My father made chili. My whole family loved it. I hated it. I would sit very quietly and eat bread and butter and hope no one would notice that I was eating only the tiniest portion possible to spoon onto a plate. I was grown before I realized that not liking Daddy’s chili wasn’t a rejection of him, just a rejection of spicy food - which I still don’t like. My chili is mild to the
point of being dull. I like it that way. If you like it spicier, you can add more chili powder.
(You could also, I suppose, add onions. Daddy did.)
INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 pounds or so of stew beef
1 pound of lean hamburger
5 or 6 ripe tomatoes
salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder
basil, marjoram, sage
chili powder
1 giant, huge, oversize can of kidney beans (the kind about 9" tall)
grated cheddar cheese
PROCEDURE:
- Put a large saucepan of hot water on to boil.
- Heat the olive oil in the bottom of a dutch oven. Cast iron works especially well for this since the pan is thick and distributes the heat evenly.
- Cut the stew beef into small chunks - about 1/2" square - and toss into the dutch oven to brown.
Add the hamburger, and stir to break it up. Keep the heat at medium and stir frequently.
- Scald the tomatoes in the boiling water (put one in, count to ten, and take it out)
and remove their skins. Cut each tomato in four or five chunks and toss them into the pot with the beef.
- Add your seasonings to the pot. I sprinkle the herbs lightly, and go heavier with the other seasonings, except, of course, the chili powder. I use about a teaspoon, sometimes less.
- Cook over a very low heat, stirring frequently, until the tomatoes have completely cooked down and there is no longer anything that looks like a chunk of tomato - just meat bubbling in red goo.
- Now drain the kidney beans by using a can opener on the top then holding the round top piece
down while you pour off the juice. Without removing the beans, add water to the can,
swish it around, and drain it off as before. Now add the beans to your pot. Mix them up with the meat mixture and heat a few minutes longer.
- You can now serve it forth, OR put it in a crock pot on low for an interminable amount of time.
- Try serving it over hot rice with sharp cheddar cheese grated on top of the chili.