Unlike some cooks who keep their recipes under lock and key, I believe great food should be shared and enjoyed. And as I like to say, you can make my recipe but you can’t necessarily make my chili. As any good chili cook will tell you, technique is just as important to a great batch of red as the ingredients themselves, so be prepared to try several different cooking methods as you search for that perfect gravy consistency and level of heat that’s most appealing to you.
With that, here’s my very own competition chili recipe that I used to win the 2009 DC101 Chili Cook-Off:
- 1 1/2 lbs. chuck shoulder steak
- 1 1/2 lbs. top sirloin steak
- 1 cup (1 bottle) T-Rev's Stiff Willi Chili™ Spice Mix
- 1 small yellow onion, minced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 whole green Ortega chiles (from a 4 oz can), seeded and minced
- 14 oz. can Swanson’s chicken broth
- 14 oz. can Swanson’s beef broth
- 10.75 oz. can Hunt’s tomato puree
- Salt, hot sauce to taste
(Optional: 1 thick-cut pork loin chop for added flavor)
Directions: Cut beef into 1/4” cubes and store in vacuum-sealed bag if not using immediately. (Freezing steaks 5-6 hrs prior to preparation makes cutting much easier.)
Add 2 tbsp. vegetable oil to large pot and sweat onion with 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt. In a separate pan, brown beef with 1 tbsp. Crisco shortening, 2 tsp. Kosher salt, and 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce until meat is no longer pink. Drain completely of fat using a colander and set aside.
Add broths and tomato puree to pot and bring to boil. Add half of the spice mix, half of the green chiles, beef, and pork chop and stir. Cook covered at barely a simmer for one hour, then add second half of spice mix. Cook an additional hour. Remove pork chop and add remaining green chiles. Reduce to gravy consistency. |
