Enough Chili To Feed An Army

Seriously.  This is some serious chili making my friends!  After living here in our beautiful new city for six months, we decided it was finally time to be social and invite some people over.  The dilemma we were facing was who to invite?  Well, a month ago we held our first informal dinner and literally just invited everyone we knew.   It went so well (and the lasagna was delicious) that we decided to do it again for an October themed dinner of chili, corn muffins and pumpkin pie.  Again, we sent out a random Facebook invite to everyone we knew- and then the RSVP’s started coming, with a few maybe’s thrown in for good measure.  I was unsure exactly how much chili I should make- but I did know that I wanted to have three different varieties on hand.  I wanted a standard beef and bean chili, a white chicken chili, and my pumpkin black bean chili made vegetarian for anyone who is so inclined.

The white chili was easy enough- I doubled the recipe, prepared it in a large pot, and then threw it in my largest crockpot to stay piping hot for guests.  The vegetarian chili I knew I would need less of, so that one I kept on the stovetop- I just needed to remember to stir it from time to time.  It was the beef and bean that was giving me trouble.  I just knew I was going to need a vast quantity available as it would be the most popular.

Mom to the rescue!  A couple of years ago my mom was cooking an occasional lunch for hungry high school students.  One of her biggest hits was a vat of chili, and when she heard about my chili dinner offered up both her 18 quart Nesco roaster and the recipe for chili to fill it.  Yes, you read that right- 18 quarts of chili.

This was so easy!  I had to brown the beef ahead of time, as well as dice the onions and peppers and mince the garlic.  but other than that, this was a can opening affair, and the Nesco roaster did all the work for me.  I tweaked the recipe to suit my tastes, but really didn’t stray too far from what Mom had done originally.  The chili was really good.  It was very mild, but we provided hot sauces for anyone so inclined to add some heat.  All it needed was a sprinkle of cheese and a dollop of sour cream to finish it off.  I plan to make this again in another month or so when we need to prepare a dish for Abigail and Zander’s Nutcracker this year.

Here is my adaptation of Mom’s recipe.  You really can change it up any way you want, feel free to be flexible with it.  I really contemplated using diced beef roast instead of ground, but when I went to do my shopping, the roasts were really fatty looking and not too appealing.  I filled the roaster and we only had 1 gallon of this chili left when all was said and done. (Not to mention half of both the other chilies were gone as well!) It was a great time, and now I need to come up with something as crowd-pleasing for the next gathering!

Chili By The Nesco

6 pounds ground chuck, browned and drained

2 (40 ounce) cans Brooks Hot Chili Beans

1 (128 ounce) can kidney beans (drained and rinsed)

2 (40 ounce) cans water

1 (128 ounce) cans diced tomatoes (#10 can)

2 large green peppers, diced

2 large red bell peppers, diced

2 large onions, diced

8 cloves garlic, minced

4 Tablespoons beef bouillion granules

2 Tablespoons ground cumin

3 Tablespoons chili powder

Black pepper and salt to taste

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients in a large 18 quart Nesco roaster.  Cook at 350ºF for about 4 hours, stirring frequently.  Add additional chili powder if needed.