Ancho Beer Chili

Submitted by Irish Dave

"I created this recipe to use for chili cookoffs. And though I've only entered it in 1 cookoff, I did take third place out of 24 competitors. Ancho peppers are used for the base. If you are unfamiliar with ancho peppers, they are a pablano pepper that has been dried. They can be hard to find at grocery stores so I recommend looking for them online. Do not use pablano peppers, as the dna of the pepper changes when it is dried."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 40mins
• Ingredients: 17
• Yields: 5 quarts

ingredients

• 6 large ancho chilies
• 2 lbs ground beef
• 1 lb sweet Italian sausage
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large sweet onion, chopped
• 1 (4 1/4 ounce) can diced green chilies
• 1 (4 ounce) can sliced mushrooms
• 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 cup beer (lager or amber)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
• 3 tablespoons hot chili powder
• 2 (15 ounce) cans light kidney beans, undrained

directions

1. In a shallow bowl, pour boiling water over ancho peppers, just enough to cover them, and leave set for about a half hour, or until peppers are soft. Then remove stems and seeds from peppers (use latex gloves while doing this). Place the peppers and the water in a food processor and puree them.
2. Brown the ground meat with the garlic. Drain.
3. Fry the sausage until cooked. Drain.
4. In a large pot combine ground meat, sausage, ancho puree, onion, green chilies, mushrooms, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and beer.
5. Mix together the salt, black pepper, cumin, cayenne, oregano, and chili powder.
6. Add about half ofd the spice mix to the chili and mix thoroughly. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
7. Add beans and the rest of the spice mix. stir and simmer for another 15 minutes.