a chili recipe. made with guiness, and 8lbs of the primary ingredients

ben's 8 lb guiness chili

From the Dawn of Time it came.

You'll need a spice grinder, a skillet, and either a dutch oven or a really 
large sauce pan with a lid. Or maybe a small stock pot.

First the Chili Powder:

makes 1/2 cup -- needless to say, you should be grinding the chilis and cumin fresh.

Grind the following dried chilis:
4 tbsp mild chilis (new mexico, ancho)
1 tbsp med-hot chili (cayenne, jalapeno, serrano)

add to skillet over med-low heat and toast with:
2 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp finely ground cumin
1/2 tbsp ground red pepper

Keep your exhaust fan on, and do not wear contacts. This will produce a vapor 
that can contain capsacin. It's done when it's toasty -- around 2 minutes. You'll 
use half this in the chili, keep the rest around for special occasions.

The Meat, roughly chopped (not quite ground .. I used a food processor with 1" 
cubes and chop it until it looked 'right'):

1 lb lean beef
1 lb lean pork
1 lb lean Other Meat Of Choice (i like lamb)

The Other Stuff:

1 large vidalia onion, diced
1 med white onion, diced
1 med yellow onion, diced
10 cloves of garlic, smashed into pieces
one fresh habañero chili, cut into impossibly small pieces, no ribs and only a few seeds
one 16-oz can of black beans (drained)
one 16-oz can of red beans (drained)
one 16-oz can of tomatoes (not drained, preferably in tomato juice)
one  7-oz can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
two pints of Guiness
1/2 tbsp black pepper (coarse ground)
1/2 tbsp white pepper (finely ground)
the Chili Powder (above)

Dice 1/2 lb of bacon. Brown in the skillet. When the bacon is not-quite-crispy, remove 
it and add the onion and garlic for a couple of minutes until the onions start to soften, 
then add all the meats to brown. (the bacon grease is why you use extra-lean meat). Use 
med-high heat, so it looks brown before it's actually done.

Remove the meat and onion to the (warmed) dutch oven (or whatever your final cooking pot is).

Deglaze the skillet with one pint of the guiness, and be sure to scrape off and dissolve 
all the fond. It'll stop fizzing pretty quickly.

Dump everything else in the dutch oven:
can of black beans (drained)
can of kidney beans (drained)
can of tomatoes in tomato juice
can of chipotle peppers in adobo
1 pint of Guiness
the black and white pepper
the habañero
half (8-9 tbsp) of the Chili Powder

bare simmer, covered for 2.5-3 hours, or until you reach the right 
consistency. stir occasionally. if it starts to look too dry, add some 
chicken stock, or a sweet-ish brown ale. adding more guiness will make 
it bitter.

Final seasoning:

It will likely need salt and may need pepper. If it has a slightly bitter 
taste, add a tbsp or so of honey.

This works best if you cool it and let it sit in the fridge overnight. All 
the flavors come together really well.