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It was a long time ago, but yes, I did win first place in a Chili cook-off. It happened, and for a moment, something I made was considered to be best in the world. It’s a great feeling and something that I hold dear to my heart since at the time, I was basically at the beginning of my cooking career. That young, I honestly had no idea what I was really doing. I walked in and just signed up for the competition because I wasn’t doing anything that day. I still remember the words the Judge spoke before it started. As if no one else was there, he stood in the middle of the room, stared right at me, and he said: 

“…Make the best Chili in the world. Or I’ll eat your soul.” 

(it might have been “And I’ll eat the bowl” but I could be wrong.)

So I looked around, then back at him, and then I said: 

“…Okay.”.

And I made the first thing that came to my head, and it just so happened to be the best Chili in the world, it was the best Chili in the world. Considering how clueless I was with cooking, I knew putting stuff together was as easy as 1 and 1 making 2 and 2 and 1 making 3… It was destiny.

You know, I’m always a little sad the first few weeks of January. Holidays come and go so fast I hardly have time to savor them anymore. And as if that’s not enough, to throw salt in the wound, at some point I have to muster up the strength to take down all the Christmas decorations. Because I celebrate Three Kings Day (or Epiphany, January 6th), I get a couple of extra days to depress myself with a present-less tree and half-working yard decorations. But they have to come down eventually. Maybe next season I’ll start putting stuff out around September like the retail stores do.

But anyway, just because the merriness is over, doesn’t mean it’s automatically spring. If you live anywhere that is not Florida, the end of December brings a cold, bitter warning:

Winter is Coming…

And if you’re smart, you’ll heed that warning. Because when you’re at home and you have below freezing temperatures knocking down your doors, you’re going to wish you had some of this stuff in your freezer:

• First thing you’re going to want to do is chop up the onions, pepper, garlic, and the one lone chipolte pepper (a decent sized one, don’t be chicken). I don’t like the onions and peppers cut too small. Medium is good for me. You’re going to add all of that at the same time so if you want to put them in the same bowl, go nuts. Next, dice the bacon and check the stew meat to make sure there are no gigantic chunks in there. Try and have all the pieces of stew meat uniform, so if some pieces are bigger than others, cut them in half.

The way we’re going to have to do the meat is in stages. You can’t just throw it all in there and expect it to magically cook. There’s going to be a lot of adding and then draining and then removing and then adding. So have a big bowl ready to hold all the cooked meat in until we’re done.

• Turn on the heat to your pot and when it’s hot, put the bacon in. Cook the bacon until it’s crispy, draining the drippings into a bowl as you need to. You want to save the bacon fat because 1) I always find it hard to throw away bacon fat, and mainly 2) Because you’re going to be using that to saute everything else. Once the bacon is done, remove it from the pot and set it aside. And now the obligatory picture of cooked bacon:

• Next, add some of the bacon drippings and sear the stew meat. If you notice a lot of liquid in the pan, drain as much as you can in the sink. The meat isn’t going to brown with all that stuff in there. Once the stew meat is done, remove it from the pot and set it aside.

• Now, add more of the bacon goodness, and cook the ground beef. Same thing with the liquid, just drain it. Once it’s done and you don’t see anymore red, remove it from the pot and set it aside. You should now have a huge bowl or plate filled with glorious meat.

If you notice not so much bacon as the picture above it, it’s because I may have had some. Quality Control. It’s all about quality control.

• It’s all downhill from here. add a splash of bacon juice and saute the vegetables including the chipolte pepper. Something I like to do is add the chili and cumin powder, thyme, garlic and red pepper flakes to the vegetables as they’re cooking. This really brings out the flavors and helps to make a better base for the Chili.

• The fun part! Once the vegetables are soft, add all of the meat back into the pot. Add the 2 cans of beef broth and stir it around. You want to let it heat up, and once it boils, add the tomato puree and paste then stir it up again.

• And the fun is over. Now you wait. Put the temperature down to a light simmer for a whole hour and a half! Check it out once in a while and stir it around. I leave mine uncovered, but if you find it splashing around everywhere just take a piece of aluminum foil and place it on top of the pot. Don’t crumple it around, just lay it on top.

Oh, relax, it’s only 3 hours. Some chili’s have you simmering it for upwards of 6 or 8 hours. So I don’t want to hear it.

Once the total of 3 hours is done, it’s ready to go! Bowl it up and go to town. Like I said though, a rule of thumb for most all soups but especially Chili… It’s always better the next day. After it’s sat there in the fridge and all the flavors get all happy-nice with each other, it’s freaking great. I love to enjoy a bowl with some shredded cheddar cheese and saltine crackers. Add whatever toppings you enjoy. Heck, you can even find a way to add beans in there, just don’t go asking me how to do it. And don’t bother telling me you added them either because I probably won’t like you afterwards. Matter of fact, you’re lucky I’m not deleting this entire post before it’s even published because of the possibility that you may use my recipe to harbor your beans. Yes, I’m serious.

Beans aside, this Chili is awesome and I hope you enjoy it. I’ve been making this recipe for quite a few years now and it is loved by all who try it. I won’t hesitate to say that it’s award worthy even. And that’s peculiar.

Why? Well, the peculiar thing is this my friends:

That Chili I made on that fateful day, it didn’t actually taste anything like this Chili!