During my time at the University of North Georgia, I was honored to be named and serve on leadership for the UNG Staff Council. Annually, the Staff Council hosted a chili cookoff that was just a great time for students, faculty and staff to get involved on campus.

The competition was fairly serious so I spent both more money and more time sorting out the perfect chili recipe than I should have. Even local chefs would get involved and support staff members and their recipes.

Just like any good cook, you either start from scratch or start from an existing recipe and improve upon it. In this case, I started with a popular recipe and worked to improve it based on adding a little Southern flavor and to modify the recipe to remove a few allergens for my kids. I placed each year with this recipe (or a modification there of). It’s a winner and something we cook every year in the fall or winter.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds ground local beef chuck (TexGA Farms would be the way to go)
• 1 pound local pork sausage
• 3 (15 ounce) cans chili beans, drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can chili beans in spicy sauce
• 2 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with juice (I’ve also used canned tomatoes from my parents’ garden)
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon onion powder (or  1 large Vidalia onion, chopped)
• 1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 green chile peppers, seeded and chopped (or 1 jalapeno, or a small can of hatch chiles)
• 1 tablespoons bacon bits
• 4 cubes beef bouillon
• ½ cup Yuengling (or a beer of your choice / drink the rest)
• ¼ cup chili powder, or more to taste
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon Dale’s® steak seasoning
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons Texas Pete® hot sauce
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Crumble and cook the beef chuck and sausage in the hot pan. Stir frequently to prevent burning until meat is evenly browned. Drain excess grease.
2. In a separate pan on medium heat, sauté bell peppers, onion powder (or onion), and Chile peppers in extra virgin olive oil until soft.
3. Add peppers to beef mixture and pour in all chili beans, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, bacon bits, beef bouillon, beer, ¼ cup chili powder, garlic, Dale’s seasoning, oregano, cumin, Texas Pete, basil, cayenne, paprika, and sugar. Stir to blend, then cover and simmer over low heat for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
4. Drink remaining bottle of beer while cooking.
5. Taste and season with more salt, pepper, and chili powder if necessary. I’ve also been known to add more Texas Pete at this stage as well. The longer it simmers, the better it will be. Remove from the heat and serve, or cool, refrigerate and reheat later.
6. I would recommend to serve on top of corn chips and cheese listed below OR with a side of Southern cornbread.

Additional Items to have on hand:

• Homemade cornbread (not that Northern sweet cornbread, but Southern and salty)
• Fritos® chips
• Shredded mild or sharp cheddar cheese
•  Sour cream