John & Carolyn's End of the Millennium Chili

There is a story that a friend of mine, Terry Jackson, told me about his entry into Pepper Construction Company's annual chili contest. Terry takes cooking seriously and he took the chili contest very seriously. He prepared for a week in advance. He bought pork shoulder, seasoned it lovingly and cooked it in a low oven for 8 or 10 hours. He bought a beef sirloin, salted it nicely and cooked it for 8 hours. And then he spent a couple of hours finely dicing the meat by hand before adding it to a pot with ground beef. His recipe listed an entire page of spices and seasoning. He literally spent days preparing the winning entry. On the contest day, Terry shmoozed with the judges and basked in a winner's confidence. A woman who decided, the night beforehand, to enter the contest, using ordinary hamburger, tomato sauce from a can and a package of chili seasoning won. Terry renamed his recipe "Loser's Chili." I still have it, but I can;t imagine undertaking to make it. Carolyn and I concocted the following relatively simple recipe in and make it at least a couple of times each winter. We made it a couple of night ago, but didn't have any smoked chipotle sauce, so I added another tablespoon of chili powder.

Serves 8 to 10

4 tablespoons olive oil
3 large onions, diced
All the cloves of a bulb of garlic, crushed
1-1/2 pounds ground round
1-1/2 pounds ground chuck
4 tablespoons chili powder
3 tablespoon smoked chipotle sauce
OR 1 tablespoon ground chipotle chili pepper
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried basil
3 tablespoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme
3 tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Liquid Smoke
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes with added puree
(or any canned tomatoes plus a small can of tomato sauce)
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1 can (14 oz.) black beans
1 can light red kidney beans
1 can dark red kidney beans
1 tablespoon salt

Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat and add onions. Sauté onions over fairly high heat, stirring often, until they are translucent and starting to caramelize; about 10 minutes.

Add the ground beef and sauté until brown, breaking up meat with back of spoon; about 5 minutes.

Add all the spices and mix well. Mix in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, and beans (drained). Stir well. Simmer, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, 45 minutes. Thin with beer or chicken broth, if needed (unlikely).

Serve with cheddar goldfish crackers.

(Re-heat over low heat before serving, to prevent burning.)