Description

You may or may not know this, but Texas Chili is made without beans. This dish is a labor of love and requires time to prepare, but is entirely worth it at the end.

Ingredients

• 1/2 large red or sweet yellow onion, chopped
• 1 T. butter, unsalted
• 1 1/2 lb. ground chuck (like 80/20)
• 1 lb. plain ground pork sausage (any pork sausage should work fine, but make sure it's not sage-flavored)
• 1 c. Guinness Stout
• 32 oz. box beef stock/broth
• 10 oz. can Ro-Tel diced tomatoes with green chilies
• 29 oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 heaping handful of blue corn tortilla chips
• 3 oz. 65% dark chocolate (like Ghirardelli)
• 1 T. cumin, 1 T. chili powder, 1/2 T. garlic powder, 2 t. salt, 2 t. white pepper, cayenne pepper, or to taste
• toppings: shredded Colby Jack cheese, shredded Cheddar, sour cream, chives, sour cream, jalapenos, guacamole, Frito salad (shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, Fritos and sour cream), and tortilla chips of choice. The chips make wonderful dippers as do buttermilk biscuits and cornbread.

Steps

1. Place a stock pot or Dutch oven on the stovetop on medium heat; melt the butter. Add chopped onion to the pot; add a little salt and white pepper; cook the onion until translucent in color, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon to make sure they're cooked evenly. Place both meats into the pot; break them up a bit.
2. Add 1 T. each cumin and chili powder, 1/2 T. garlic powder, 2 t. each salt and white pepper; stir together; cook meat completely, stirring frequently to make sure the meat gets evenly cooked and to break meat into small bits. Once cooked through, drain/discard the fat from the pot.
3. Pour in 1 c. Guinness Stout and the broth/stock; stir together; bring to a hard simmer/small boil over medium-high heat. Let simmer for about 4 minutes; add the diced tomatoes with green chilies and the can of tomato sauce; stir to combine well. Bring back to a simmer; cook for about 30 minutes, uncovered. Add in tortilla chips, which act as a thickener and eventually completely disappear into the chili; stir, mixing them well into the chili. While that is working its magic, take the 3 oz. of dark chocolate and chop it up. Add to your pot; mix into the chili.