All In Chili

This chili recipe is a combination of many and has all the ingredients I love and feel should be in a chili. A true chili is robust, rich and deep and a labor of love. To me, there's nothing like listening to some music on a cool morning while laying out all the ingredients to make assembling that much easier. 

If you're able, make this a day ahead. Letting it sit overnight really takes the marriage of flavors to another level. I highly recommend a full bodied cabernet like this Earthquake. My husband says this is the best chili he has ever had and right after we had it for lunch, he was on his way to deliver some to both of our parents who live 25 minutes away. I wasn't a chili fan until I had this one! 

You can use any meats you'd like, I just suggest sticking to 3 lbs as this was perfect. Terry doesn't usually like sausage in his chili but we compromised with a chicken sausage we grill and love! I thought it'd be a great idea. It comes in a package of 5 links so I just took the casing off and crumbled the meat. This chili has a kick but it's not too spicy by any means.  

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• 2 lbs grass fed lean ground beef 
• 1 lb chicken sausage, mild (I used Greenwise by Publix)
• 3 (15oz) cans kidney chili beans in a mild sauce, drained
• 1 (15oz) can chili beans in spicy sauce
• 2 (28oz) cans Rotel, original
• 1 (6oz) can tomato paste
• 1 large sweet onion, chopped
• 4 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 jalapeño peppers, diced (I seed only one)
• 2 tablespoon bacon bits
• 2-3 cups low sodium beef broth
• 1 1/2 Corona Extra or Modelo (18oz) 

• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp Tabasco
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tblsp plus 1 tsp white sugar
• 2 1/2 tblsp chili powder
• 1 tblsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tblsp minced garlic
• 1 tblsp dried oregano

1. Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Mine is 8.5" high and 10" wide. Crumble the ground chuck & chicken sausage into the hot pan (I used two pans so it would cook evenly, then combined the meats), and cook until evenly browned. Drain off excess grease. Add in the chili beans, spicy chili beans, diced tomatoes & tomato paste. Add the onion, celery, green & red bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, bacon bits, beef broth & beer. Season with cumin, hot pepper sauce, basil, salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika, sugar, chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, garlic & oregano.  
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3. Stir to blend, then cover & simmer over low heat for at least 2-4 hours, stirring occasionally. I simmered mine for 4 hours. Let it cool, then refrigerate. If you're able to make this the day before serving, it's actually better! I served it with shredded Mexican 4 cheese blend, sour cream, scallions & oyster soup crackers. 

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