puppy bowl!

[Picture to be added later]

I remember in grad school getting together for chili and the super bowl.  I don't really care about football, but since Animal Planet has started showing the Puppy Bowl, I have something else to watch instead.  I've never actually made chili before, but I figured it couldn't be that difficult.  I used this as my basis, and made some changes (no beans, because beans are gross). My recipe:

• 1 lb beef stew meat
• 1 lb ground beef
• 2 28oz cans tomatoes
• 2 slices bacon.
• 1 onion
• garlic
• 2 jalepenos 
• 3 ancho chiles
• cumin/coriander/pepper/smoked paprika/regular paprika/chili powder/cayenne
• anchovy/soy sauce/worchestershire sauce/1oz dark chocolate
• 1 can beef broth
• 1 can tomato paste
• some wine

I first started on the sauce. After quickly roasting the chiles and the whole spices, I moved them to the food processor and ground them up. The anchovy was fried in some olive oil until it dissolved, and then 1/3 of the can of broth, 1 tbs tomato paste, and the rest of the umami ingredients went in as well.  The spices and chiles were added, and whisked to be reasonably smooth.

The meat was browned separately, and then removed from the pan. The bacon was diced up and added to the pan to render out the fat.  This was used to cook the onion and garlic. The pan was deglazed with the wine, and then the meat added back in, and the finished sauce mixed in.  The tomatoes were added in next, along with the remaining broth and tomato paste. One of the jalepenos was sent through the food processor, and the other left in two pieces, as I wasn't sure how hot it was going to get.

I let it cook for about two-three hours, making cornbread in my cast iron pan during the last half hour. This would have been much easier had my stick blender hadn't been lost in the move, as that would have made smoothing the sauce a far quicker task.  I also would somewhat like to blend a batch of the chili a bit more to use on chili dogs and whatnot.

I also will need to adjust the spices for the next time I make this.  The heat was fairly mild, only hitting in the back of the throat.  I think the solution will be to add a few more jalepenos, possibly roasting one before adding it.