"Wait for It" Chili

I received this recipe from a co-worker, who labeled it "Wait for It Chili" because the heat of this kind of creeps up on you. Except I have a cold, so I'm pretty sure I dumped copious amounts of heat inducers into this in order to taste anything, so I'm going to include the base heat levels of this recipe (you know, 6 dashes of hot sauce instead of the 1/4 cup I added tonight).



1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 red onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2-3 lb. ground beef
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
52 oz. Bush's mild chili beans
56 oz. crushed and/or diced tomatoes, lightly drained (a combo of the two if you like a chunkier chili)
1 red pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 Tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 Tbsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. basil
6-8 dashes of hot sauce

Heat olive oil on medium heat; lightly saute the garlic and half of the diced red onion until translucent (watch the garlic to make sure it doesn't burn). Add the ground beef, Worcestershire sauce, a pinch of the chili powder, and season liberally with salt and pepper. Cook until the beef is browned. In a separate pot (a large stockpot works best), add the beans, tomatoes, peppers, the remaining half of the diced red onion, chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, oregano, basil, and hot sauce. Bring to a boil on medium heat, then add the ground beef mixture, turning the heat down to medium-low. Simmer until heated and flavors meld (at least 1 hour). Adjust heat level with hot sauce and chili powder. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

If you're a fan of heat, there are various ways to "up the ante" on this recipe. You can add the seeds and membranes of the peppers, which carries the majority of the heat. Or you can increase the amount of chili powder/hot sauce (I like to use a combination of Tabasco and Texas Pete in this chili). Or, if you're feeling extra spicy, go ahead and throw a diced habanero in with the other peppers. This is one of the hottest peppers around, so if you go for this, be extra, extra careful to avoid touching any part of your face while handling a habanero, or the oils from the pepper will cause an extremely painful reaction (especially around the eye area). Using latex gloves is your best bet when dicing this fiery little bonnet (it's often called a Scotch bonnet), but if you don't have any around, just make sure you thoroughly wash your hands afterwards.

I like to top chili with sour cream and shredded cheese, which helps cut the heat. A piece of sourdough bread goes great with this. Best of all, this chili is the type that tastes even better the next day. Enjoy!