Reno Red Chili

Total Time: 1 hr 50 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 12
• 5 lbs coarsely ground heavy beef chuck or 5 lbs ground round or 5 lbs ground beef brisket (ask the butcher for "chili grind")
• 1/4 cup wesson oil or 1/4 cup rendered kidney suet
• 2 medium onions
• 5 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 8 tablespoons commercial chili powder (make sure you get chili powder, not a chili mix or ground chili pepper!)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons msg (optional)
• 5 -15 chili pods, depending on heat level desired (if pods are not available, use cayenne pepper to taste)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

Recipe

• 1 remove stems, membrane and seeds from chili pods, cover with water and simmer for 30 minutes.
• 2 remove pods and blend into paste.
• 3 reserve the chili water.
• 4 chop onions.
• 5 crack cumin with rolling pin or grind with mortar and pestle.
• 6 brew 1 teaspoon oregano leaves in 1 cup of water.
• 7 brown meat in several batches, add black pepper while browning.
• 8 brown onions with meat then remove with slotted spoon and reserve.
• 9 combine browned meat and onion with the following: cumin, 8 heaping tablespoons of commercial chili powder, 3 cloves garlic (pressed) and msg.
• 10 cook ten minutes, using just enough pepper water to keep from burning.
• 11 stir constantly.
• 12 this cooks the spices into the meat.
• 13 add chili paste and half of oregano water.
• 14 cook slowly, adding pepper water as necessary to prevent scorching.
• 15 add additional oregano to taste, salt to taste.
• 16 the meat should be tender in around 1-1/2 hours.
• 17 cooking variations:.
• 18 add 1 to 2 cans 8 ounce cans of tomato sauce.
• 19 hand cut meat to about the size of a navy bean.
• 20 (a lot of contestants now use half chili grind and half hand cut).
• 21 add 2 tablespoons of vinegar 10 minutes before serving.
• 22 use pepper instead of black pepper.
• 23 use masa/corn flour (not cornstarch) to thicken (mix flour with cold water and whisk until smooth, then pour into hot chili while stirring constantly until thickened).