Chuck’s Chili with Beans

Large Group Recipe (Yeilds about four gallons)

Process:  (1 hr. prep time plus 3 hrs. cooking time)

Add: 1 ½ quarts water to 32 quart pot and bring to boil.

Trim and mince (fine chop) 4 lbs. onions and add to pot. I use a Cuisinart food processor to make it like “moosh”, in several batches, so it cooks down to become part of the sauce. Use part of 1 pint of water for processing with food processor and dump the balance into pot.

Sauté meat in 1 ½ lb. batches and add 1 Tbs. Chicken Base to each batch to flavor meat. (Stir into meat)  Add each batch to pot when browned.

Turn heat down to a medium temperature.

Add: Chili Powder, Cumin, Garlic, Cayenne, Tomato Sauce and Tostitos Salsa to pot and stir occasionally.

After 2 hrs. cooking time, add 222 oz. cooked beans with their juice to pot and turn heat down to simmer. Important! Now you must stir pot with a flat bottom spatula. Stir the bottom of the pot at 5 minute intervals to prevent the beans and juice from burning and ruining the chili. Finish cooking at 3 hrs.

Adjust recipe to your taste and enjoy!

Some Notes:

If the chili appears too thick you can add a half bottle of beer and drink the other half!

To thicken sauce, you may add some flour in water (simple roux) Stir into sauce well and stir regularly to keep from setteling to bottom of pot and clumping.

Excess Chili freezes well in smaller meal size containers or zip-locks.

Like soups and stew, Chili tastes better the next day, because the flavors have had a chance to marry.

Experiment and have fun.