The heck with canned chili, my HomemadeTexas-Style Beef Chili is the best way to go. This is an "even better the next day" recipe.
Texas-Style Beef Chili is a Southern staple especially when you are in cattle country. Pull into any truck stop or BBQ joint and you'll find it. Sometimes it's fiery spicy, so make sure to get a tall glass of iced tea.
My favorite version is a chunky and stringy type of Chili you can really sink your teeth into. You get that texture from cheaper cuts of beef steak. It is okay to use ground beef of course.
I've been cooking with beef shank lately. I first tried this cut of beef in an Italian classic pasta dish called Pasta Alla Genovese (just click here to see that recipe.) It is quite lean but in need of braising for a couple hours to break it down into tender bites.
My local Latin market stocks whole sliced shanks for less than three dollars per pound - now that's even cheaper than ground beef these days. The large packages of the beef shank are in the 5-7 pound range.
For my recipe, you will need 2-3 pounds of meat. Of course, add as much beef as you like to suit your budget. Any leftover meat from a large package freezes well.
Any slabs of chea$kate and tough cuts of beef will tenderize using my slow-braising technique.
The main broth comes from tomato sauce. You can use any type, even canned chopped, or whole tomatoes. There is less work using tomato sauce. Whole or chopped tomatoes will need to be broken apart during the cooking process.
Canned tomato sauce is cheap anywhere you buy them. Canned tomato sauce labeling is a little confusing as a regular can size is sometimes listed as 14.5 ounces. My recipe calls for 2 cans. If you are in the range of 30 ounces that's close enough.
All the dried spices for this recipe are easy to get at budget prices. The main flavor is from dried chiles. You can get them whole in a bag, but there is a bit of work to shake out the seeds and remove stems. I like Chile Powder for its convenience. You can substitute powdered Paprika.
Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, and Dried Oregano add a depth of flavor to the Beef Chili. Cumin is a strong spice so I only use a teaspoon.
Go ahead and use dried onion and garlic instead of fresh chopped. While in most cases fresh is best, for slow-cooking you will not notice much difference and it's so much easier using dried.
For the slow-cooking phase, I didn't brown the beef in the beginning because toward the end of simmering the sauce thickens and over time the meat will brown naturally. You can brown the beef first if you like.
All I do is slice up the beef and assemble the ingredients in a large pot, then cover and simmer until the meat is tender. This is an easy recipe anyone can make.
Toppings for your steaming bowl of meaty Chili can include raw chopped onion and shredded cheese, especially sharp cheddar cheese.
A Tex-Mex version has a scoop of Fritos Corn Chips out of the bag. I know it sounds weird, but the extra salty fried corn chip crunch kicks this lowdown cowboy cuisine into high gear. Go ahead and get a small bag of Fritos (I like the lightly salted variety) and see what I'm talking about.
The aroma of my slow-cooking HomemadeTexas-Style Beef Chili will draw a crowd. So keep the doors and windows closed if you don't want unwanted visitors! Hey, add an extra pound of beef and this recipe will feed a family plus friends, so don't be stingy -- go ahead and throw a Chili Party and invite the neighbors. And don't forget to get a large bag of Frito Corn Chips.
My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.
Ingredients
- Beef Shank - 2 to 3 pounds - Beef Shank has bone and extra fat, so you need a bit more, depending on how lean the beef is. You can use any cheap cut of beef on sale, bone and all - hey, that's extra flavor. Okay to use 2 pounds of a lean cut of beef like top round, stew meat, and sirloin. Okay to use 2 pounds of ground beef.
- Tomato Sauce - 2 cans 16 ounces each. Okay to use a large 1 pound, 12 ounce can. You can use canned whole tomatoes, any pasta tomato sauce, or diced tomatoes. Also one small can of tomato paste (just add 4 cups of water or broth with tomato paste.) Canned tomatoes come in regular sizes from 14.5 ounces to 16 ounces, either can is close enough.
- Chili Powder - 2 tablespoons. Okay to substitute with dried paprika.
- Cumin - 1 teaspoon
- Onion Powder - 2 tablespoons. Okay to use one whole chopped onion.
- Garlic Powder - 2 tablespoons. Okay to use 2 tablespoons of fresh chopped garlic.
- Oregano - 1 tablespoon dried. Okay to use 1 tablespoon of the fresh herb.
- Water - 2 cups
- Red Wine - 1 cup. Okay to use your favorite broth instead or add water.
- Salt and Pepper to taste.
Directions
Slice beef into chunks. The beef will break down during slow cooking, so okay to have large pieces. After a couple of hours, you should be able to start to break apart the beef into smaller pieces.
In a large pot add beef over medium to high heat.
Pour in canned tomato sauce. Okay to use any type of canned tomato. Tomato chunks will break down after a few hours of simmering. You can break them apart further the longer Chili cooks.
Add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of wine (or substitute the wine with broth or just more water.)
Finally add dried oregano and dried spices including chili, onion, cumin, garlic, salt and pepper to taste. Stir ingredients.
(If you cannot find Chili Powder, it's okay to use a can of Enchilada Sauce or Red Chili Sauce.)
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat until a low simmer. Cover and cook until beef is tender, usually about 3 to 4 hours.
Check water levels after an hour or two. It's okay for some liquid to cook out so the sauce will thicken. Just don't let it cook away. Stir occasionally as the meat may stick to the bottom of the pot.
If Chili is too watery it's easy enough to uncover and cook away some liquid to thicken the sauce to your liking. You can also add a little water if the Chili is too thick.
When done remove bones and any chunks of fat if necessary. If the beef is very fatty it's okay to remove some before starting the recipe, but do leave a little fat as that is extra flavor!
If you use ground beef you can reduce cooking time to a couple of hours as the meat will tenderize quickly.
Of course, let the Ground Beef Chili cook as long as you like. Chili is the kind of stew you can keep on the stovetop slow-cooking for hours.
I like to serve a bowl of Beef Chili with chopped onion, and sometimes a bit of grated Cheddar cheese. Cooked rice is a filling addition, too.
My HomemadeTexas-Style Beef Chili will freeze well and reheat later, so you can make Chili Dogs or Chili Burgers on any game day down the road.
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