After living in Texas for 11 years, we picked up a lot of recipes. Here is our Texas Chili recipe. When I say Texas Chili, you need to know it means three things: Hot, flavorful, and no beans. This is a great recipe for a hot meal in some cool fall weather. Invite some neighbors over this week and enjoy! Feel free to garnish with a football game on TV.

Equipment Needed:

• large pot with a lid
• stove
• mixing spoon
• measuring cup
• tablespoon
• teaspoon
• shot glass
• bottle opener
• cutting board
• kitchen knives (for chopping peppers and onion)
• spoon (to de-seed peppers)
• ziplock bag

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 lbs grass fed beef (pre-cut stew beef is fine; Buffalo meat for a twist)
• 1 large cooking (yellow) onion (raw)
• 3 large jalapenos, cut open, seeds removed, and chopped up (raw)
• 5 cloves fresh garlic, crushed
• 5 green or red chili peppers, roasted, stemmed, seeded, & chopped (I’ll tell you how)
• 6 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon Mexican chili powder
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons oregano
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 2 organic tomatoes, peeled, seeded, & chopped (Roma or plum tomatoes are best).
•  1 bottle of Shiner Bock (out of state substitutes would include any Octoberfest, Maibock, or Märzen)
• 2 shots of Tequila
• 4 chipotle chilis in adobo, chopped
• 4 cups of beef stock
• 1/4 cup to 6 tablespoons of  masa harina (corn flour. NOT the same as corn meal.)

Garnish Ingredients:

• chopped cilantro
• finely chopped white onions
• sour cream
• fritos
• extra sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)
• Note: You may want to wear rubber gloves when preparing this chili! NEVER rub your eyes! You’ve been warned!

Directions: Put your large pot on the stove and heat the olive oil. Add the beef and sear it all, stirring until it is cooked evenly and no longer pink. Lower the heat to MED-HIGH or whatever your stove’s equivalent to that is. Add the chopped onions, jalapenos, garlic, chilies, and all chili powder. Stir these all together constantly until the onions soften up and start to color (about 4-5 minutes). Next, add cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper. Cook for a minute or two until your senses begin to be filled with a serious Texas kitchen aroma. Add the tomatoes now, and cook while stirring for another minute.

Now stir in the Tequila as well as that Shiner Bock, and keep stirring for a minute to deglaze the pot. Add the chipotles with the adobo sauce along with the 4 cups of beef stock, stirring constantly and bring it to a boil. Once it reaches the boiling point, reduce the heat and simmer these goods, keeping it all partially covered, stirring here and there until the meat is really tender. You’re looking at a 2-3 hour process here. Add beef stock if at any time it seems to be getting dry or too thick.

Once the meat is real tender, and you’ve seen 2-3 hours go by, the chili should look amazing yet seem a bit thin. This chili recipe is going to have a deeper red appearance than the orange you are probably used to. It is time to start adding the masa harina (corn flour). Mix it in 1 teaspoon at a time, until the chili is as thick as you want it to be. This is Texas chili after all, so don’t wimp out on the masa harina.

This is Texas chili. Everything is bigger in Texas, so grab a big bowl, fill it, and garnish however you like (or don’t) with cilantro, onions, fritos, sour cream, and sharp cheddar. It will have some serious kick, amazing flavors, and goes perfect with a football game on the big screen. Enjoy!

Bonus: How to roast peppers

Heat the broiler in your oven. Lay the uncut, whole, and washed chili peppers on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Broil the peppers until they start to get black from the heat. Grab a pair of tongs and flip the chili peppers over, and broil the other sides until they are blackened as well. It should only take a few minutes per side so stay on top of this; you want blackened peppers not burned up peppers. Immediately, take the baking sheet of out the broiler, and use the tongs to put the incredibly HOT blackened chili peppers into the ziplock bag. Seal the bag and leave the bag alone for about 20 minutes.

Now open up the bag and remove the somewhat cooled peppers. Use your fingers to remove the black/burned layers from the peppers. Now, cut the peppers in half length wise (the long way) and cut off the entire stem area. Use a spoon to de-seed the peppers completely. You now have a roasted chili pepper! Once you’re done, chop them up and they’ll be ready to use in the recipe. This is far superior to anything you’ll find in a jar or a can.