Crock Pot Chili

This recipe has been updated from the original version posted thirteen years ago. 

For something so simple, with relatively few ingredients, chili con carne, or chili with meat, a.k.a. "chili," has developed a whole lot of mystique, much of which I deem unwarranted. Chili cook-offs as originally created in the late sixties were more drunk-fests than competitions. Even chili cook-offs today are based on recipes that are largely a matter of subjectivity that may or may not resemble the original dish called "chili" as known by West Texas cooks that were influenced by ingredients common among Mexican border towns, and serve as little more than fodder for the Food Network and/or the Travel Channel.

Chili basically started off as meat, onion and spices in a broth of water and maybe some stock. Tomato was never in nineteenth century versions of this concoction and has only recently come about in modern recipes, probably starting out with cooks pouring a bit of tomato juice into the stew to give it some added richness and depth. Spices generally include cumin, garlic and of course, chili powder, from the Cayenne chili pepper that has been dried and ground. But these days, chili powder is not just chili powder anymore. Today, there are thousands of blends in varying degrees of heat and made from a very broad range of peppers from the chili family, including Ancho, Chipotle and Habanero.

I've been making chili for years and eating chili forever. While one could write books on it and the whole southwest chili culture, I prefer to present a fairly easy, delicious chili recipe without all the hype. This is a recipe you can throw together in a crock pot sometime after coffee in the morning and allow it to cook all day. The longer it cooks, the better. In fact, this chili really tastes better after it has been refrigerated and re-heated the next day. It's better than anything you will get out of a can. It isn't the quintessential chili recipe, but it works very well indeed. 

This recipe calls for ground beef, but if you're wanting a less fat, you can make it with ground turkey. If you do use ground beef, be sure it's ground chuck, not sirloin, and look for an 80:20 lean to fat ratio.

I prefer chili without beans, but if you want beans, the true chili aficionado will always cook them separately and then mix them at the last minute in your serving bowl. Traditionalists use kidney beans, but I prefer pinto beans. I think they are creamier in texture and have a milder flavor that compliments rather than overpowers the chili. A simple recipe follows.

Ingredients 
For the chili
2 lbs ground 80:20 beef chuck
2 medium yellow and/or sweet onions, finely diced (like, Vidalia or Texas 1015)
3 tbsp minced garlic
2 ea 14.5 oz cans "petite" diced tomatoes (like, Hunts)
1 ea 10 oz can Original Ro-Tel (click here if you don't know what this is)
2 ea 14 oz cans tomato sauce
1 tbsp Ancho chili powder
2 tbsp regular or "Mexican"chili powder
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground oregano
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 table package Splenda
1 tbsp smoked salt (like, San Francisco Salt Company Cherry Wood)
10 grinds freshly cracked black pepper
vegetable oil for cooking

Note: For a larger Crock Pot, add the following:
1/2 lb more ground beef
1 additional can tomato sauce
1 additional can "petite" diced tomatoes
1/2 additional tbsp chili powder
1/2 additional tbsp Ancho chili powder

The Recipe
Pour boiling water into the crock pot and set on ‘high’ and then put on its cover. This will bring the crock pot up to temperature and hasten the cooking time. If time isn't an issue, you can skip this step.

Sauté the onions and fresh garlic in a cooking pot with some vegetable oil. When the onions are just beginning to caramelize, add a bit more vegetable oil and sauté the ground chuck until gray. As the beef starts to brown a bit, combine all the remaining ingredients. Bring to a simmer for ten minutes.

Pour out the hot water and fill the crock pot with the simmering chili. Cover and cook on ‘high’ for two hours; reduce to the ‘low’ setting and allow to cook the chili for at least five more hours.

Ingredients
For the beans
1 lb bag dried pinto beans (you can use kidney beans if you prefer, which is more traditional)
water to soak and water to cover
2 cups liquid chicken stock (like, Swanson's or Kitchen Basics)
1 small white onion, finely diced
1/4 lb salt pork or fat back, diced
2 tsp fresh garlic, minced
2 tbsp dried thyme
2 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp chili powder
salt & pepper to taste

Recipe
For the beans
Rinse the beans under cold water through a colander and always look for small pebbles.

Put beans in a cooking pot with enough cold water to cover the beans by four inches, and then bring to a boil. Allow the beans to boil rapidly for three minutes, then turn the heat off, cover the pot and let it sit for one hour.

After an hour, pour the beans through a colander, discarding the soaking water.

Place the beans and all remaining ingredients into the pot with enough cold water over the beans to cover them by three inches.

Simmer covered for six hours or until the beans are tender.

If you want to use a crock pot to cook your beans, follow the same soaking directions, and then assemble the dish in the pot, cover and cook four hours on high and another 4-6 hours on low. Stir once or twice during the course of the day.

Use a slotted spoon to drain the beans when you transfer them to your chili bowl, then ladle the chili on top of the beans.