Every cook believes he personally makes “the best” chili. That same cook may spend years perfecting a complex spice mixture or uncovering the ultimate secret ingredient. I applaud him for his efforts. And I will eat his chili with much enthusiasm and great satisfaction.
But let me tell you a little secret: I’ve never met a chili I didn’t like. From my mom’s ground beef version (seasoned with a store-bought spice pouch) to the famous “bowl o’ red” I enjoyed in Texas, I’ll take them all. Heck, I’ll even take the chili from Wendy’s, as long as it smothers a warm baked potato. Honestly I’ve never understood the snobbery this simple dish seems to carry. I mean, come on, it’s just a hearty bowl of comfort food meant to warm your bones on a brisk day. Even better if it’s made with love!
When it comes to my own “perfect” chili, however, I do have some personal preferences I seem to adhere to. 
First, when given the choice I prefer chunks of slow-braised beef to the traditional ground. I love when there’s big bites of tender meat rather than ground beef drowning in a sea of sauce. I use spicy andouille sausage for a little Southern kick; it really adds a subtle punch that ground pepper just can’t pull off. Lastly, I always use a various mix of beans. I know that somewhere out there the purists are flinching, but it’s what my mom does so I do too. Other than that, every pot I make seems to be different. It’s what I love most about chili. No two batches are ever alike. Just like the cooks that make it.
Here’s my standard base recipe. Use it as a jumping off point and go make it your own!
Beef and Andouille Chili
Yields: 8-10 servings
Prep time: 1 hour (including browning the meat)
Total time: 3 – 3 ½ hours
Kitchen tip: Freeze the beef for approximately 45 minutes before cubing; it will be much easier to dice.
Canola oil, or another high heat cooking oil
2 ½ pounds braising beef (preferably chuck or sirloin), cut into 3/4-inch cubes
8 ounces andouille sausage, diced
1 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 (12 ounce) bottle lager-style beer
1 (28 ounce) can fire-roasted tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons good-quality chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 (15.5 ounce) can dark red kidney beans, drained
1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, drained
Cayenne pepper, to taste
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
To serve:
Thinly sliced scallions, including green parts
Grated cheddar cheese
Sour cream
Cornbread or crushed tortilla chips
In a large Dutch oven or cast iron pot, heat a few tablespoons canola oil over medium-high to high heat. Thoroughly pat the beef dry and season generously with salt and pepper. Working in small batches, sear the beef cubes until all sides are deep brown and a dark fond is forming in the pot. Add more canola oil to the pot if it looks like it is starting to burn. Remove the beef to a separate bowl after browning each batch. After the beef is cooked, add the andouille to the pot and sauté for another 3 – 4 minutes. Remove the andouille and set aside with the beef.
Lower the heat to medium. Add a couple more tablespoons of canola; toss in the onions, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for another 30 seconds. Pour in the beer to deglaze the pan and remove the fond from the bottom of the pot.
Meanwhile, use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut the tomatoes into chunks while still in the can. Add the beef, andouille, tomatoes and juices, chicken stock, chili powder and cumin into the pot. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer the chili for 1-1/2 hours. Add the beans and season with cayenne, salt and pepper to taste. Continue to cook the chili for an additional 30 minutes to an hour, until the beef is very tender and the beans are warm.
Remove from the heat. Bring to room temperature then transfer to the refrigerator. The chili will naturally thicken up as it cools. (I recommend serving this chili 1-2 days after cooking. It just keeps getting better and better.)
To serve, reheat on medium-low until warm. Serve with scallions, Cheddar cheese, sour cream and cornbread.
Every person who cooks chili makes "the best" chili. Whether it has beans, tomatoes, ground or cubed meat, all the way to chicken or vegetarian, they are always "the best". Want to start a fight, tell someone that their chili isn't the best. Better yet call all your friends who cook chili and have a chili pot luck. You'll be amazed by the variety. Just don't try to chose who makes the best at the pot luck, you'll lose friends that way.
I agree with the other two people on this blog. I LOVE CHILI. I love the mulitiude of different kinds of chili. I have even been known to take 3-4 different cans of chili, add extra meat, onions, herbs, spices to change it to "homemade" but only needing about an hour to cook to take to book club dinner. Everyone asked for the recipe because it wasn't too spicey. I had to control the spice because I come from AZ where we eat it spicey. I told them it was top secret. LOL We have had a chili pot luck lunch at work and it was sooo good. Both red and green chili was brought. Great comfort on cold days. Set up a topping bar with tortilla chips, corn chips, corn bread, green onion, any colored bell pepper, cheese, sour cream, flour tortilla, or steamed corn tortillas. Have fun with your chili and don't get so single minded about great chili.
[...] the Beef and Andouille Chili recipe I promised last week. I slow-braised bites of beef sirloin until tender, and then married it [...]
I made this version last week for the super bowl. In place of beer, I used red wine. The chili stayed in the cook pot for 5 days in frig. WOW is all I can say. Great layers of flavor and mild heat from the sausage. Ground beef could be used but would change the texture too much for me. Some corn bread( plain, cheese,halapeno) makes this a meal
[...] ShockersSweet Potato ChiliCaribbean Jerk Chili (Vegan)Day 29 – the things you rememberBest Beef Chili #branding {border-top-color: !important;} #colophon {border-top-color: !important;} blockquote [...]
[...] Grilling Recipe~ Chili Glazed Beef RibsAnother Bad Attitude Chili RecipeBest Beef Chili .social_button { float:left; width:130px; display:inline-block; } function [...]
The Slave of the Husband…
Looking for forward to learning excess from you afterward!……
article presents you ideas and tips in…
choosing the most suitable ads you can use to your website for maximum monetization.text ads making money through text ads is an advertising type which does not contain any graphic or picture. to put it simply, you are providing a text…
to three time daily. it is important…
to get a lot of quality content up so that people have something to read. after you have done this for a while, you can eventually cut down to writing once a day for your site.step fourread other blogs in the…
Volkswagen Touareg 2011 Deflectors…
This will be a terrific web page, could you be interested in doing an interview regarding how you created it? If so e-mail me!…
consider is that maintaining a good blog…
is a lot of hard work, and you need a well established, quality blog, before you can even apply for a google adsense account. if your blog does not have enough quality content, google will reject your adsense application, so it…