How to Make Texas-Style Chili

This chili packs a wallop, so take it easy with the hot ingredients at first. Serves 6 to 8.

Things You'll Need

• 6 garlic cloves - peeled and finely chopped
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3/4 tsp. sugars
• 2 tsp. corn (or all-purpose) flour
• 1/4 lb. bacon - finely diced
• 1 tsp. dried oregano - crumbled between fingers
• 3 tbsp. New Mexico (hot) chili powders
• 1 bottle Mexican beer
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 2 jalapeño chilies - stemmed, seeded and finely chopped
• 2 1/2 lbs. lean beef - preferably chuck , coarsely chopped
• 1 tsp. ground cayenne pepper

Instructions

1. Heat the bacon in a large pot over medium heat. Cook until the bacon starts to get slightly brown but not crisp.

2. Add the beef, jalapeños, and garlic and cook until the beef starts to brown lightly. Add the chili powder, oregano, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, beer and one cup water.

3. Simmer over medium-low heat for 1 1/2 hours, then stir in the flour. Add the sugar and cook for another 30 minutes and it's ready to serve.

Tips & Warnings

• This chili is pretty hot, so it helps to add some of the chili powder after tasting the finished product. Just simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes when adding chili powder at the end.

• Try to find New Mexico chili powder for this recipe; the results are incomparable. Note that most "chili powder" has oregano, garlic, and other ingredients in it; New Mexico chili powder is just dried, powdered chili.