Theresa's Short-Skirt Chili

This chili starts on the grill, not in the pot. Skirt steak gets marinated in a honey and soy sauce glaze, charred over high heat until the edges are almost blackened, then sliced into strips and simmered with a homemade ancho chile sauce. The result is a beef chili with layers of flavor most recipes never achieve: smoky char, fruity ancho heat, sweet honey glaze, and tender, shredded meat.

The ancho sauce is built from dried ancho chiles soaked in boiling water for an hour, then blended with garlic into a smooth, brick-red puree. Start with half the sauce and add more throughout the cook. Anchos are mild but their earthy, almost raisin-like sweetness intensifies as the chili reduces.

No beans here. This is a meat-forward, Texas-leaning chili where the beef is the star and the sauce is the supporting cast. Water or beer barely covers the meat, and everything simmers until the skirt steak is fork-tender.

Pro Tips

• Grill the skirt steak hot and fast. You want a hard char on the outside while the center stays medium. The long simmer in the pot finishes the cooking.
• Cut the grilled steak across the grain into thin strips. Skirt steak has a strong grain, and cutting with it makes chewy, stringy pieces.
• Save some grilled steak strips before they go in the pot. The recipe says “set aside a little for snacking” and that’s genuinely good advice.
• Add the ancho sauce gradually. You can always add more, but you can’t take it out.

Variations

• Use beer instead of water for the braising liquid. A dark Mexican lager adds malty depth.
• Add a can of black beans in the last 30 minutes if you want beans despite the Texas purist tradition.
• Top with diced avocado, sour cream, and a squeeze of lime.