Chili

For me, this is the recipe to teach some one how to cook. Momma started teaching me with this recipe (aah, the genius!). She started with showing me how to create a roux, followed by marrying the peppers and onions, adding water (left-over morning coffee coffee works) and then adding beans as desired. Not complicated in an overview but, wait....

General Ingredients:

I lb ground chuck (80/20 % chuck to fat)

I large onion

I green pepper

2 to 3 slices of bacon

1/8 cup all purpose flour (approximate)

1/4 cup water (stale coffee as an alternative)

2 12 oz can kidney beans (black bean is an alternate)

2 12 oz cans of tomatoes

1 Tbsp white vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Key seasonings:

1 tsp Cumin

I sprinkle of Cyan Pepper

2 Tbsp Paprika

3 Tbsp Chili Powder

1 tsp Worcestershire

Directions: Prep to make the roux. Roux is the base gravy of which many sauces are made. In a large (6 quart or larger) pot or dutch oven brown the bacon on a medium heat. Double task...keep an diligent eye on the bacon frying. While the bacon frying, peel, clean and dice the onions and peppers, but don't let that bacon singe! If the bacon singes, toss it, clean the pot thoroughly and start again.

Once the bacon is fried, remove it and reduce the heat to keep the grease from the bacon from burning.

(For beginners-Now, here is the first key to grasp before you continue. You will be be making the roux by adding flour and seasonings to the grease, mixing it to a mud-like consistency. This is what forms the complexion of the chili. Read these instructions before you continue....you will be turning up the heat to medium again and sprinkling flour over the bacon grease as it heats up. As you sprinkle the flour, you will add enough to make mud of the grease. Once that happens, you need to add seasonings to let the mud brown to the point where it twerks your nose. You will see it turn dark brown, almost looking and smelling burnt. From that point, slowly add water until the consistency changes from mud to a gravey.)

Marry the roux:

Return the heat to medium, sprinkle the flour over the grease in the bottom of the pot to form a substance that resembles mud. Allow it to thicken for a minute. Now add the key seasonings given above and blend until uniform. Let it simmer...mix until uniform, then brown until deep brown in color and pungent to smell. Slowly....slowly, little at a time, add water in thirds and mix while doing so. Each time you add a third of water and mix, hesitate enough each time to allow the new mixture to become uniform in color/consistency and thicken. Let it simmer for few minutes before adding the next third. Repeat that process until all the water is combined into the pot. Let that simmer for 15 minutes on a medium low heat.

Finish: Turn heat to medium high, add diced onion and green pepper until onions are translucent. Push goo to one side of the pot and add ground beef. Cook until brown. Add tomatoes, vinegar and fill cans with water to pour in pot. Cook for an hour. Reduce heat to medium low, add beans to serve.

Helpful hint: you can cook the ground beef in a separate skillet to drain the extra grease before adding it to the chili. If you didn't eat the bacon while Momma was watching you, crumb and add to the mix.