My chili recipe, backstory included

I've never met a chili I dislike (even you, Cincy chili <3), but Wolf Brand Chili is the most incredible mass-market chili ever made. It may be the greatest food sold in cans. It's a deeply comforting food for me, and it's been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Wolf Brand is also deeply intertwined into the culture of Texas in a surprising number of ways [1]

I also love cooking, and I especially love stews and chilis. Being from Texas and spending a key chunk of my formative life in my wife's home state of Oklahoma, cooking chili is typical all year round, though it kicks into a higher level during the cold months.

However, until recently, the chili I cooked was very different from the soul-restoring Wolf Brand favorite. That's okay—it was still good, and I'd eat it by the potful until I burst. If I wanted Wolf Brand, I'd open up one of the half dozen cans I dutifully stocked in my pantry as a key part of my disaster response prep.

But a few weeks ago, I decided to reverse-engineer my beloved health food at home. What I produced was surprisingly accurate, even a tiny bit elevated in spiciness, and I enjoyed it.

The Thesis

What makes Wolf Brand so delicious is the concentration and consistency. Therefore, excessive water and chunkiness are to be avoided. Also, in bulk, Wolf Brand can cook for hypothetically days to reduce and maximize the flavor - this is a well-understood trick for making any soup or stew outstanding. Time is the secret ingredient.

Segments of the Cook

I split the cooking into three sections:

• Making chili paste
• Browning the meat.
• The long cook

Making Chili Paste

This is the most essential step. It's the backbone of the recipe and what makes this stew a "Texas chili." Thankfully, it can be done quickly and far ahead of time.

Ingredients

• Chicken stock
• Assorted dried peppers
  • I used 5 ancho, 5 guajillo peppers, and 10 arbol peppers A diversity of pepper == a diversity of flavor. More is better than less, but don't go overboard. MUST be dried.
• 3T garlic powder
• 3T onion powder
• 3T cumin powder
• 1T salt
• 1 small can of tomato paste

Directions

The goal is to make a paste that we can use, refrigerate, or freeze. Excess water is the enemy.

• De-stem the peppers and rough chop. Keep the seeds- don't be a coward.
• Put the destemmed peppers in a wide, warm frying pan to briefly toast. Do this carefully- they should be warm and barely toasted. Skip if not comfortable- do not let them burn at all.
• Add some chicken stock to cover the pepper chunks and seeds.
• Hydrate the peppers. Bring to a boil, boil for 3 minutes, then turn off the flame, cover, and rest for 15 minutes.
• Add the powdered spices and salt to the warm mixture of stock and peppers. Mix to allow hydration.
• Add the can of tomato paste. Mix into an even consistency.

Add the fully hydrated, chunky paste to a blender and blend until perfectly smooth and consistent. If the mixture is too thick, add a few tablespoons of stock at a time, but the goal is to produce a thick spice and flavor concentrate. If you taste it, it should be overpowering.

If you did it right, you have a smoothie-like version of old school Chili Paste, once a staple of old west chuckwagons. In the olden days, it was produced in even-further-reduced rectangular bricks to reconstitute with fresh meat and liquid.

If you don't plan on using it immediately, you can freeze this paste or fridge it for a long time. This high acid and salt content helps preserve the paste naturally.

A note about chicken stock: I buy enough rotisserie chickens from the grocery store to have a steady supply of homemade stock, but the all-purpose box stuff is fine, too. The cooking duration will destroy any subtleties and aromatics from the homemade or high-end stuff.

Brown the Meat

This is a Texas chili, so I prefer ground red meat (beef or bison). But I don't care if you use chicken, pork, turkey, or even a plant substitute.

Ingredients

• Chicken stock
• 3lbs red meat roughly maps to the ratio of paste above. Lean is preferred, but 80/20 is okay.
• Get your cooking pot or slow cooker ready!

Directions

Cook the beef on medium/low heat in 1lb batches, building a deep crust on the meat and fond on the pan. Do not season the meat- that's what the paste is for.

The beef should be way too dry for regular use. Add each 1lb batch to the pot as it cooks, including grease. Deglaze the pan with a 1/4 cup of stock and add every bit of fond to the pot.

A note about beans. I don't cook my chili with beans, but my wife does. Both are tasty. I don't care what you prefer. However for this recipe, fully cook the beans before adding them to the stew. Adding dried or uncooked-but-hydrated beans to this stew will ruin it. If you add canned beans, heavily rinse and dry them first. Remember, excess liquid is the enemy.

The Long Cook

It's time to start the cook. I strongly recommend a dedicated slow cooker or crock pot. If you use an instant pot, do not pressure-seal it.

You should have your meat and fond stock in the pot. Add the paste from the prep and mix everything together. There should be a tiny bit of liquid binding everything together. If you want to add more, add a 1/4 cup of stock.

Set your slow cooker to high to bring to temperature for a few hours and put the lid on. After a few hours, the chili should be bubbly. Reduce heat to the low setting.

Let the chili cook for at least 48 hours. That seems like a lot. It is. But it's necessary. If you're uncomfortable letting an appliance run overnight, put the cooking vessel in the fridge overnight and bring it back to cooking temp the following day. This can be done for longer than 48 hours if you're patient. Take your time with this time, though. The flavors will become complex and more intense than any other chili you've made. I added a small dab of Trinidad Scorpion habanero paste here too. It's better to add spiciness here in a small amount -- but do not concentrate-based hot sauce here. Concentrates have a famously off-putting taste in addition to their intended heat that will destroy the flavor of the chili if cooked for 48 hours. They've earned the moniker "prank sauces" for a reason.

As the chili breaks down, it releases more liquids. If the chili becomes too soupy, remove the lid of your slow cooker and set timers to scrape the fond from the sides every 60-90 minutes as the dish reduces. I have a sieve-like flat "bacon grease guard" I put over the cooker so moisture can be released, but there's a barrier for bugs.

Season with extra salt at the end if needed. Serve with Fritos as a mandatory addition to the bowl. Add cheese, diced onion, jalapeños, or sour cream as an optional addition.

The leftovers can be frozen, but I've never been left with extra.

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[1] Wolf Brand's official history is something out of a golden-age western. Wolf Brand's slogan is so down-home Texan it's less a slogan and more a conversation. Wolf Brand is referenced in King of The Hill, the unofficial anthology of Texas culture.