Time to make the chili!

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It's probably not too hard to believe that when I was a much younger fellow, I wasn't really a fan of chili. I'm not really sure what it was that turned me off about it. If I had to guess, it was probably the large hunks of onions, peppers, and tomatoes that set my "no thank you" into overdrive.

Thankfully, I grew out of that phase, and while tomatoes still aren't my absolute favorite (with some exceptions), I absolutely love onions, peppers, and a good variety of other vegetables now.

About once a year I make a big batch of chili and I freeze it in different containers to eat throughout the Winter. Given the fact that I use beef in my chili, @mrsbozz wants nothing to do with it and that means I have a whole batch of it all to myself each year.

Some time ago, @ericvancewalton gave me the recipe he uses for Cincinnati style chili. I'm a bit sorry to say, I still haven't tried it. I tend to kind of make things up as I go and given the fact that this was my first batch of the year, I kind of wanted to do things my way.

Looking back now, I maybe should have used his recipe, but I will explain that in a bit.

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If you have seen a package like this before, you should consider yourself a very lucky person. I don't generally buy ground beef, but when my mom told me that my cousin (who owns a farm) was getting rid of some of his beef to make room for the new cow they slaughtered, I jumped at the chance to take some off his hands (about 10 pounds). At $2 per pound, it was an absolute steal given todays prices for beef.

There's just something about "fresh" beef from a farmer that can't be beat. It shouldn't be different than the stuff you buy in the store, but it honestly is. I put fresh in quotes above because this has probably been in the freezer for about a year, but it was still delicious.

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Forget that 90/10, 80/20 stuff, the fat to meat content is probably a bit lower than that with this stuff, it just happens to be whatever the processing plant puts out. As you can see in the photo above, the marbling is pretty impressive.

To be honest though, I didn't really have to drain too much fat off after it was finished cooking. I was kind of surprised.

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While the ground beef was cooking off, I started the process of cutting up my vegetables. Like any recipe in our house, it always starts with an onion. I can't believe I used to hate these delicious vegetables, they are so amazing and flavorful. They also add so much to every dish. Give me a good Vidalia onion (not pictured), and I would eat it like an apple.

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I've watched enough Food Network in my life to know the proper way to cut an onion. I was on the fence about whether I wanted the slices hearty or more finely minced. I eventually decided on a rougher chop.

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Meanwhile, the burger was beginning to brown up.

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With the onion chopped and the burger cooking, I turned my attention to the green peppers. I'm pretty particular about seeds and ribs when I cut my peppers. I try to eliminate as much of that extra stuff as possible to leave nice clean slices of pepper like this.

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Then a nice perpendicular cut gives me the chunks I need.

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I also decided to add some heat to the chili with a couple of jalapeno peppers. I don't usually try to go the five alarm route when I am making chili. I like a bit of spice, but I also like to be able to enjoy the way the flavors work together. Like the green peppers before, I removed all the ribs and seeds to bring the heat level down just a bit from the jalapenos.

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I threw the peppers in the crock pot along with the onions and then I turned my attention to the ground beef that was finishing up. As you can see in the photo above, there was a bit of fat, but again, it wasn't as much as I expected.

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I used my handy dandy Spurtle to drain the fat off before I put the ground beef into the crock pot along with the veggies.

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I wanted to add some depth of flavor to my chili, so I cooked up about a pound of ground pork and added that to the dish. Unlike the beef, the pork came from the local butcher shop and not fresh from the farm.

If you are keeping track, so far that's one pound of ground beef, one pound of ground pork, one large onion, one green pepper, and two jalapeno peppers.

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At this point, it was time to add all my other items to the chili. You can see them in the photo above. One larger can of "crushed" tomatoes, because I still really don't care for huge tomato chunks in things. A can of seasoned chili beans, and a small can of Bush's baked beans because I think they add a sweetness to the chili without having to add raw sugar.

Folks down in Texas don't consider a dish chili if it has beans in it, but outside of Texas, the lines are a bit more blurry. Personally, I prefer beans in my chili. To each his own though.

I also finished it off with a nice bottle of Haufbrau House Oktoberfest beer.

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@mrsbozz and I recently bought this fancy electric can opener that breaks the seal instead of cutting the metal and doesn't leave any sharp edges on the can, so I had to try it out.

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I poured the beer in the tomato can after I dumped the tomatoes to try and pull all of those extra flavors that were clinging to the side of the can. Then I poured that into the crock pot.

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With just about everything in the pot and little room left to spare, it was time to add the spices to the chili before I finally let it cook off.

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Sorry, first I had to add the beans, then then spices. The spices were basically a blend of chili powder, cumin, and garlic powder. I might have also throw in a couple shakes of one of my BBQ rubs as well. Nothing too overpowering or too sweet though.

As you can see, I was pretty close to the limit of what this crock pot could handle.

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@mrsbozz preferred that I cook the chili outside so it wouldn't "smell up the house". I get where she is coming from, so I placed the crock pot out on the deck and let it slow cook for the better part of the day.

Looking back now, I think I should have done things differently. I was on the fence about using our pressure cooker, the crock pot, or our enameled cast iron dutch oven that we got a while ago. The chili tastes good, but I don't think I did a good job of developing the flavors. I also don't think the canned tomatoes had enough time to properly cook out even though I let it go pretty much all day.

I'm going to have to consider my options in the future and likely do things different. If I make a second batch this season, I will likely try out Eric's recipe.

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That being said, it still turned out really well. I don't think it is as good as the batch I made last year, but I just had a bowl for lunch and I found it quite satisfying.

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We bought these foil pans with lids a while ago and they work really well for freezing individual portions of the chili. You can then let it thaw then put it in a bowl and heat it up. The portion size is pretty much exactly enough to fit in a nice big bowl. Add some cheese and bit of sour cream to the top and it is quite divine.

I'd definitely try to add some more seasoning through the process next time and maybe cook off the veggies ahead of time just to get them a little more tender. Those things are pretty minor compared to the issue I had with the "tinny" flavor of the tomatoes. It's possible I didn't give the beer a chance to fully cook out properly either.

I still think this was a solid batch and the recipe is simple enough that you can use it or tweak it however you might want to fit your own tastes.

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All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or @mrsbozz unless otherwise sourced