2-Alarm steak chili/Photo byGin Lee

2-Alarm steak chili

This chili recipe is somewhat spicy. Hence, the reasons why I call it my 2-alarm chili. It has chunks of cooked steak, ground beef, and pinto beans added to it. It equals about seven quarts of homemade chili when it's finished cooking. The beans alone make about twelve cups when cooked. So, you'll definitely need a huge pan for this recipe, because the chili will be prepared inside the same pan that the beans are cooked in.

When making homemade chili, taste it as you are cooking it. The seasonings that I use may be too spicy for some, or not spicy enough for others.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds of dried pinto beans, or 6 cans 15-ounce cans of store-bought pinto beans (chili beans also work nicely for this recipe)
• 2 pounds of steak, cubed
• 1 pound of lean ground beef
• 2 quarts of pasta sauce (I used homemade tomato sauce and seasoned it to taste.)
• 2 teaspoons of seasoning salt, plus I added extra to the beans and meat
• 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, to add to the meat
• 2 teaspoons of freshly ground black pepper, plus I added extra to the beans and meat
• 8-10 tablespoons of chili powder (depending on your taste)
• 1-½ teaspoon of smoked paprika
• 2-½ tablespoons of corn masa
• 1 onion, diced
• 1-½ teaspoons of minced garlic
• 1-½ teaspoons of cumin powder
• 2-4 tablespoons of cayenne pepper (depending on your taste) I also added extra to the meat
• ½ teaspoon of oregano
• 3-4 quarts of water (to cook the dried pinto beans in)

Instructions:

Cooking two pounds of pinto beans in a large Dutch oven/Photo byGin Lee

First, if you're using dried beans, add two pounds of dried pinto beans and three to four quarts of water to a large Dutch oven. Over high heat, bring the water to a rapid boil, then lower the temperature to a slow simmer. Cover and cook for about three hours. I also added just a pinch or two of seasoning salt and freshly ground pepper to the beans. (This isn't necessary at this point, because the chili will get seasoned once it's prepared.)

Preparing steak/Photo byGin Lee

Cook the beef steak and diced onion together for about fifteen minutes. Then brown the ground beef in a large skillet. Cook for about twelve minutes; drain the grease off. (I also seasoned my steak and ground beef while cooking it separately. I used just a pinch of garlic powder, seasoning salt, freshly ground black pepper, and extra cayenne pepper flakes. This isn't entirely necessary, because the chili will be seasoned.)

If needed, take out some of the bean juice before moving to the next step (depending on how thick you want your chili to be). If you season your beans, taste them once they're cooked just to see if you'll need more seasoning salt added, before adding any more salt in the next step.

Now, add the cooked meat to your pot of cooked beans; stir well. Then add the sauce and all the spices; combine well. Simmer for at least two hours with a lid on your pan. Check your chili often, taste it as it cooks, add any additional spices to your preferred taste. Your chili will become more flavorful the longer you allow it to simmer.