Joe's Award-Winning Chili

Joe won a prize for his chili in a Jaycees Chili Cookoff and then years later in the Grayslake Winter Carnival cookoff. It's fantastic, even though he doesn't add beans. In fact, it was so fantastic that it was all eaten at the Winer Carnival before I could get a photo. You know what chili looks like anyway, don't you?

Ingredients

2 lb. chuck or round steak (or top sirloin steak)
2 tbsp olive oil
Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1 (28 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (12 oz) can of beer
1/3 cup chopped white onion
1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper
5 garlic cloves minced, or pressed with garlic press
2 tsp ground cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
12 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp smoky paprika
1 tsp ground cumin

½ lb. Chihuahua Mexican cheese or goat cheese

Directions

In a skillet heat the oil with crushed red pepper flakes for a minute, then adding meat. Brown meat on both sides in the oil.

Place the meat into a heavy stock pot with lid, adding tomato sauce and beer to meat. Then add onion, garlic, chili pepper, oregano, paprika, salt, ground cumin. Simmer 2 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally but leave the lid on as much as possible.

Add cheese, and stir often while poking apart the steak so it shreds. Cook another ½ hour.

Optional:

Serve with pinto beans, chopped onions, grated cheddar cheese, and sour cream on the side. Your "chili gourmet" friends can customize it if they like. For your Midwest friends with stereotypical Scandinavian or Northern European ancestry they may need to add elbow macaroni or spaghetti as they might not have had anything other than ‘chili-mac' in their lives!

Makes 6 - 8 big servings (12 - 16 servings if they're little bird-like eaters!).