The Texas Chili recipe everyone needs
Sarah, who runs The Urban Cowgirl channel on Youtube, shared this recipe which came from her grandparent’s cafe.
Her blog about the recipe went viral, and people have won chili competitions with it.
One thing she pointed out, no Jalpeños were used.
It’s simplistic perfection
Ingredients:
- 4 slices thick-cut bacon
- 3-4 lb. beef brisket, trimmed
- Kosher salt, pepper, and onion powder.
- 2 c. (one large) white onion, diced small
- 5 garlic cloves, pressed through a garlic press
- 1 T paprika
- 1 T. cumin powder
- 3 ½ T Texas chili powder, such as Mexene or Gebhardt’s
- ½ t. dried thyme
- ½ t. chipotle chile powder
- ½ t. salt
- 1 quart beef broth
- ½ c. strong black coffee (you can save this from your morning coffee)
- 28 oz. can whole tomatoes, in juice
Preparing the brisket
You can use a regular-cut brisket.
She only used the “flat” half section from the brisket cut, which makes it easier to cut into smaller cubes.
The first few strips remind us of thick-sliced bacon.
The fat on the slices will render off when cooking it, so it’s your option to cut some of it, or just leave it.
Think steak bites
When cutting the strips into smaller cubes, you can line a few (2 or 3 strips) at the same time.
What we’re focusing on is to pretend that you’re using the brisket to get little, tiny pieces of steak.
The cubes are about a half to 1-inch thick.
Cut the entire brisket flat this way.
Then, transfer them to a cutting board to season.
Next, slice thick-cut bacon into smaller pieces.
The bacon will be cooked in the chili pot to render the fat to brown the beef.
The fatty secret to flavor
Sarah shared that the bacon fat is the secret to all of her gumbos and her chilis.
It provides a smoky depth of flavor as a foundational part of the dish. For some, it is used as cooking oil as an extra flavor.
Season the small cuts of beef.
This will become the chili meat.
Season it just like a perfectly juicy steak. Sprinkle them with Kosher Salt and good-quality black pepper.
Onion Powder and Garlic Powder are then added to season the small cubes.
For Sarah, onion, and garlic enhance the flavors of the beef.
Once the cubes are perfectly seasoned, you’re going to see that it sears just like a little piece of steak.
Press 5 cloves of fresh garlic.
If you don’t have a garlic press, it’s okay just to mince it.
The next ingredient will be diced onion as the base of the chili.
Place the minced garlic and diced onion in separate bowls.
When all of the ingredients are prepared, we go to the stove.
Cook bacon on medium heat to render fat. Once a good amount of bacon fat is present, we then remove the bacon for use later.
Start browning the bits of the chili meat in the bacon fat.
Batch cook meat until golden brown.
The sear is where all of the flavors in the beef are going to be located. That flavor will dissolve into the broth.
Remove all the small cubes so only the oil and small bits of it are left on the pan.
Place onion in the same pan and add the minced garlic for extra flavor.
After the Beef broth is added, we’re adding a little bit of dried thyme.
Now add back the bacon from earlier, and pour in a cup of strong coffee.
Next to add are good quality peeled tomatoes. Using the hands, squish and break them up gently as this helps in blending into the soup.
After this, place the lid and let it simmer for 2.5 to 4 hours, stirring it every once in a while.
The end result will be a very delicious 30-time prize-winning chili.
See the full process for making this delicious Texas chili in the video below!
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