Growing up, chili was a staple in my grandmother’s home and that recipe has followed me to mine. Unfortunately , my grandmother passed away before she could pass on her recipes, but I have come extremely close to what it tasted like, of which my mother is a testament to. Consider this a virtual recognition of her amazing cooking and delicious chili. I will miss you forever, grandma and your chili will always be famous.

What you’ll need:

Serves 4 – 6

• 28 oz can of red kidney beans
• 1.5 lbs ground beef
• 6 oz can of tomato paste
• ½ yellow onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 whole Roma tomatoes
• ½ c. Brown Sugar
• 4 Dry chile de arbol
• Cayenne Pepper
• Salt & Pepper
• Paprika
• Barbecue Sauce (insert recipe here)
• 2 scallions
• Mexican 3 cheese blend
• Sour cream

First things first, you’re going to want to set up your “mise en place”, which means everything in its place. Chop your yellow onion into a small dice, your tomatoes into a medium dice, your dry chile de arbol into small pieces, and your garlic to a mince.  Get your green onions into a nice slice;  those will be for later but it’s better to get them done now. Get your pot set to high, add a bit of oil, and then add your ground beef in. You want to build a nice fond on the bottom of your pot with the ground beef. At this stage, you’re also going to add a generous pinch of salt and pepper, paprika and cayenne pepper. Once your ground beef is cooked all the way through, remove it from the pot, turn the heat down to medium and add in your yellow onions. The onion will lower the temperature of the pot –  which is what we want. You don’t want the fond to burn,  as it has a LOT of flavor that will add a decadent layer to your chili. Let your onions sweat, which means they should be translucent once you add in your tomatoes. Once your tomatoes start to break down, you can add in your garlic. The reason we are not adding our garlic in sooner is because we don’t want the garlic to overcook or burn, since we have them minced down. Burning the garlic can, and will, happen if we add it in too early; burnt garlic is not a pleasant taste – AT ALL. I mean…unless you’re into that. In that case, do what your heart desires.  After your garlic is in, add in that chopped up chile de arbol. With your onions translucent, your tomatoes broken down and your chiles and garlic in, now would be a great time to add in that 6 oz can of tomato paste. Get it well incorporated into your tomato, garlic, chile and onion mixture; we’re building a slight fond with that tomato paste. We want a rich and slightly smoky tomato flavor, which the tomato paste and chile de arbol are going to give us. Give it about 3 minutes with your heat on medium, and you should start to see a brown crust building at the bottom of your pot. Get about 4 cups of water ready for this next part. This recipe is going to help build your time confidence because the fond can go from brown to black real quick! This part of the process is very active. Once your pot is browned, you want to add in that 4 cups of water. Scrape the bottom of your pot to get up all that flavor, and season with a pinch of salt and pepper, a pinch of paprika, a teaspoon of cayenne  pepper and that ½ cup of brown sugar. Turn your heat to medium-high and leave this alone for about 15 minutes, or once you start to notice that water reduce. Once the water reduces, add in your -drained- can of red kidney beans and your meat back in. You’re also going to want to add in another 2 cups or so of water and turn your heat to low. Give everything a nice mix and cook it low and slow for about 30 – 45 minutes. You know your chili is ready when the texture is nice and thick, almost like a stew. Taste for seasonings and re-season if you feel your chili is lacking anything. I like to serve this with a nice helping of white rice and some Jiffy Cornbread. Garnish with lots of cheese (hence the Mexican three cheese blend), a dollop of sour cream and some sliced green onion, just like my grandma did. Long live Grandma Sandy and Happy Eating!!

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