Chili for a Crowd: One Big Pot That Holds Through a Long Game

I am not a chef, and I'd like that on the record before anyone writes in about cumin ratios or whether beans belong in chili (they do in my house). I'm a host. Everything I know about chili I learned by making too much of it for rooms full of people who were mostly looking at a television.

From a host's point of view, chili is close to perfect. It's cheap for twelve. It tastes better on the second day, so you can cook it before the party and stop worrying. It doesn't care whether the game goes to overtime, and it sits in a slow cooker for hours while people wander up during timeouts. By late October, with hockey, basketball and football all on at once and the light gone by six, it's the pot I make more than any other.

Here's my plan for twelve people and a four hour stretch.

How much to make

I plan on about a cup and a half (375 ml) per person, because chili is the main event, people come back at halftime, and somebody always leaves with a container. For twelve, that's roughly 18 cups, or about 4.5 litres, across both pots.

If two or three of your twelve don't eat meat, make the full beef pot and half of the vegetarian one. If it's closer to half and half, make both in full and freeze what's left for some grey Tuesday in January.

The beef and bean pot (serves 12)

You need a Dutch oven or stockpot that holds at least 7.5 litres (8 quarts). In anything smaller you'll be scraping scorched beans off the bottom by the second quarter. This makes about 4.5 litres (19 cups).

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1.4 kg (3 lb) medium ground beef (about 80/20)
• 3 large onions, diced
• 2 bell peppers, any colour, diced
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 jalapeños, seeded and chopped
• 1/3 cup (about 40 g) chili powder, the supermarket blend
• 2 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 2 chipotle peppers in adobo, chopped, plus a spoonful of the sauce
• 1 small can (156 ml, 5.5 oz) tomato paste
• 2 large cans (796 ml or 28 oz each) diced tomatoes
• About 6 cups (1.5 L) drained beans: three 540 ml cans in Canada or four 15 oz cans in the US. Kidney, pinto, black or a mix.
• 2 cups (500 ml) beef stock, or a can of lager or brown ale topped up with water
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar or the juice of a lime, for the end

1. Heat the oil over medium high. Brown the beef in three batches, breaking it up, 6 to 8 minutes a batch, until there are dark crusty bits and no pink left. Crowd the pot and the meat steams grey, and grey chili tastes like a school cafeteria. Move each batch to a bowl, and spoon out some fat if more than a few tablespoons are left.
2. Turn the heat to medium. Add the onions, peppers, jalapeños and a pinch of salt and cook for about 10 minutes, until soft. Their water loosens the brown bits on the bottom of the pot.
3. Add the garlic and all the spices and stir for a minute, until the kitchen smells toasty. Stir in the tomato paste and the chipotles and cook for 2 minutes, until the paste turns a shade darker.
4. Put the beef and its juices back in. Add the tomatoes, beans, stock or beer, sugar and 2 teaspoons of salt. Bring it to a simmer.
5. Simmer gently, partly covered, for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Stir and scrape the bottom every 15 to 20 minutes. It's ready when a spoon dragged across the bottom of the pot leaves a trail for a second before the chili closes over it.
6. Taste it. Add the vinegar or lime first, then more salt, then more chipotle if it's tame. I skipped the acid for years, and it's what makes a long-simmered pot taste awake instead of muddy.

If it's still loose, stir in 2 or 3 tablespoons of masa harina and simmer for 10 more minutes.

The vegetarian pot (serves 12, or halve it)

Browned mushrooms and a little soy sauce build back the savoury depth the beef was bringing. Lentils give it body, and sweet potato makes it hearty enough that nobody goes looking for the other pot. This makes about 5 litres (20 cups).

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 450 g (1 lb) cremini mushrooms, chopped small
• The same onions, peppers, garlic, jalapeños and spices as the beef pot
• 1 small can (156 ml) tomato paste
• 2 large cans (796 ml or 28 oz each) diced tomatoes
• About 8 cups (2 L) drained beans: black, kidney and chickpeas
• 1 cup (200 g) dried brown or green lentils, rinsed
• 1 medium sweet potato (about 400 g), peeled and cut into 1 cm (1/2 inch) cubes
• 5 cups (1.25 L) vegetable stock, plus more if needed
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp brown sugar, salt, and lime or vinegar for the end

Brown the mushrooms first, in two batches, for 10 to 12 minutes each, until their liquid has cooked off and the edges are deep brown. Then follow the beef method from step 2, adding the lentils, sweet potato, stock and soy sauce along with the tomatoes and beans. It needs only 45 minutes to an hour at a gentle simmer, until the lentils are tender and the sweet potato is breaking up at the edges. Lentils drink liquid as they sit, so keep extra stock on hand.

