Regarding Texas Red Chili, one thing that is not debatable is the original chili started off as Chili Con Carne (chili with meat) and it started off in the Southwest. Chili was about the meat and the flavors from the chilis. There were no fillers such as beans, noodles or rice. Today the Original Terlingua International Chili Cookoff doesn’t allow them either so you can taste the chili and the meat.

Chili is even the State Dish of Texas – 1977.

NOTES:
– Use 4-5 ancho and around 12 guajillo chilis – don’t go by weight
– Save the chili water to thin out the chili while cooking – that roux is pretty thick. Probably used 2-4 cups
– Cook the chili around 6 hours or so. Partially cover the pot, and stir occasionally and add the chili water
– Use a combo of 32 oz of beef and chicken broths
– That’s a lot of flour – may want to decrease that and use masa harina instead of flour or a combo
– Freeze-dried chilis seem to work – serranos can be spicy – maybe use a chipotle or 2

Serves over 4

meatchurch.com

INGREDIENTS
3-4 lbs of stew meat, cubed (sub chuck roast, brisket or game meat)
5 oz dried ancho chili (~4 chilis)
16 oz dried guajillo chili (~12 chilis)

1st spice dump:
2 Tbl garlic powder
2 Tbl onion powder
1 Tbl black pepper
3 cubes of beef bouillon
2 packets of Sazon Goya Coriander & Annatto (or whatever amount of coriander you want)

2nd spice dump:
1 Tbl Cumin
½ tsp Mexican Oregano (sub regular oregano)

Other:
16 oz of chicken broth/stock
16 oz of beef broth/stock
3 serrano peppers, whole
½ Cup flour
2 Tbl, lard (manteca), sub ¼ C, olive oil
3 cloves garlic
½ Tbl salt

INSTRUCTIONS
Prepare your spice dumps:
Mix spice dumps #1 and #2 and set aside.

Prepare the chilis:
Stem and seed the all the dried chilis. Place in a skillet on medium high heat and toast the chilis. Flip and stir until fragrant. Remove chilis and place in boiling water. Once chilis are soft, remove from the water and set aside.

Prepare the chili:
In a hot skillet, heat ¼ cup of olive oil until it fries a pinch of flour. Mix in ½ C of all-purpose flour and stir vigorously.

Once it gets to a golden color, add a 16oz of chicken stock to this blonde roux and bring to a simmer.

Now add the roux, chilis, 3 cloves of garlic and a ½ T of salt to a blender and blend until smooth. This is now your chili sauce. Set aside.

Brown the meat:
Add some lard or olive oil to a dutch oven or heavy cast iron skillet. Brown the cubes of meat over medium high heat for 6-8 minutes. Brown in 2 batches if necessary, so as not to overcrowd the pan. Drain off excess grease.

Reduce heat to medium and add your chili sauce and beef stock. If you used a cast iron skillet you will need large pot to continue.

Cook the chili:
Add spice dump #1. Then float the serrano peppers.

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer for 45 minutes.

Add spice dump #2. At this stage taste test it.

Simmer for at least another hour stirring occasionally. The chili will be “done” at this point although you can simmer it all day.

Remove from the heat. Enjoy

Here’s another version from the same company – they were plugging their spice mix

Makes around 7 quarts

meatchurch.com

INGREDIENTS
2 lbs of ground meat (Venison also great, Matt’s fav)
1 lb of HOT breakfast sausage
1 lb of chuck roast (Alternatively Matt loves using brisket, venison medallions or quarters.) This ingredient is key to making it hearty.
3 medium red onions, chopped
1 head of garlic, minced (sub 3 T Spice World Ready to Use garlic)
2, 28oz can crushed tomatoes with juice
1, 28oz Italian Style diced tomatoes with juice
1 7oz can Chipotles in Adobo Sauce, chopped. Preserve the liquid.
2 Beers. 1 for the chili and 1 to drink while you’re making it.
6 T Meat Church Texas Chili Seasoning. This is a great heat level, but back it down to 4-5 T for Mild. Add 1-2 T more for even spicier or add 2 T cayenne pepper.

