There is a surprising amount of controversy over chili. “Chili” is short for “chili con carne” – literally translated as “peppers with meat.” For our purposes, I’ll define chili as a spicy stew made with meat, peppers, onions, garlic, cumin, chili powder, beans and tomatoes. I have no interest in the ongoing raging argument around the internet about what “real chili” might be. I’d just like to share the best chili I have made for the past several years. It is a merging of my mother’s recipe with several aspects of other recipes I’ve tried over the years. The result is a meaty, flavorful chili which delivers with lots of beans and veggies which feeds a crowd and exploits the best of a slow cooker and canned produce without becoming muddy in flavor.

Slow Cooker Chili

Ingredients

4 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
3 pounds trimmed beef
(This can be any cut you’d like. I tend to use well-trimmed London Broil. Pre-cut “stew meat” is a rip-off.)
2 Tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
2 Tablespoons flour
2 yellow or white onions, chopped
4 cloves minced or pressed garlic
2 red bell peppers, chopped (May I suggest Ancient Sweets?)
½ cup chopped fresh parsley (It’s better to skip this than to use dried.)
2 15 oz. cans black beans (drained and rinsed)
2 15 oz. cans dark red kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
3 15 oz. cans diced tomatoes with liquid (I suggest Hunts “Fire-Roasted” – they make a BIG difference)
1 ½ cups meat stock (You can use chicken or beef, it doesn’t matter, but if you’re using boxed or canned stock, stick with chicken because beef often tastes metallic.)
½ cup of your favorite barbeque sauce (Sonny’s is my favorite bottled sauce)
2 Tablespoons brown sugar (You may omit this if you don’t like sweet chili. I do.)
1 teaspoon salt

Garnishes: Fresh parsley, green onions, sour cream, shredded cheddar, crackers

Prep:
Set a large (6 quart) slow cooker to low.
Cut beef into one inch cubes.
You can use smaller or larger beef bits to your taste, but I find an inch to be ideal.

Do you have to watch Shaun of the Dead while you hack at beef? Of course not - but it helps.

1. Heat 2 Tablespoons of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. I use a 12-inch 40-year-old Revereware skillet. If you don’t have one of those lying around, anything 12 inches or bigger without a non-stick coating will do. Add HALF of the meat and brown it. Be patient when browning. Allow the meat to sit on one side until it’s no longer stuck to the pan before turning it. Do NOT crowd your pan. If your pan is not big enough, do this in three batches instead of two. Allow the beef to caramelize to a lovely mahogany brown. I’ve found that a little sprinkle of salt before browning aids this. When your beef is browned, transfer to a clean bowl and start the next batch using the other 2 Tablespoons of oil. When all the meat has browned, add it all back to the pan.

2. Turn the heat down to medium and add the chili powder and cumin to the browned meat. This level of spice makes for a very MILD chili. If you’d like a hotter chili, you can add chopped chili peppers, extra chili powder and cumin or even Sriracha sauce as a garnish to keep it wimp-friendly for others. (Everything is better with Sriracha, though.) Allow the spices to heat for 1 minute, stirring all the while to coat the meat completely. Stir in the flour and cook for an additional minute while stirring to coat. Pour your spiced meat into your slow cooker.

3. Return your pan to the stove over medium heat. Immediately pour your stock into the pan to deglaze. Stir until all spices and stuck-on goodness is out of the pan and into the stock. Pour stock mixture into slow cooker.

4. Add all other ingredients to slow cooker other than garnishes and stir well. It will look like this:

5. Allow chili to languish in the slow cooker for a minimum of six hours on low. If you are leaving the house, it’s fine to leave it to stew up to 8 hours.

6. Serve with your choice of garnishes.

Nom!

all photos copyright © 2010 by jodi a. kasten • all rights reserved