Texas Red Chilli

Ingredients

• 1.4 kg beef chuck, cut into 2 cm cubes
• 4 dried ancho chillies
• 2 dried chipotle chillies
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 6 garlic cloves
• 2 onions, chopped
• 800 ml beef stock
• 2 tbsp cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp masa harina
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 20 g dark chocolate

Method

1. Make the chilli paste

   Tear the dried chillies open, discard the seeds, toast them in a dry pan for 30 seconds a side, then soak in boiling water for 20 minutes and blend with the garlic and some soaking liquid. Whole dried chillies are the entire flavour of this dish — powder will not do it.

   20 min

2. Cubes, not mince

   Pat the beef dry and brown it hard in the oil in batches. Real Texas chilli uses cubed chuck, not mince: after three hours it goes soft and shreddy in a way mince never manages.

   15 min

3. Onions

   Cook the onions in the beef fat until soft and browning at the edges.

   10 min

4. Bloom and combine

   Stir in the cumin and oregano for a minute, then the chilli paste, and cook it out for five minutes until it darkens.

   5 min

5. The long simmer

   Return the beef, add the stock, and simmer barely covered for two and a half hours until the meat gives completely. No beans and no tomatoes — that is the definition, and the argument, of a Texas red.

   2 h 30 min

6. Thicken and sharpen

   Slake the masa harina in a little water and stir it in with the vinegar and chocolate. Simmer 15 minutes more. The masa thickens and adds a faint corn sweetness that flour cannot.

   15 min