I guess F&D needed another chili post (photos)

With all the rain most folks who didn't give up beef probably made chili over the weekend. Here is mine. I am a fan of thick gravy in my chili and you will eventually see that.

Ingredients:



2 1/2 pounds of ground chuck with sufficent fat to give flavor. Lawry's garlic salt, kosher salt, black pepper, Oregano, Chili powder, red pepper, onion, oil.

and Cumin



and Masa Flower



Brown the ground beef - sometimes I use stew meat cut to 1/4 inch pieces or chopped with chef knife, but I had this. I (eventually) added 1 1/2 tablespoon Lawry's, 1 Tablespoon black pepper, 2 Tablespoons oregano (wait and taste for salt later) I go on and start adding the seasonings (except for the cumin) when I brown the beef because I don't like the smell of unseasoned ground beef cooking. I think the cumin breaks down if cooked a lot, so I wait until close to the end to add it.



And onions:



When the beef has browned, I add chili powder (eventually 4 Tablespoons added as an initial 2 Tablespoons)



and then a second 2 Tablespoons



and 1 teaspoon of red pepper. I let this cook for a little while then taste for flavor. This batch was ok with 4 Tablespoons chili powder and 1 teaspoon of red pepper. For whatever reason I sometimes add more, but never less.

This pot looks about right and passed the taste test.



next add cumin - 2 Tablespoons



At this point my recipe may vary from yours, because I like thick chili gravy in my chili and the taste and thickness that Masa flour adds.

Start with 3 Tablespoons Masa flour in a bowl and add enough water to make a thick paste.



Then add it to the chili - 2/3rds here



Not enough so I added the other 1/3rd



The chili gets really thick so I added less than a cup of water and probably skimmed a little fat away with a few paper towlels. Cook the chili long enough to set the flour (maybe 10 minutes)



Ready to eat:



And I did.