I'm Hilah and today on Hilah Cooking

we are makin' chili with beans.

♫ Chili with beans, chili with beans

♫ If you pull that shit in Texas, they'll kill you dead ♫

(imitates gun shot)

(energetic music)

So if you don't know,

Texas might be the only country in the world,

that's right, I said "country" 'cause I'm from Texas.

Anyway, it might be the only state in the country

where they don't put chili in the beans.

Beans are completely eschewed, es-shoed, from chili.

But, you know, I'm allowed to grow and evolve.

So I've changed my dad's chili recipe,

you can watch that, it was one

of the first videos we did, Texas-style chili.

I've changed it a little bit over the years

to make it more my own, and I've added kidney beans,

because beans are good for your heart.

So we're gonna move over here to a big pot,

and make some chili.

Easy peasy.

Okay, you wanna start out with maybe

a tablespoon of lard or bacon fat or oil, in a pinch,

in a large pot, and we're gonna start sauteing

the onion and the ground meat together,

and for most chilis, unless you're, like,

tryin' to be real fat-conscious,

you wanna use something like 85, 15 or something.

So it's 85% lean and 15% fat is what that means.

Sometimes you can even do 80, 20.

That might be a little greasy for me.

So just kinda break this up,

add some onion.

So I just wanna let this cook together

for a few minutes until the onions start to soften.

You don't need the meat to be fully cooked.

When we did the Texas-style chili recipe

years ago, a lot of people left comments,

like, very upset that I had added liquid before

the meat was fully browned and cooked,

sayin' that I was gonna get sick.

And I've heard that a few times since,

and I have no idea where this old wives' tale comes from,

that if you add liquid to your ground meat before

it's fully cooked that it's gonna make you sick somehow.

We're gonna simmer this for 30, 60 minutes.

Like, a long time.

It'll be fully cooked by the time you eat it,

I promise you no one's gonna get sick if you don't

brown it all the way before you add liquid.

I don't know.

I never heard that before I started making this show,

but then since then I've heard it

a couple more times from people.

Sounds like a buncha hooey to me.

Okay, and then once your onions have started to get

translucent like this,

then I'm gonna add the spices.

So chili powder, as usual, cumin, oregano, black pepper.

The new things I've started adding are

bay leaves and some regular old paprika.

Since this is Yankee chili, we don't wanna make it too hot.

(chuckles)

I hope that y'all know I'm kidding.

And then mix that around.

By putting these in now, we're kinda gettin' em

a little bit toasted up in the lard

and the meat fat.

See, it's already startin' to look and smell like chili.

Until we put the beans in the end and ruin it.

Sorry Daddy.

I love you.

About 60 seconds, these spices are smellin'

real toasty and good.

I'm gonna add my vegetables.

So you could use a can of tomatoes,

I'm gonna use a pound of diced tomatoes,

and then I've also got a couple serranos

and a couple jalapenos here chopped up

and a few cloves of garlic.

Now because I'm using fresh tomatoes

instead of canned tomatoes I'm gonna add

just a couple tablespoons of tomato paste,

but you would probably just would leave this out

if you were using canned tomatoes.

♫ That's your prerogative ♫

That's the only part of that song I remember.

I'm gonna mix this up.

Smells frickin' delicious.

Okay, now I'm gonna add a bottle of beer.

Texan's number one best friend.

You can use any kinda beer you want,

but I like a, what is this, a lager?

Is this considered a lager?

But stout beers work pretty good too.

If you don't drink beer,

if you don't wanna use beer, don't fret.

If you're using canned tomatoes

you might really not need to add,

you might not need to add liquid at all.

But you could use some beef broth, chicken broth,

or even just a little bit of water.

If you're using canned tomatoes,

probably just add like half a cup of water

or a little bit of bouillon or stock or something.

Most recipes that call for alcohol,

I mean I get this question a lot,

people asking for substitutes.

If it's like, less than two tablespoons of booze,

you can probably just leave it out almost all the time.

And then otherwise just use something that kinda

makes sense flavor-wise, like stock

or even juice if it's kind of a sweet recipe.

So okay, there. Beer's in.

I'm gonna add some salt.

This is a Hawaiian red salt.

Then I'm gonna put the lid on this,

we're gonna simmer it for about 30 minutes,

and come back and see ya then.

All right, after about 30 minutes,

your chili should look like this.

Delicious.

So give it a stir, see it's thickening up nicely.

And then we're gonna add some beans.

I like kidney beans, I'm using kidney beans.

These have been cooked and drained.

Some people maybe use pinto beans.

I don't know, I like kidney beans.

We're gonna mix those in,

and then let this simmer for another like

15 minutes or so uncovered,

just to get really nice and thick,

and then we're ready to serve.

♫ Chili time, chili time

♫ It's time to eat some chili ♫

May Ann Richards have mercy on my soul.

All right, I'm gonna serve this up.

Look at this.

Its beautiful, rich, dark red color.

The paprika really gives it a lot more color.

Gorgeous. Oh!

Who put that leaf in my chili?

Make sure you don't serve anyone a bay leaf.

And then you could top it with chili,

you could top it with onions, a little more jalapenos.

I already tasted this and it is pretty hot

because I put in a lot of serranos but hey, I like it spicy.

This recipe and all my recipes are always available

for free, of course, at HilahCooking.com,

so go over there, check it out if you wanna make this.

Send me a picture, tag me on Instagram

or Facebook or Twitter.

Let me taste this for you.

Allow me.

Allow me to do that for you.

(baby babbles)

You can't have any, Chef Baby.

It has beer in it.

And it's really hot.

(satisfied humming)

This will warm your soul, warm your heart,

warm your belly, and maybe warm your butt.

All right, thank you so much for watching.

Don't forget to subscribe.

Sorry I made a butt joke.

And I will see you next week. Bye!

(energetic music)