I closed the garden down for the season this weekend and brought in the last few pounds of jalapeños, but what to do with them?  After giving away whatever anyone at work would take, I still had too many leftover for salsa.  The solution?  Why chili, of course.



Clockwise from the upper left: Kosher salt; Ground dried New Mexico chiles; Smoked paprika; Ground cumin; Dried oregano; Beer; Tomato juice (strained off salted fresh tomatoes from my garden, which went in to a batch of pico de gallo I made over the weekend); Beef broth concentrate; Fresh jalapeños (54 by count, according to the kids); a few cloves of garlic; two medium onions; and a 3-1/2 lb chuck roast.  Not pictured are a couple of whimsy additions--namely molasses and red pepper flake.

We start by toasting the spices for our homemade chili powder:


Then we add the tomato juice, bring it to a simmer, incorporate the beef broth concentrate; and let the whole mess reduce to a nice syrup:


Meanwhile, in a cast iron dutch oven, we sweat our finely-diced onion and jalapeños (yes, all of them) in a bit of vegetable oil with a pinch of salt:


Once those have turned soft and translucent, add a pinch of red pepper flake and the crushed garlic and cook for about a minute:


The chili powder reduction should now be ready to add to the aromatics.  I also threw in a splash of molasses just to round out the flavor a bit:


With that stirred together, we can turn our attention to the beef.  Prep the roast by removing excess connective tissue, fat, any and all silverskin, and cubing it to about 3/4" pieces.  Season liberally with kosher salt:


Heavily brown the beef in your skillet.  Do this in batches so you don't overcrowd the pan, which would prevent good browning:


When it's good and brown, add it to the pot.  You'll have a nice crusty fond on the bottom of your skillet.  Deglaze this with some of the beer (make sure to save enough for each batch to come) and then pour off that liquid into the pot as well:


After all the batches of beef and beer have been added, bring the pot back to a simmer.  Once simmering, lid up and set it in a 300ºF oven until the beef is perfectly tender, about two hours:


Now I'm waiting.  It will be ready soon.  Pics will follow...

It's only an experiment in that I've never used so many of a single type of chile before.  I don't expect it to pack a lot of heat, but it should deliver pretty nicely on flavor.  If nothing else, it's a good way to use up the last of my garden harvest and a decent chuck roast that I found at a good price.  The whole mess costs less than $15, and most of that was for the beef and beer.  Best of all, the wife and kids won't want any.

No beans

I said "chili" did I not?

No kidding.

Not sure if serious

No beans=no chili, just meat spicy meat with sauce and onions

Looks good though

Finally.  Someone that uses a respectable amount of chiles.

Looks good OP.  I'd forgo the tomato product though.

No pics of the noodles boiling?

 

It was sitting there (I was going to make Spanish rice with it), and I needed a liquid for the beef broth concentrate; so I figured why not bring some extra flavor to the party?  Initial taste tests were favorable.

Results in twenty minutes, or so...

Beer is all you need.  Maybe a shot or two of bourbon.

That's some good looking stew.

The bean slurpin' commies are coming out of the woodwork tonight.

I'm non-committal on the the thing that must not be named, but that's some damn good looking chili.

That looks damn good

Needs rice and beans.

Looks good!

Not quite tender yet.  I'm giving it another 20 minutes.

...and I'm in.....

Heretic.

What?  No beans!?

Looks great! Its chili, not bean soup.

Real chili!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not bean soup.

I like beans in my chili, but that looks pretty damn good.

Shut up

Looks pretty good!
I'm having chili for supper too.


Heineken? At least drink Grolsch if you're going Dutch.

My favorite base is usually red chili puree with new mexico and chipotle dried peppers. If I want to make a fusion chili of Mexican and Yankee, I'll do this and then add sauted diced onion, jalapeno and habanero, along with whole roasted and peeled anaheims. If I feel wealthy, I will add cubed steak and be done. If I feel poor, I will add ground beef and beans.



My advice is to come up with a good red chili sauce that can be used for lots of things, and just play with it for fun. That's what I usually do. Also, if you want to greatly enhance flavor and can handle habaneros, try adding ghost peppers instead. Sub one ghost pepper for every three habaneros you would normally put in. I think you will find that ghost peppers have a fantastic flavor that is well worth the exorbitant cost. I one day hope to have a garden where I will exclusively make hot peppers.

In the oven? Damn the beans...THE OVEN?!?!?

WHAT MANNER OF BLASPHEMY IS THIS?!?!!!!

dis gone be good!

It is finished.



And it is marvelous.  Pretty basic, really.  There's not much muss or fuss, in fact I can't really think of a way to simplify it.  It's a great baseline for future tweaking.  I'm pleased with my dinner.

To all the beanie heathens--let's see any of you do this with your "meat sauce":

WINNING!

I don't drink at all, and was just looking for an inexpensive lager (on the recommendation of some beer-snob coworkers) I could buy singly out of the grocery cooler.  It fit the bill.  It's really tasty in the finished chili.

Nice spaghetti sauce.

choke yourself

I made chili once w 1/2 dozen habeneros.  This will end a lot like that one........

GD has lowered my standards.  If it doesn't have fish and cat hair in it, you're GTG.

Precision temperature control and evenness of heating.

I always do my braises in the oven.

Leftovers made the best Frito pie I've ever eaten.  

I've been living in Iowa too long.  I've lost some of my tolerance for spicy foods.  May be time to get back to the Southwest...

...

I may need to prepare my anus on this comment, but I wouldn't mind throwing in a few fritos chips to add a bit of crunch.

People...

Rice, beans, cornbread, even (ungh) Fritos... are all fine if you feel the need for a side dish.  If you must have a starch with your meat, go for it.

But to collude them together, cook them that way, as if they belong that way?

That's like blending a burrito into a smoothie and drinking it.

Fantastic.  Looks great!  And not a store bought can of anything in sight (minus beer).  Well done!  

Yes, because someone from Washington really knows WTF they're talking about when it comes to chili.

That ain't chili.. Missing the beans. Looks good though.

Your meat sauce look like it would be good over a bed of rice

You done great.

I was afraid to open this thread for fear of seeing beans in your recipe.

10/10

That looks like some tasty chili. Nice post, and congrats on using all the $3 cooking terms. When you "deglaze" the "crusty fond" can you put this in laymen's terms? All I can figure is something I saw in an old Jenna Jamison movie...

Is the spaghetti in the bottom of the bowl?

Mmmmmmm....meat sauce

I still don't get the "no beans" with chili.  It just seems pointless to me but I'm glad you like it