Expert Chili

This is the kind of chili the old-timers make. Dried pinto beans soaked overnight, coarsely ground beef browned hard in the bottom of a Dutch oven, tomato paste thinned with water (no canned tomatoes here, on purpose), and a serious dose of red pepper flakes plus a tablespoon of cumin. Then five hours on a low simmer until the beans break down just enough to thicken the pot but still hold their shape, and the meat shreds with the back of a spoon.

The coarsely ground beef is the recipe’s signature. Standard-grind ground beef turns to mush in a long simmer; coarse-ground keeps its texture and gives the chili a meatier bite that’s worth asking the butcher for.

Serve with cornbread, sour cream, shredded cheddar, and chopped raw onion piled on top.

Pro Tips

• Don’t skip the overnight soak. Quick-soak methods leave beans unevenly hydrated and they cook unevenly during the long simmer.
• Brown the beef hard before adding anything else. The fond on the bottom of the pot is where chili gets its depth, and you only build it once.
• Salt at the end, not the start. Salt added too early to dried beans toughens their skins and prevents them from softening properly.
• Skim the foam that rises in the first hour of simmering. The foam is bitter protein that ruins the flavor if stirred back in.
• Let the chili rest covered overnight in the fridge before reheating to serve. The flavors bloom and the chili is genuinely better on day two.

Variations

• Substitute coarsely ground chuck or hand-cut beef stew meat for a chunkier Texas-style chili.
• Add 2 chipotle peppers in adobo with the tomato paste for smoky heat.
• Stir in a square of dark chocolate and 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder for Cincinnati-style depth and complexity.