Texas Red Chili

This month's Everyday Food had a chili cook off in it between the editors. They all made vastly different chilis but only two of them really peaked my interest. So this week Joey and I decided to make one of these chili dishes and then use the leftovers for a second meal later in the week.

We chose Texas Red Chili. <--see picture? I think we can all agree that our Texas Red Chili was anything but red. In fact it was brown, and it wasn't thick like chili and it really had no texture at all. What some call Texas Red Chili, I might call beef & beef soup. I mean it was good beef soup--but it was like just meat. Meat Beef Soup. And it's not even spicy.

I don't know what we did wrong. We couldn't find the right dried peppers but we used a replacement that the internet said would work. Our blending wasn't perfect cause we don't have a real blender--just an immersion one. But even if those things worked for us I'm not sure this chili would've turned out any better.

So Martha, what'd we do wrong? If you need some really moist beef for say, meat soup, you should make this recipe and add a bunch of vegetables and maybe some barley and it will be delicious. (beef & barley soup!)

1 1/2 ounces dried guajillo chilis or California Anaheim chilis

1 chipotle in adobo sauce + 1 T sauce

1 lb boneless beef short ribs cut into 1 inch pieces (we stripped ours from the bone cause we couldn't find them boneless)

1 1/2 pounds boneless beef chuck trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces

salt & pepper

1 T vegetable oil

1 onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, smashed

1 t cumin

1 t oregano

2 T cornmeal

3 3/4 C low-sodium beef broth

1 - 2 T white vinegar

Cheese, onions and yellow mustard for serving (yellow mustard seems weird but it actually tasted kinda good)

1. Place whole peppers in a pot and cover with boiling water. Weight down with a plate and let steam about 15 minutes until pliable. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the soaking liquid. Remove stems and seeds and set aside.

2. In a blender, blend reserved soaking liquid, chipotle & sauce, and dried peppers until smooth. Strain through a fine mesh sieve. Set aside

3. In a large dutch oven heat pot over medium high. Salt & Pepper short ribs and cook until browned about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

4. Add oil to the bot and season beef chuck. Cook until browned about 5 minutes. Transfer to the meat bowl.

5. Reduce heat to medium, add onion, garlic and 1/2 C water and cook until translucent and fragrant scraping off bits from the bottom of the pan

6. Add spices and cornmeal and cook 1 minute.

7. Add meat, broth, chili puree and water to cover meat if necessary.

8. Cook 1 hour partially covered. Then remove lid and cook 45 minutes longer until slightly thickened. Add vinegar to taste and serve.