#ThursYumYum - Slap Ya Pappa Chili

This was my Daddy’s specialty. Like so many other of his recipes, he started his chili with a roux.

Roux

1 med. yellow onion, chopped somewhere between fine and coarse

2 lbs lean ground meat

2 cans chili beans

2 cans chili tomatoes

2 Tbsp tomato catsup

Chili powder to taste

Prepare the roux by browning ½ C flour in a ½ C cooking oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook on med heat, stirring almost constantly so it won’t stick for 15 to 30 mins until the roux is the color of coffee with light cream.

Brown the ground meat and onion together. Add together the roux and the meat in a stockpot. Add the chili beans, chili tomatoes, and catsup. Add chili powder. Taste. Add more chili powder. Taste. Add more chili powder. Eventually there will be enough chili powder added that it tastes right.

Daddy loved to extol the virtues of eating onions. He claimed they prevented heart disease, stroke, and cancer. About two and a half years ago, he passed away from an aortic aneurism at the ripe old age of eight-nine, three months shy of his ninetieth birthday. Daddy said most of the world’s best recipes started with a roux. He always added a little sweet catsup to anything with tomatoes, because he said it cut the acid.