2 pounds dried Pinto beans
2 pounds ground chuck (coarse ground if you have
it)
1 - 12 to 16 ounce can tomato paste
2 - large cans whole peeled tomatoes
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes and chilies
2 large yellow onions diced or chopped
5 or 6 cloves of garlic diced, sliced, or minced
7 or 8 table spoons of Cumin powder
3 or 4 table spoons of Cayenne pepper
Equipment:
3 or 4 gallon heavy gauge pot with lid
cutting board
knife
can opener
Cooking time:
About 4 hours
Instructions:
Wash and sort the beans, then add to the pot and cover with water. Be generous with the water, you can cook it out, but if there isn't enough the beans will be hard and or burn. Bring the beans to a boil in lightly salted water. Once the beans have come to a rolling boil, cover and remove from the heat. Let stand for 2 hours.
After 2 hours the beans have absorbed a lot of the water. Make sure there is enough to cover them completely before resuming cooking. Boil the beans again. Once they have come to a rolling boil, reduce the heat and simmer uncovered until the beans are tender to falling apart and most of the water has boiled off. The brown liquid that is left below the soft beans is what is known at pot liqueur. Cook it down until the pot liqueur is pretty thick. While the beans are cooking down, brown the meat. Add about a third of the onions to the meat while it is browning
When the beans are ready, add the rest of the onions, the garlic and some cumin powder to the beans. Stir in all of the tomato products and the meat once it is browned. Reduce the heat on the chili and let simmer. When the onions are clear begin seasoning to taste. Remember to allow four or five minutes between stirring in the new seasonings before tasting and adjusting again. The cumin and cayenne do not release all of their flavor they have been heated with the liquid for a while. Too much cumin will make the chili bitter, although that would take a lot of cumin. Too much cayenne will keep the kids from enjoying the chili.
Season and salt to taste and that's it. It
takes a long time to cook the beans down, but the rest is simple, just
watch it so it doesn't burn and eat it while it's hot. It actually
tastes better the next day. I tend to make a batch on the weekend
and freeze it, so all I have to do is microwave it for dinner during the
week.
courtesy of www.dougriddle.com
Back to Doug's Recipe page.