Chili (no epithets)

Chili is a cold-weather staple in my household, and this is the recipe that I’ve finally formalized after many years of iterations. It doesn’t make any bold claims to be the “best chili in the known universe,” though it is my family’s favourite chili recipe and the only recipe I will make. It isn’t so hot that it’ll melt your face off (I like to add a few dashes of hot sauce to my bowl at the table). It doesn’t use exotic chili peppers or specialized cuts of meat. Instead, it uses mostly pantry ingredients you already have to create a comforting bowl of meat and beans with well-rounded flavours and balanced spices. It’s an unpretentious pot of chili with ground beef and two types of beans, known in my house as simply “chili” (no epithets).

For this recipe, I use a 1-1 ratio of beef and pork, but I think subbing the pork for ground turkey would be equally delicious. You could also go straight beef and nix the second meat altogether. Similarly, if you don’t want to get two types of beans, then don’t. Make it with all kidney beans or all pinto beans. This recipe is meant to be flexible, easily adaptable to what you have on hand or what makes sense to get from the grocery store that week. You shouldn’t go out of your way to get ingredients to make this chili. This recipe should work for you, not the other way around.

You may also notice that this chili is a little soupier than many other ground beef chili recipes, and that is intentional. It isn’t a straight soup, but it should have the consistency of a thick stew*, rather than a pot of sauced ground beef. It’s a consistency that I want to eat by the spoonful and is also great for serving alongside fresh bread or (even better) cornbread.

*Incidentally, my husband and I discussed this consistency at dinner the other day (over a bowl of chili), and I realized that I, unwittingly, had modelled my mental image of chili after the version I used to get from Tims about 10 years ago (not whatever they’re serving these days). The Tim Hortons chili of yore was actually quite good and apparently had a lasting impact on my preferred chili consistency. I wouldn’t call it an origin story for this recipe, and this chili certainly doesn’t try to replicate the old Tims chili. It’s simply a good chili, and you should make it.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 450g lean ground beef
• 450g lean ground pork or turkey¹
• 2 medium carrots (240g), diced²
• 2 stalks celery (125g), finely diced
• 1 large onion (250g), finely diced
• 4 medium cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 – 796ml can whole tomatoes,³ chopped or mashed up
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 – 540ml can red kidney beans, drained
• 1 – 540ml can pinto beans, drained
• 2 cups stock (chicken or beef)
• 1 cup beer (preferably a lager⁴)
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1-2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp instant corn meal
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• Kosher salt
• black pepper

Suggested Toppings & Mixins

• Fresh herbs like scallions or parsley
• Corn kernels (my husband requests this every time, so I just add a cup to the pot at the end)
• Shredded cheddar
• Tortilla chips
• Pickled jalapenos

Notes

1. Or use another 450g of ground beef if you prefer to go all beef. ↩︎
2. I deliberately cut my carrots to be slightly larger than the rest of my mirepoix, as I enjoy getting some chunks of soft carrots in my spoon, whereas I want my onion and celery to melt into the background. ↩︎
3. I prefer to get whole tomatoes and mash/chop them myself, but feel free to get diced. ↩︎
4. I tried this recipe with an IPA once. The results were interesting. ↩︎

Directions

1. Heat a large dutch oven over medium-high with about a tablespoon of oil and add the ground meat. Depending on the size of your pot, you may have to do this in batches. Cook until the meat changes colour (you don’t need to brown it), about 10 minutes, then remove from the pot and set aside. Discard any excessive fat that comes out of the meat.
2. Add another tablespoon or so of oil to the pot and add the onion, celery, carrots, and garlic, along with a good pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft. You do want to really soften your vegetables at this stage, as I find the acidity from the tomatoes really extends the cooking time of everything in the pot. To speed up the process, I sauté the vegetables in oil until they are just beginning to soften, then add a splash of water and cover for a few minutes more.
3. Push the vegetables aside and add a tablespoon of oil to the exposed center of the pot. Add the chili powder (1 tbsp), cumin (2 tsp), cayenne (1/2 tsp), oregano (1/2 tsp), and smoked paprika (1/2 tsp) to the oil and fry for about 30 seconds. Then, add the tomato paste (3 tbsp) and fry for another 30 seconds. Add the ground meat back in, along with the instant corn meal (3 tbsp), and mix everything in the pot together.
4. Add the beer, using it to deglaze the bottom of the pot and (carefully) scrape up any bits of fond that have developed. Next, add the tomatoes, kidney beans, pinto beans, soy sauce (1 tbsp), stock (2 cups), and bay leaf. Add another good pinch of salt, and bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer for 30-45 minutes.
5. Taste and adjust seasoning. Off the heat, add a few grinds of black pepper. Serve with desired toppings.