I keep being asked for a good chili recipe; a classic that I have bizarrely never tried my hand at. With St. Patrick’s Day coming up, I thought it would be fun to give it an Irish twist by adding Guinness.

 

Researching a recipe is one of my favorite pastimes, made all the more pleasurable since the discovery of EatYourBooks.com. The site allows you to create a virtual bookshelf of all your cookbooks with one comprehensive index. A quick search told me which of my hundreds of cookbooks contained chili recipes and then the fun began. The result of all my testing was a hugely satisfying and richly flavorful one-pot meal. Thank you to my friends who inspired this post – keep the requests coming!

 

Beef and Guinness Chili 

Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 onions, chopped

1 yellow pepper, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped (remove the seeds to reduce the heat)

4 lbs coursely ground beef chuck

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon ground cumin

5 tablespoons chili powder

2 teaspoons chipotle chili in adobo sauce

1 1/2 (28 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes

1 cup Guinness

2 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans, drained

For toppings: sour cream, green onions, mature Irish cheddar

 

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a large dutch oven, add the onions and peppers and cook on medium for approximately 5 minutes.

2. Raise the heat and add the beef, mixing with the vegetables and cooking until the meat has fully browned.

3. Add the remaining ingredients except the beans and bring to low boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for as long as you can – at least 3 hours (this recipe is like a bolognese, the longer you cook it, the better it gets. You could definitely do in a crock pot but need to sauté the vegetables and brown the meat first). Skim the fat and discard as you go, stirring occasionally through the cooking process.

4. Add beans 5 minutes before you’re finished and heat through.

5. Serve with your favorite toppings – I like the classic sour cream, green onions and Irish cheddar.