Mike's Chili Recipe

This past week my brother's employer, Reno Powersports in Kansas City, hosted their annual employee chili cook-off.  

My brother, Mike, entered his chili recipe.  I asked him if he would allow me to post his recipe for you all to have.  He cautions that his recipe makes A LOT of chili, so if you are just preparing this for your family, you would certainly want to at least halve the recipe.

They had quite a few entries and allowed all of their customers to vote for their favorite.  Mike's recipe was voted #2!

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground beef
1 lb Italian Sausage
2 red bell peppers, diced
2 small habanero peppers, chopped
1 red onion, diced
1 Videlia/sweet onion, diced
5 garlic cloves, diced
1/3 cup chili powder
3 Tbsp cumin
2 Tbsp oregano
3 Tbsp coarse ground pepper
3 Tbsp salt
5 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 stick of butter (2 Tbsp)
3 - 15 oz cans of diced tomatoes
3 cans of Rotel diced tomatoes with green chilies
2 cans of black beans
3 cans of kidney beans
2 cans of pinto beans
1 lg can of tomato paste
24 oz can Guinness lager beer*
Louisiana Hot Sauce to taste**

Directions:

1.  In a large stock pot, add olive oil, butter, peppers, onions, and garlic.  

Sauté until vegetables have softened.

2.  Add meat, salt, pepper, oregano, cumin and chili powder.

3.  Once meat is fully cooked, stir in diced tomatoes, beer and beans.

4. Simmer on low for several hours.

5.  Add tomato paste if needed to thicken to desired consistency 

and simmer for several more hours.  

*Any brand of beer can be used, but a dark lager is best in this recipe, according to my brother.
**Louisiana Hot Sauce is used only to make it spicier if desired.  He tends to like things pretty spicy, so I'm guessing this is already pretty spicy as is.  

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