Bobby Flay Chili is made with cubed bottom round, dark beer and nine kinds of chile, ready in 2 hours 30 minutes. The pot serves six, and a toasted cumin crema goes over the top. Chocolate and maple syrup go in at the very end.
Flay built this for the chili episode of Throwdown, and it uses four pounds of bottom round cut into half inch cubes. Ground beef would turn to grit over two hours, where cubes break down into strands you can see. He browns them in three batches so the pan never steams.
The chocolate and maple syrup never see heat, because they go in after the pot comes off the burner. Two tablespoons of each are correctors, not flavors you should taste as chocolate or syrup. Simmer them in and the chili turns sweet and muddy instead of round.
Bobby Flay Chili
Course: MainCuisine: SouthwesternDifficulty: Medium4
servings30
minutes40
minutes300
kcalThe sauce gets pureed with an immersion blender before the beef returns, which is why it reads smooth rather than chunky. Two full tablespoons of ground cumin go onto the meat early, separate from the half tablespoon of seeds toasted for the crema.
Ingredients
- For the Beef:
7 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil, divided
4 pounds bottom round beef, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons ground cumin
One 12-ounce bottle dark beer
- For the Chile Base:
1 large red onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon seeded and chopped habanero
1 Thai bird chile, seeded and chopped
1/2 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1/2 poblano, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
1 tablespoon cascabel chile powder
1 tablespoon chipotle pepper puree
1 tablespoon pasilla chile powder
1 teaspoon New Mexican chile powder
5 cups homemade chicken stock, canned low-sodium broth or water
One 16-ounce can whole tomatoes, drained and pureed
- To Finish:
2 tablespoons finely chopped semisweet chocolate
2 tablespoons maple syrup, or more as needed
- For the Toasted Cumin Crema:
1/2 tablespoon cumin seeds
1/2 cup Mexican crema or creme fraiche
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Brown the beef in batches: Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large Dutch oven over high heat. Season the beef with salt and pepper, add one-third of the meat and saute until browned on all sides. Repeat with more oil and meat, draining excess liquid between batches. Return all the meat, sprinkle with the cumin and stir well.
- Deglaze with the beer: Deglaze the pan with the beer and bring to a boil. Cook until the beer is almost completely reduced, then remove the meat from the pan and set aside.
- Build the chile base: Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the same pan, then the onions, and cook over medium heat until soft. Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes. Add the habanero, Thai bird, jalapeno and poblano and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add all the chile powders and the chipotle puree and cook 2 minutes more, then add the stock and tomatoes, bring to a boil and cook until slightly thickened, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Puree and simmer: Puree the sauce with an immersion blender. Add the beef back, reduce the heat to medium, cover and simmer until the chili is thick and the beef is tender, about 1 hour 15 minutes. If it still has too much liquid, cook uncovered about 15 minutes more.
- Finish and make the crema: Remove from the heat, add the chocolate and maple syrup and stir until melted and combined, then adjust the seasoning. For the crema, toast the cumin seeds in a small saute pan over medium heat until lightly golden, then stir into the crema and season with salt and pepper. Serve the chili with the crema over the top.
Food Network notes this recipe has been updated and may differ from what was originally broadcast. No nutrition is published, so the calorie figure is estimated from the ingredients at six servings.
The headnote on the original page describes a different method entirely.
FAQs
Nine chiles? Do I need all of them?
Four fresh and five dried or powdered, and no, the dish works with fewer. The fresh ones bring heat and the powders bring color and depth, so keep at least one of each group. Ancho and chipotle are the two that carry the most, if you are cutting the list down.
The description says the chiles are cooked in beer and chocolate.
That headnote does not match the method underneath it. The beer deglazes the beef in step one and reduces away, while the chocolate goes in off the heat at the end. Follow the numbered steps rather than the summary paragraph above them.
Can I use ground beef to save time?
Picture the pot after two hours: ground beef will have dissolved into the sauce and left a thick, grainy paste. Bottom round in half inch cubes holds its shape and shreds instead. Chuck works too and is more forgiving, since it carries more fat.
Which dark beer should I use?
Reach for a brown ale or a porter rather than a stout, since stout turns bitter once it reduces. The whole bottle cooks down to almost nothing in step one, so you are left with the malt, not the alcohol. Beef broth replaces it if you would rather skip beer entirely.
What is cascabel chile powder and where do I find it?
Hunting for cascabel and pasilla powders usually means a Latin grocer or ordering online, since supermarkets rarely carry either. Substitute more ancho for the pasilla and guajillo for the cascabel, which gets you close. The crema is easier, and this chipotle lime crema is a shortcut version.
There are no beans in this.
Texas chili traditionally carries no beans at all, and a Throwdown entry would never include them. Add a drained can of pintos at the end if your household expects beans, after the puree step. For beef with chile that skips the long simmer, this grilled chile rubbed carne asada takes 45 minutes.
