Beef Chili and Beans

Spring, summer, fall or winter, there's nothing like a bowl of chili and corn bread. For the following recipe, we use either beef or venison round steak - can use lamb as well -that has cooked in the crock pot until very tender.





Meat Ingredients

2-3 Lbs of beef, venison, or lamb round steak
6-Cups hot water
2-3 Beef bouillion cubes
2 TBS Montreal steak seasoning
1 TBS cumin

Cut steaks in half or quarters and place in crock pot. Pour in water, and add bouillion cubes, seasoning, and cumin. Stir. Turn crock pot to high. It should be cooked in 3-4 hours.

Remove when cooked and let cool on a plate. When cooled, break into silver dollar sized pieces and place in food processer with the steel blade. Pulse until the meat is slightly smaller than bite-sized pieces. We don't use ground meat because by the time the chili is cooked, it has no definition or bite.

Chili Ingredients

Chili and beans

1 medium onion, chopped
2 pound of the meat you decided to cook
2-4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
2 large cloves garlic, minced
3 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice (or 2-10Oz cans of Rotel diced tomatoes and
chopped green chillis
4 cups red beans, with liquid

DIRECTIONS:

In a large pot, cook onions and chopped meat in olive oil over medium heat. Stir frequently.

When onions are soft and meat browned, season with red pepper flakes, basil, cumin, cinnamon, garlic, chili powder, dried oregano, cocoa powder, sugar, and bay leaf, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 1 or 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and beans. Increase heat to bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes or until it thickens


FYI - the chocolate has absolutely no taste in the final product. It primarily provides a depth of color.

You can also add potatoes or squash slices to the chili if you're of the mind to.

Serve with corn bread with 2 Oz. Mexican corn added to the batter.