Champion-grade Chili

The Hearth for Friday, January 31, 2025

WARM FOOD FOR COLD NIGHTS

We are in the grip of something resembling winter around here, which calls for recipes that keep us warm, restore morale, and stretch out over the sometimes endless weeks of January and February.

One of the finest winter recipes in my home library is the one that follows, a method for classic American chili kicked up several notches through artful experimentation. This has become our household's absolute go-to chili recipe, and it's likely to become yours as well.

It comes from my friend Karsten Steinhaeuser, who is as good a cook as anyone I've met. Years ago, I came over to his house for a dinner of chili, not particularly looking forward to the meal - I'd always viewed chili as a forgettable utility food, something you can spoon onto a hot dog or, better yet, just ignore completely. [1]

Karsten's chili is something else entirely. I had a bowl, and - to my surprise - finished it with real joy. I went back for another. Finished that one, too. Contemplated a third bowl, settled for the recipe instead.

Rich, complex, layered with flavor but beautifully balanced, this is everything you want from a classic chili plus a whole lot of soul you that you likely weren't expecting. The recipe comes from years of iteration and innovation on Karsten's part, started back when he was in graduate school with plenty of time (and Food Network programming) on his hands.

"Over time it definitely got more complex in flavor," Karsten says. "The addition of the blended rehydrated ancho added some complexity and some heat. It's not a super spicy chili, but it's definitely on the middle of that spectrum." The addition of bison to the recipe's ground beef also helps to establish its depth of flavor.

"Don't be intimidated," Karsten says of his chili recipe, which is lengthy. "It's not a difficult recipe," he notes, adding that most of its ingredients can be substituted or omitted without doing too much damage. “It'll work out just fine,” he says. “If you don't have bison, use more ground beef. To me chili is more of a category or a concept, it can be a lot of things." The main thing, he notes, is time. "There is really no substitute for letting it cook for two hours, or even three hours, to really let those flavors come together."

When I talked to Karsten about this recipe he emphasized that it's flexible, forgiving, and incredibly adaptable. "It's been a passion project over 15 years at this point, but the recipe hasn't changed in the last five or six. If you make a new improvement on it, find me, let me know - I'm always open to continuing to evolve it!"

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James Norton / Heavy Table

KARSTEN’S THREE-MEAT, TWO-BEAN, ONE-POT CHILI

1-2 dried ancho chilis
1c hot water