My first week back in an old city has been good. Crashing on a couch of a friend who loves food as much as I do. The first weekend in town, we had a hankering for chili. I've made chili many times before but not always the right way. Thanks to culinary school and meat fabrication training, I know more about how the ingredients will behave when cooked and how to make them taste better.

John and I perused the meat counter with the idea of sirloin so that we could make the chili in less than 2 hours. Sirloin is a relatively lean piece of meat that is more tender than round. However, we had to change our minds and our timing when we saw this absolutely gorgeous piece of chuck. Chuck has some great marbling and fat content. It also has a lot of connective tissue which requires a longer cooking time. When given the opportunity and care, chuck can be some of the best tasting meat there is.

To get it started, cubed about 4 oz of slab bacon and rendered out the fat on med-low heat in a cast iron dutch oven. I cut the 2 lb piece of chuck roast into 6 smaller cubes. These I dusted with flour and seared in rendered bacon fat. After browning on all sides, I removed them from the pan to rest. To the pan of rendered bacon and beef fat, I added diced onion, celery and carrot to the pan. When the onion turned translucent and the carrot and celery began to soften, I added a few oz of tomato paste and all of the spices (salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin and cayenne pepper). When the pan dried, we added several cups of beef stock and added back in the chuck pieces. Because I am not from Texas, I can put whatever I want in my chili, so we also added some kidney and pinto beans to the party.

This is when chili making gets easy. Bring the stock to a simmer, cover and find something else to do for a few hours. Other than skimming, the only thing you must do, is be patient. Although chuck takes several hours to cook, you must appreciate its ease of cooking. It tells you when it's done! Earlier, I spoke of the connective tissue that makes Chuck a tougher cut. However, with enough time and care, this connective tissue breaks down and the meat itself begins to fall apart. At this point, chuck can be shredded. I removed the chunks of chuck from the pot, shredded the pieces, added back to the pot and re-seasoned. The chili looked a bit thin so I mashed several of the beans releasing their starch to help thicken the chili.

With a pan of jalapeno cornbread and green onion garnish, the chili is worth the 4 hr wait.

--Rees