The above photo is an “everything is in the pot” shot, not the finished chili, which must be simmered for two hours after this stage.
I have a go-to chili recipe that uses ground beef, black beans and red bell pepper. I keep it in my Notes application so that it’s available on my laptop and my phone (along with other recipes). Today I’m at Cook’s Illustrated perusing their chili recipes and I find a pretty deep cut: Beef Chili with Bacon and Black Beans. As I read the recipe I realize that this is my recipe, the one I make a few times every year. It has the exact same ingredient list, each in the exact same amounts, and all the instructions are the same. Except for one thing: the recipe I have been making for years has no bacon. Why on earth would I have changed this? I mean, sure, on occasion if you wanted to lighten it up or something, but in that case you just omit it, you don’t remove it from the recipe.
Clearly I removed it deliberately, because in place of the first step–frying the bacon and cooking the veg in 2 tablespoons of its fat–I put two tablespoons of vegetable oil.
I’m making this again soon and I’m putting the bacon back in.
- 8 ounces (8 strips) bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 2 cups onions, chopped fine
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch squares
- 6 cloves minced garlic (2 tbsp)
- 1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes with juice
- 1 can (28 oz) tomato purée
- 2 lbs 85% lean ground beef
- 2 15oz cans black beans
- 1/4 cup chili powder
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1. Fry bacon in Dutch oven over medium heat until browned. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons fat, leaving bacon in pot. Add onions, bell pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, pepper flakes, oregano and cayenne. Stir occasionally until vegetables are softened and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. If it starts to burn on the bottom of the pot, stir in a few tablespoons of water as needed. Increase heat to medium-high and add half the beef. Cook until no longer pink. Add remaining beef and cook until no longer pink.
2. Add beans, tomatoes, tomato purée, and one half teaspoon of salt. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer covered stirring occasionally for one hour. Remove cover and continue to simmer one hour longer stirring occasionally. Continue to simmer until beef is tender and chili is dark, rich and slightly thickened.