Last week we had a brief cold snap in Vegas, where it actually snowed in some parts of the valley (yes, snow in Vegas in April = totally crazy!). Anyway, Carlo and I were craving some stick-to-your-ribs cold weather food before the temperature here quickly heated up to 90 degrees like it did today. I ended up making this hearty  Texas Beef Brisket Chili that was on the front cover of Bon Appetit magazine in October 2008. As usual it warmed us on a cool night, even if it may not exactly classify as a Texas Chili.*
This Texas Beef Chili recipe feeds 8 people at $2.42 per serving.
Dried adobo chiles are a sure fire way to add some heat and spice to the chili. I added a dried chipotle in there for some extra smoky heat too. Be sure to keep the liquid from the chiles so you can add it to the chili in case it needs some extra liquid towards the end of the cooking.
We have made this recipe before with brisket, but we couldn’t find any cheap brisket this time so I bought some beef stew meat. I just kept an extra eye out on how the meat was cooking so it wouldn’t dry out and it worked out great. It ended up being super tender and there wasn’t as much fat in the dish since the stew meat is a leaner cut than brisket. I also cut out the bacon called for at the beginning of the recipe. I feel like I’ve been on a bacon binge this past month and I thought my arteries would appreciate a break from the saturated fat!
* Note from Carlo: I find it a bit silly to call chili with butternut squash in it “Texas Chili”. That said, this is still really good.
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