Texas-Style Chili

Last Wednesday I made Texas-Style Chili.  This one is probably not for kids (I say this because my children who eat just about anything couldn't eat this).  It's got some heat.  So, if you are a lover of spicy foods, this is a good recipe to try.  Denis absolutely loved this chili.  I will for sure make it again!  I would advise to make this on a weekend when you've got some time on your hands.  I made this on a Wednesday and it took just way to long.  We didn't eat until 7:30pm (and started at 4pm).  This recipe came from the Food Network Kitchens cookbook.  I actually checked this cookbook out from the library... did you know you could check cookbooks out from the library?!?!  I didn't... I'm extremely excited about this!!!!! :-D 

This chili was good, but if you've got a sensitive tongue, make sure you've got a gallon of milk handy!!

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
7 ripe medium tomatoes (about 4 lbs)
2 medium onions, quartered through the root end
2 poblano chiles
2 jalapenos
8 cloves garlic
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, chopped
1 tbsp dried oregano (preferably Mexican oregano)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (preferably Mexican cinnamon)
1/4 tsp ground cloves
4 lbs beef chuck, cut into 1/2 cubs
1 1/2 tbsp kosher salt, plus additional for seasoning
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 chili powder, plus 2 tsp
1/4 cup ground cumin, plus 2 tsp
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 12 oz bottles Mexican lager-style beer
2 cups water

Garnishments - sour cream, shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, chopped scallions, and/or salsa

Directions
1.  Position a rack about 6 inches from the broiler and preheat to high.  Line a broiler pan with foil.  Spread the tomatoes, onions, poblanos, jalapenos and garlic on the pan and broil, turning until charred on all sides.  Cool slightly.  Stem the roasted chiles, catching the juices and seeds that run onto the pan, and put them in a food processor with the tomatoes, onions, garlic and chipotles.  Pulse until coarsely textured; add the oregano, cinnamon and cloves and pulse briefly.
2.  Spread the meat out on a sheet of aluminum foil, pat dry, and season generously with salt.  Heat some of the oil in a Dutch oven or other heavy bottom pot over high heat and brown some of the meat well on all sides, taking care not to crowd the pot.  Transfer the cooked meat to a plate and repeat until all of the meat is cooked.
3.  Whisk the 1/3 cup chili powder, 1/4 cup cumin and the flour into the meat drippings to make a paste.  Whisk in the beer.  Return the meat to the pot along with the collected juices, the tomato mixture, the water and the 1 1/2 tbsp salt.  Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.  Uncover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the meat is tender and the sauce is thick, about 1 hour.
4.  Just before serving, stir in the remaining 2 tsp each of chili powder and cumin. 

Side Notes:
1.  I bought a big beef chuck roast and cut it myself into 1/2-inch cubes.  This saved A LOT of money.  It's time consuming, but worth the money.  Plus - you can shave off a lot of the fat that way.
2.  Ground cloves are VERY expensive.  A small container ON SALE was $10.00.  I would suggest buying the ground cloves in a bulk section.  I know Sprouts and Winco carries spices in their bulk sections.  Any store that has a bulk section, probably has ground cloves.  I got 1 oz of ground cloves for $.71 as opposed to paying $10 for 2 oz.
3.  The recipe says to save the seeds... I knew this dish was going to be spicy enough, so I discarded the seeds.  That's where a lot of the heat is in chiles.  If you like spicy, keep the seeds.
4.  I used regular oregano and cinnamon.  Couldn't find Mexican spices in the regular grocery store.  If you have a Mexican market near you (there are several in LaHabra for those of you in North OC) they will have the Mexican oregano and cinnamon.
5.  I served with homemade cornbread.  Cornbread is the obvious side dish to chili and it helped cut some of the heat too.

If you like heat, I hope you give this chili a try.  It really was tasty!  And if you've got a cold, it'll clear you sinus' too! LOL