Chili. Gots to have chili.
Did someone say chili?
My Recipe:
Chili Con Carne
2-3 Lbs beef round or chuck steak (or hamburger)
3 TBS vegetable oil
2 medium onions (about 1 LB) chopped
1/4 cups flour
2-4 cloves garlic
1 TBS chopped Serrano pepper
3 oz tomato paste (1/2 of a 6 oz can)
3 cups crushed tomatoes, or equivalent
3 TBS red chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 TBS oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt
2 TBS cider vinegar
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 TBS powdered, unsweetened chocolate
4 cups red kidney beans, home-cooked or canned (add more to your preference and black beans for greater depth of flavor)
Method:
Grind meat in a meat grinder—course blade. In a fry pan, brown the ground beef in 1-1/2 TBS oil. Take off the heat and drain the meat If using hamburger draining of oil will be necessary. For leaner cuts of chuck, little draining will be necessary, if at all (a little fat adds to the flavor).
Put the rest of the oil (1-1/2 TBS) in a large pot, over low heat, add the onion and wilt with a cover on the pan. Be careful you don’t overheat the onions by checking every minute their progress. Remove the lid and continue to brown, stirring frequently. Quickly add garlic, and cook briefly. (you don’t want the onion to brown excessively and you want the heat to quickly bloom the garlic) Remember, any browning of garlic adds bitterness to your recipe. Take the pot off of the heat. Quickly sprinkle with the flour and stir until uniform. If completing the cooking in a crock pot, deglaze the pan with 1 cup of water and put this mixture into the crock pot.
This step can be done in a crock pot:
To the cooking pot(or crock pot), add ALL of the of the ingredients turn down heat and stir. Put on cover and cook gently for 1-1/2 hours if over a burner and 4 hours on high in the crock pot. Add water if necessary (if cooking over a burner) and stir occasionally. Taste for saltiness and make adjustment.