Garnish
Shredded Cheese
Fresh Jalapeños
Chopped White Onions

Tools
Large Slow Cooker or Dutch oven. We make ours in a Lodge 7 qt dutch oven.
Large Skillet (to sauté the veg)
1/3 C, Olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS
Prepare the chili:
Add the olive oil to a very large skillet. I prefer cast iron. Sauté the onions, garlic and adobo peppers (including all the liquid from the can [that can be a lot of heat]). This is a lot of onion, so you may have to cook in 2 batches if you don’t have a really large skillet.

Cook for about 10 minutes until the onions are translucent. Remove from skillet and place the mixture in your slow cooker or dutch oven.

Dice the chuck roast into small pieces. Brown the meat in the same skillet. We are going to simmer this chili all day so you just need to brown it and get some char on the outside. Remove from skillet and place the meat in your slow cooker or dutch oven.

Cook the ground meat and breakfast sausage completely in the same skillet. Drain the fat and place all of the meat in the slow cooker or dutch oven.

Mix the chili:
By this time you already have the meat, onions, garlic and adobo peppers in your slow cooker or dutch oven. Now add the 3 cans of tomatoes with the juice, 1 beer and 6 T of Meat Church Texas Chili Seasoning. Mix thoroughly.

Cook the chili:
The ingredients are already cooked at this point, [stick a whole jalapeño in the middle of chili] but we will simmer this chili all day to break down the meat and meld the flavors together.

If you are using a slow cooker you can run this 6 – 8 hours on low. Stir it periodically throughout the day if you can.

If you want to smoke this chili you can run it at 250 degrees in a smoker or pellet grill for 6-8 hours. I leave the lid off for 4-5 hours stirring on the hour. I cover the last couple hours.

Remove from the heat. Allow it to cool. Garnish and enjoy with some cornbread!

Vegan ingredients – use wholesome ones

Serves 4

kennethtemple.com

INGREDIENTS
2 ancho chiles seeded stems removed
2 medium tomatoes
4 cups low sodium vegetable stock warmed
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon creole seasoning
3 medium sweet potatoes peeled chopped large
¼ cup avocado oil
1 onion chopped medium
2 celery stalks chopped medium
1 bell pepper chopped medium
4 garlic cloves chopped fine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon Mexican oregano
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne
15 oz. can black beans rinsed
¼ cup vegan dark chocolate chips
1 tablespoon vegan worcestershire sauce
12 sprigs cilantro garnish
1 cup non-dairy sour cream garnish

Pickled red onions:
1 cup water
1 large red onion sliced thin
¾ cup white vinegar
¾ cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt

INSTRUCTIONS
Turn on the heat to medium-high in a dry medium skillet, toast ancho chilies for 15 seconds on each side until slightly charred evenly. Then remove and sit in vegetable stock and bring to a boil, cook for 10 minutes. Next, in the same skillet evenly char tomatoes on all sides and sit to the side, about 5 minutes. After place ancho vegetable stock, tomatoes and 1 teaspoon of kosher salt in a blender and blitz on high for 1 to 2 minutes.

Season sweet potatoes evenly with creole seasoning. Turn on the heat to medium, in a 5-quart pot, add avocado oil, once hot, add sweet potatoes and cook for 2 minutes, remove and sit to the side.

Add onions, celery and bell peppers, cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and tomato paste, cook for 1 minute. Add bay leaves, oregano, cumin, cinnamon, black pepper, cayenne, black beans, sweet potatoes and vegan chocolate. Scrape the bottom of pot to pick up any brown bits then add the ancho vegetable stock and vegan worcestershire. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil, cover with lid, turn heat down to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Test sweet potatoes for doneness by piercing with a fork making sure they’re tender.

While sweet potatoes are cooking, turn the heat on medium in a medium sauce pot bring water to a boil, add red onions and remove from the heat, after 1 minute. Add the white and red vinegars, sugar and kosher salt. Bring to a boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool, in mixture. Store in a glass jar.

Pour chili in individual bowls and garnish with pickled onions, a drizzle of non-dairy sour cream and a stem of cilantro.