Arjay's Sand Springs Southern Chili
Submitted by Bootsie
A no-bean Southern chili built on three cuts of beef, beer, and an avalanche of spices including cardamom, saffron, ginger, and a whole cinnamon stick. Bold, complex, simmered for hours.
YIELD
12 servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
2 hrsREADY
3 hrsThis chili doesn’t pull punches. The spice list reads like a tour through the world’s pantry: chili powder, cumin, cardamom, saffron, curry, ginger, turmeric, caraway, plus a whole cinnamon stick that simmers in the pot. The result is a deeply layered, almost mole-like complexity that goes way beyond the standard chili powder-and-cumin formula. Two pounds of coarse ground beef, a half pound of regular grind, and cubed flank steak provide three distinct textures: chunky, fine, and bite-sized.
The beer is doing real work. A full 12 ounces (a single bottle or can) deglazes the browned beef, deepens the broth, and adds yeasty malt notes that play off the spices. Use a medium amber lager or brown ale; light beer is too thin and IPA’s hop bitterness fights the cinnamon and cardamom.
The cornmeal is the secret thickener. A single tablespoon stirred into the spice mix thickens the chili as it simmers, giving it that perfect spoon-coating body without flour or commercial thickeners. The two-hour simmer is mandatory; the spices need that time to bloom and marry into something cohesive instead of disjointed.
Pro Tips
- Brown the cubed flank in a dry, hot pan before the ground beef. Searing it separately develops more fond and deeper flavor than tossing all the beef in at once.
- Don’t skimp on the cinnamon stick. It looks fussy but contributes a warm, woodsy backbone the ground spices can’t match. Fish it out before serving.
- Make this a day ahead if you can. Like Cincinnati chili, the flavors fully develop overnight and the second day’s bowl is dramatically better.
- Top with sharp cheddar, sour cream, sliced scallions, and a squeeze of lime. The acid wakes up the spice complexity.
Variations
- For more heat, add a chopped chipotle in adobo with its sauce or a teaspoon of ground cayenne.
- Stir in a square of unsweetened chocolate for an even more mole-leaning version.
- Swap beer for strong black coffee for a different bittering agent that plays well with the cumin and chili powder.
Ingredients
Directions
In a large saucepan, heat oil until hot.
Add beef cubes; brown on all sides, remove and set aside.
Add ground beef, both grinds, brown, stirring to crumble.
Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, one cup of water, vinegar and all the other dry ingredients listed.
(Mix the cornmeal, onions, all the spices in a bowl then add them after the meat has been cooked).
Also add the browned beef cubes, stir well, then add the beer and stir some more until all the ingredients are mixed well.
Simmer, covered, strring occasionally, for at least 2 hours.
This can be prepared early in the day and kept on low heat to let spices blend togather.
Add more water if needed.
Remove cinnamon stick before serving.
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