Chili

Method

1. toast3 min
   dry pan, medium
   ancho chilies, pressing flat, until they puff and smell of raisins — 30 seconds too long and the whole pot turns bitter, which no amount of sugar later will fix; then tear and grind
2. sear8 min
   high, uncrowded
   vegetable oil + ground beef pressed into one flat sheet, left alone until the underside is brown-black before breaking it up — stirring early releases water, the pan drops below browning temperature, and you get boiled grey meat with no fond
3. sweat6 min
   medium
   + onion, scraping the fond loose as the onion's water releases it = the base layer of savor
4. saute2 min
   medium, stirring constantly
   + garlic + ground ancho + chili powder + cumin + oregano + smoked paprika + tomato paste, in the rendered beef fat — the pigments and aromatics in chile are fat-soluble, so this 2 minutes does more for color and depth than an hour of simmering in liquid, but past 2 minutes the spices scorch
5. deglaze3 min
   high
   + beer, scraping the pan bare and letting it reduce by half so the raw hop bitterness cooks off
6. simmer90 min
   bare simmer, partly covered
   + crushed tomato + beef stock + salt + black pepper — long and slow so the connective tissue in chuck melts to gelatin, which is what gives chili body; hold it below a boil or the fat splits out into an orange slick
7. simmer20 min
   uncovered
   + kidney beans + cornmeal whisked into a few spoons of the hot liquid first — beans go in already cooked because the acid from the tomatoes stops their skins from ever softening, and the cornmeal both thickens and returns the corn note that ties the chile together
8. season2 min
   off heat
   + cider vinegar + salt to taste — the acid is what keeps two hours of dried chile and fat from tasting flat and muddy; rest 10 minutes before serving, longer overnight