Chili today, warm tomorrow

My chili continues to be a hit wherever it goes. The trick is not to use a prepackaged mix of chili powder and of course my barbecue spice mix. AND THERE ARE NO BEANS IN REAL CHILI!!!

Depending on the amount of heat you like in your chili (the more the better for me) take one package of dried peppers (ancho, new mexico etc; the dark brown kind in the produce section of the grocery store) and tear off the stemmed top. Remove as much of the interior seeds and ribs as you can with out spending too much time on it. There should be anywhere from 5 to 8 chilies in one package. Place the chilies in the blender and repeatedly pulse on grind until most of it becomes a powder mix. Note: it's ok if there are still some bigger pieces. This should yield 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of chili powder. Here's the recipe:

Fuzzy Old Guy's Chili

3 pounds of beef (I use stew beef and cut it into 1/4" pieces); some fat is good for flavor
1 pound of ground pork
1 large vidalia onion, chopped
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 large red pepper, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
8 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 to 3/4 cup chili powder
1 bunch of fresh cilantro
3 tbsp oil
2 fourteen to sixteen ounce cans of stewed or diced tomatoes
1/2 cup of your favorite mild salsa
Fuzzy Old Guys barbecue spice mix (1 tbsp each of dried ground cumin, ground coriander, garlic salt, onion salt, paprika, pepper, salt; plus 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar)

Directions:
Brown the meat in small batches and set aside.
Add oil to a large stew pot or dutch oven on medium heat (5 on a scale of 1 to 10). Add onions and sweat for 5 minutes. Onions should not brown, just sweat. Add peppers and celery; cook for 2 minutes. Add garlic; salt to taste. DO NOT BROWN THE GARLIC!
Add meat back in and stir thoroughly.
Sprinkle half of the chili powder mix over the top and stir thoroughly. Add the balance of the chili powder and stir again.
Add tomatoes and salsa. Stir thoroughly. Salt and pepper to taste.
Add half the chopped cilantro.
Place in oven at 325 degrees for 2 hours stirring occasionally.
When finished add the balance of the cilantro. Serve with steamed white rice and hot sauce on the side.

The chilies add a nice smokey flavor that you don't get with the store bought powder.