Beef Chili with Chipotles & Cilantro
from Clark’s Outpost Barbecue Restaurant
2 pounds lean ground beef
2-1/4 cups chopped onions
3 tablespoons ground cumin
3 tablespoons chili powder
1-1/2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon minced canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce (see tip)
2-1/2 cups water, plus more as needed
1 cup minced fresh cilantro
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Shredded Cheddar cheese and sour cream for garnish
In a large, heavy Dutch oven, sauté the beef and 2 cups of the chopped onions over high heat, stirring often and breaking up the meat with the back of a spoon, until the beef is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Add the cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, and chipotle, and sauté for 3 minutes. Mix in the 2-1/2 cups of water and 1/2 cup of the cilantro. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Partially cover and cook for 1-1/2 hours, adding more water by 1/4 cupfuls if the chili becomes dry. Season with salt and pepper. Mix the remaining 1/2 cup cilantro into the chili. Ladle into bowls and garnish with Cheddar cheese, sour cream, and the remaining 1/4 cup chopped onion. Serves 6.
Clark’s Outpost Barbecue Restaurant, Tioga, Texas
Texas is one of two key chili epicenters in the United States (Cincinnati is the other). Fans of Lone Star State chili, which traditionally includes beef and chile peppers but not tomatoes or beans, claim that their particular style is the only real chili. And they say, don’t mess with Texas—particularly when it comes to the very heated and long-running debate over which style of chili reigns supreme.
Located fifty miles north of Dallas, Clark’s Outpost Barbecue Restaurant in Tioga, as the name implies, is best known for its slow-cooked barbecue, but the chili here is the real deal, at least by Texas standards, Tioga is proud of taking things slow, and eight hours are needed to smoke the restaurant’s ribs and three days to smoke its brisket.
Clark’s Outpost chili involves a good deal of time, too, but the recipe is about as pared down as it gets – just beef, onions, chiles, herbs, and some water. It gets its flavor from long simmering and from chipotle chile peppers, which are warm and smoky, not lightning-bolt hot. Canned chipotles are packed in Mexican adobo sauce, a deep-red, piquant concoction of ground chiles, vinegar, and herbs. This chili requires time, but it’s well worth the wait. |
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