Some time back, a user posted their chilli recipe. I’ve had to have a few tries, but I got pretty good at it (at least good to my sensibilities).

You need:

  • 1 kg ground beef, preferably reasonably fatty
  • 2 onions
  • a few cloves of garlic
  • a bit of red wine
  • and a bit of oil to start the onions and beef
  • 1 bellpepper, if you want
  • 1 can black beans
  • 1 can kidney beans
  • 1 more can of whichever beans you prefer
  • 1-2 cans crushed tomatoes
  • all the spices you like. I like nutmeg, marjoram, bay leaves (2), salt, pepper, oregano, and of course cumin (a lot of cumin for chilli)
  • just a bit of four or five spices mix if you want to try it, it could add an interesting sweet/savoury combination, but it’s very potent. Just two-three pinches should be more than enough.
  • if you feel bougie, pine seeds. Yes, pine seeds.
  • for the heat, I use my own chili oil which I will also post about right after this

Does this not look like a normal chilli? You’re right, it’s 10 times better.

What happens with the beans and meat is the fat and fibers seem to interact and create something very specific in terms of texture and flavour, which we can improve with the use of seasoning and herbs.

This makes around 2.4 kilograms of chilli which will make 6-8 portions. You can also easily freeze it, it works great.

First things first, prep time. Cut your onions in half and slice them. Dice your garlic – the more you crush garlic, the better it gets. Cut your bellpepper in squares or triangles.

Then let’s start cooking. Cook up the meat in a sliver of oil inside a very deep pan on high heat. The pan should be able to hold 5 litres in volume and you’ll have to stir as you add ingredients to reduce the space they take. It definitely works in a 5 litre pan but you’ll need to give it some help.

Once the meat is around 70% cooked, add the onions. Stir the meat constantly to get it cooked evenly.

Once both are cooked (meat is browned and onions get translucent), add a dash of red wine and stir until mostly evaporated.

Then, add all the cans as well as the bellpepper that you’ve cut up. You can also add the garlic at this stage as it cannot overcook in liquids. Stir until it forms a homogenous mix and at this point, I would wait until the content starts boiling and then reduce the heat to medium so that it keeps cooking but doesn’t boil on you.

Stir until everything is even and integrated, and then add the spices and the pine seeds if you have them as well as your chili pepper. Add 2 bay leaves and don’t forget to remove them later (though fun fact, you can eat bay leaves obviously and if you crush them very finely, you can just leave them in the chilli. They taste good).

If you need more liquid, add another can of tomatoes. Chilli is not a soup, the point of the water content (from the can of tomatoes) is that it helps dissolve the spices and cook everything evenly. You really don’t need a lot of liquid.

Once you’ve stirred enough, taste it and adjust spices as needed. Honestly you can go ahead with the seasoning, you have 2 and a half kilos of chilli in there. I find I prefer salted chilli, it gives it a more “natural” flavour.

And that’s it. Leave it on low-medium heat for 45 minutes or more (just be careful about boiling off all the water, you still want just a bit). Afterwards, let it cool down to room temperature, portion your chilli in containers and freeze them!