Beer Chili and Honey Cornbread

Submitted by tonedef131

This recipe make a MOTHERLOAD of chili, so if you don't want a mother load of chili half it...or do what I do and freeze about half of it.

This is my favorite recipe for chili. I found somewhat of a basic chili recipe that I have changed a bit every time I make it and this is what I have found to be my favorite. However, usually during the summer I delete the chocolate and add in some corn.

Chili Ingredients

• 3 lbs ground beef (Get as lean as available, I used my local butchers special grind that is 96% lean)
• 3 Onions, coarsely chopped
• 1 Head of garlic, should be about 12 cloves
• 2 28oz cans of Diced Tomatoes (you can use whole or crushed depending on the texture you like, but leave the juice in)
• 2 15oz cans of black beans, drained
• 2 15oz cans of kidney beans, drained
• 1 can chipotle peppers, sliced, with the adobo sauce from can
• 1 12oz bottle of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (I bought a 24 oz bottle knowing full well that I only needed 50% of it, the other half was consumed during this very preparation!)
• 1 can of beef broth
• 5 Tbsp oregano
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 1 Tbsp Black Pepper
• 1/2 Tbsp salt
• 1 Tbsp Cumin
• 1 Tbsp Liquid Smoke (entirely optional, the adobo sauce is already sort of smokey, so if you don't love a lot of smokey flavor, don't add this.)
• 2.5 oz Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate (I bought this because it was on sale, you can use any dark chocolate, but I wouldn't recommend using some expensive stuff since all of the complexity would be lost in the chili.)

Chili Method

To begin peel your onions and garlic and pour the beer into a big ol pot and get it warming up.

Now chop the onions and garlic and get a pan warmed with just a bit of olive oil in the bottom.

Toss the onion/garlic mixture into that pan and saute it. Don't be a fool and put this on high heat and burn them. Use a medium heat and only keep them on long enough to turn them translucent, this should take about 10 minuets.

Meanwhile you should melt your chocolate in the now warmed beer, make sure you continue to stir so it doesn't melt onto the bottom of that pan.

Once the chocolate is melted toss in all of your canned goods and spices, stir that around and dump in your onions/garlic as soon as it is ready.

Now brown your beef in the same pan that you did your onions, I used Worcestershire on my beef because it rules. Then dump that in and bring it all to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for at least a half hour. You may want to taste this after it simmers a bit and add more peppers if you want it hotter.

While that gets delicious we can make the cornbread. Preheat to 350.

Cornbread Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp oil
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal

Cornbread Method

Mix your dry ingredients, then whisk your wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Mix the two together and pour into a greased pan or muffin pan. Bake for about 30 min. (At the time of writing this I did not have a cast iron skillet of the right size, but I have learned the error of my ways and will never make cornbread in anything else.)

About now is where I stick half of it in the freezer and the other half in a crock pot to sit for about 10 hours. Chili is always better the next day.

Variations

The dark chocolate can be replaced with 1 cup black coffee for a slightly smokier taste. Older coffee that has been sitting in the pot for a day will usually work better than fresh. Jonathan 19:27, 11 February 2007 (PST)

I just tried this chili with some variations (different beer, still pale ale; added carrots, mushrooms, peppers, and sausage; couldn't find chipotle peppers so I used jalapeño) and it turned out delicious! Has a nice kick at the end, is wonderfully flavourful, and the liquid smoke really comes out. Jiran 19:54, 7 June 2008 (CDT)