etc).