While every country has its meat sauce, American chili has been a backbone staple for many communities in different states. From Chili Queens serving cowboys in the flatland frontiers of Texas to frugal counter service chili parlors staving off the strife of the Great Depression, chili has been front and center affordable good eats. Mirroring the rich sauces of northern Mexican cuisine, chili relied on the deeply developed sauce to provide satiety, when in reality, there was very little meat in the chili itself. During the Great Depression, many places added bulk by substituting some or half of the ground meat for cheaper ingredients like oatmeal. While Chili Queens are long gone, and very few Depression-era chili parlors stand, the memory of smooth and saucy chili still rings loudly in everyone’s memory. Luckily, now you don’t have to reminisce about it, you can make this chili.
This is a one-pot recipe from start to finish, you sear, simmer, and cook the chili all in one pot. Searing the meat in a bit of oil releases the fat, providing richness. Here you see that this chili is still a very bright red color from the tomato puree.
Next comes, well, everything else. Yes, this is a dump-and-pour recipe. If you wanted to be extra fancy, you could add all of the spices after searing the ground beef. Cooking the spices before adding the liquids will bloom spices, making them more fragrant and cooking off some of the spices’ raw flavors. But, if you’re like me and have a goal of chili in your mouth immediately vibes, then the simple dump-and-pour method works just fine, you’ll be cooking the chili long enough to develop some good flavor.
After 35 to 40 minutes, the color deepens, and the chili becomes super fragrant. While the ingredient list hosts a number of familiar flavors — onion, garlic, chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, and paprika, there are so many unsuspecting ingredients that you’ll find in the recipe as well. Here this chili takes a trick from Mexican mole’s playbook. Cocoa powder is the secret ingredient that makes your chili deep with flavor. Unsweetened cocoa powder works with heat to complement and enhance flavors that are usually lost in the heat of the chilis and the heavy fragrance of aromatics like garlic and onions.
