Cooking With Beer: Chili

While the Super Bowl this past Sunday saw Tom Brady win number seven (not a Buccaneers fan but happy for my guy) I was able to make chili. Now, whenever I make chili, I do tend to experiment a little with my spice paste and with the beer.

Finished Product

When it comes to beer in chili I have seen people use Mexican style lagers and saisons but I have always had great success with stouts and porters. Typically, I stay away from pastry stouts as I think their sweetness would have an adverse effect with the meat. I also stay away from stouts and porters with certain flavors like peanut butter, marshmallow, coconut, and vanilla. I look for stouts and porters that feature chocolate, coffee, and oatmeal. I did recently experiment with a milk stout that produced an exceptional batch of chili, my theory is that the lactose in the stout acted similar to the milk/cream that is added when making a Bolognese sauce to make it creamier. It did produce a richer chili. I also try to go with imperial stouts as the flavors are more intense. This time I used an oatmeal stout from Beer On Earth called ‘Stout’s Meal’ that produced a slightly lighter chili that was still quite delicious. Here is the recipe so you can try it for yourself.

Spice Paste:

2 dried ancho chilis

3 dried pasilla chilis

5-6 dried arbol chilis (these are for spice, add/reduce to increase/decrease spiciness)

¼ cup dried Dominican Oregano (Mexican or Italian is fine)

2 tablespoons black peppercorns

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon thyme

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (optional)

1 tablespoon cornmeal (optional)

 

Chili

3lbs chuck roast (or 1lb chuck roast/1lb of 80/20 ground beef)

2 medium sized onions (I prefer vedalia)

1 jalapeno pepper

1 tablespoon canola oil

3 large cloves of garlic

1 16 oz beer

2 cans crushed tomatoes

1 can red kidney beans

1 bay leaf

Salt and Black Pepper to taste 

Method:

For the chili paste, cut/tear the chilis into small pieces and remove the seeds. Place them into a dry pan and lightly toast them until they are warm and fragrant. Then add about two cups or enough water to cover them. Bring to a boil and let go for about two minutes. Kill the heat and then let them steep for at least ten minutes. In another pan toast the cumin seeds and black peppercorns until they are fragrant. Next place them into a spice grinder and grind into a fine powder. Combine the chilis, water, black pepper, cumin, oregano, thyme, cocoa powder, and cornmeal into a blender and blend into a smooth paste.

For the meat, I typically take a three-pound chuck roast and cut it in half and grind the fatty portion into ground beef and cut the leaner half into half-inch pieces. If you do not have a meatgrinder get 80/20 ground beef and a 1lb chuck roast and cut that into half-inch pieces. Next, roughly chop the onions and jalapeno pepper and set aside. In a very hot dutch oven or pot add the oil and pieces of the chuck roast to sear adding salt and black pepper and once seared, remove from the pot and let sit. Next, add the ground beef pressing hard to the bottom of the pot to get a hard sear. Add salt and black pepper and once well browned remove from the pot. Then, reduce the heat to medium and add the onions and jalapeno and sauté until they are slightly translucent and grate the garlic into the pot and cook for roughly one minute. Now add the meat back to the pot and thoroughly combine with the spice paste and cook for another minute or so. Next add the beer to the chili and bring to a boil stirring so it does not burn. Scrape the bottom of the pot to release all of the fond and reduce until only about four ounces are left. Now add in the tomatoes, one can of water, and the beans with the bay leaf and stir thoroughly. Bring to a simmer and reduce the heat to low and let simmer for about two to three hours stirring occasionally. If you like a thicker chili then let it reduce further or if it gets too thick then add some more water.

Garnish with cheddar cheese, green onion, and sour cream to enjoy. Feel free to experiment with your choice of beer and let me know what works for you.