Cincinnati-Style Chili

I made this recently and it was fantastic. Probably the easiest Chef-John-dish I've prepared thus far. Super easy. It yielded a wonderful chili to go over spaghetti, but it can do double-duty as a hot dog chili. Wow! We'll be making this regularly. I did a mix of grass fed and regular ground beef at 90% lean. Great Super Bowl half-time dish.

FoodWishes YouTube video
All Recipes for amounts and written steps

Difficulty: VERY easy. Cut onion, press garlic, and add other stuff to pot. Mash till smooth. Bring to boil, lower heat and simmer for an hour or so.
Cleanup: One pot, cutting board, knife, garlic press, wooden spoon, masher, ladle.
What I did differently:

• Added bay leaf after mashing ingredients together. Thought it might get broken up and would be hard to find the pieces to remove. 
• I reduced salt to two teaspoons instead of three. 

Ingredients

Need to work on food photography skills

Chipotle Peppers

I'm always looking for a way to use up the jalapeños from my garden. This yields whole, dried chipotle peppers. You can grind them to a powder when ready to use or do a bunch and give as a gift. You can also make use them to produce chipotle in adobo if you like. As an added bonus your house will smell like chipotle peppers during the baking and a little beyond.

Dehydrating in the oven

 You will need...
About 20-30 jalapeños
Pecan, cherry, apple, or hickory wood for your smoker

1. Rinse and dry the jalapeños. 
2. Place jalapeños on smoker's rack(s). 
3. Smoke at about 200° F for 3 hours.
4. Preheat oven to 200° F. 
5. Transfer smoked jalapeños to a cooling rack and place directly on a rack in the oven. Place a baking sheet below to catch any liquids that might escape. 
6. Bake at 200° F for at least 10 hours. 

Chipotle Peppers