Joe Cooper's Chili

A Texas Bowl of Red, Old-School and Bean-Free

This is chili the way Texans argue it should be: chunks of beef, dried chiles, and aromatics. No beans, no tomatoes, no apologies. Joe Cooper’s recipe sears the meat in olive oil just to grey, never browning fully, which keeps the beef tender through the long simmer rather than tightening up like it would with hard-seared cubes.

The pinch of cocoa is the move that pushes this from good to memorable. It doesn’t make the chili taste chocolatey. It deepens the chile flavor and rounds out the bitterness from the cayenne and paprika the way a touch of unsweetened cocoa rounds out a mole. The 6 tablespoons of cornmeal mixed with flour is the traditional Texas thickening trick, giving the finished pot a glossy, almost gravy-like body that clings to every cube of beef.

Pro Tips

• Toast the dried chiles in a dry skillet for 30 seconds before steeping them. It blooms their oils and triples their depth.
• Pull the bay leaves at the 15-minute mark like the recipe says. Leaving them in too long turns the broth bitter and slightly medicinal.
• Make the flour-cornmeal slurry with cold water, never hot, to avoid lumps.
• Skim seriously. Three pounds of beef releases a lot of fat, and a clean surface makes for cleaner flavor.
• This chili improves overnight. Make it a day ahead, refrigerate, and reheat gently the next day.

Variations

• Substitute beef chuck for stew meat. Higher fat, more flavor, more tender after a long simmer.
• Add a couple of strips of crisp bacon, crumbled, with the spices for a smoky undertone.
• Stir in 2 tablespoons of strong black coffee with the cocoa for an even darker, richer pot.