Most Worcestershire sauce contains anchovies, so keep it out of this pot, and read the label on your stock. On the day, give each pot its own ladle and a folded card that says which is which. People will still ask.

Make it the day before

The catch with cooking ahead is cooling. A full pot stays warm in the middle for hours, so don't put the whole pot in the fridge. Divide it into shallow containers, no more than about 5 cm (2 inches) deep, leave the lids loose until it's cold, and get it into the fridge within two hours of turning off the heat.

On game day, reheat it on the stove over medium heat, stirring often, until it's steaming all the way through and reads 165°F (74°C). Then move it into the slow cooker, which is too gentle to bring cold chili up to a safe temperature quickly. A full beef pot takes 30 to 40 minutes on the stove, so start an hour before people arrive.

Holding it warm for four hours

The rule is simple: keep hot food at 140°F (60°C) or above. Slow cooker warm settings vary a lot between machines, and some drift lower when the pot is getting low and the lid keeps coming off. Don't trust the dial. Trust an instant-read thermometer.

• Check the temperature in the middle and near the edge about once an hour. I do it at every intermission or quarter break. If it reads under 140°F (60°C), switch to low until it comes back up.
• Stir every half hour or so and scrape down the sides, where the chili dries out and darkens.
• By the third hour it will be thicker than you'd like. Stir in a splash of hot stock or water.
• If you only own one slow cooker, the second pot can stay in its Dutch oven, lid on, in a 200°F (95°C) oven. Check it the same way.

At the end of the night, cool the leftovers in shallow containers, and don't leave the slow cooker on warm overnight. The rest of the food safety basics for a party, from cold dips to the two hour rule, are in my watch party planning checklist.

The toppings bar

Half the fun of chili is building your own bowl. For twelve:

Set it up in the order people build: bowls, chili, cold toppings, and the crunchy things last so they stay crunchy. Use small bowls, refill them from the fridge, and give every bowl its own spoon.

About those bowls: I serve chili in mugs, every mug I own. A mug sits in one hand on the couch and leaves the other free for a high five.

Cornbread or chips

You need something to scoop with.

Cornbread

Cornbread is the cozy option, and this is my one-bowl version. Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and butter a 9 by 13 inch (23 by 33 cm) pan. In a big bowl, whisk 1 1/2 cups (210 g) cornmeal, 1 1/2 cups (190 g) all-purpose flour, 1/3 cup (65 g) sugar, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon salt. In another bowl, whisk 2 cups (500 ml) buttermilk, 2 eggs and 1/2 cup (115 g) melted butter. Pour the wet into the dry and stir just until there's no dry flour left. Lumps are fine. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the top is golden and a toothpick comes out clean, then cut it into 24 small squares. Bake it the morning of the party, wrap it in foil once it's cool, and warm it at 300°F (150°C) for 10 minutes before you put it out.

Chips

Chips are the no-effort option. Buy two big bags of thick, restaurant-style tortilla chips, because the thin ones snap off in the chili. If kids are coming, buy snack-size bags of corn chips too. Cut the top off a bag, ladle in some chili, add cheese and a fork, and you have the walking taco, which children consider the greatest invention in food. It also means fewer dishes, which I consider the greatest invention in hosting.

Leftover chili makes very good nachos the next day, and Megan Tremblay's layering method for loaded nachos keeps the bottom chips from going soggy. As for what to pour, a malty amber or brown ale stands up to chipotle better than a light lager does. Our guide to beer styles on game day has the longer answer.

The last ladle

The guests are putting on their coats, somebody is still arguing about a call in the third, and the beef pot is down to the dark, thick layer at the bottom that has been cooking for four hours. I scrape it into a mug, add whatever cheese is left in the bowl, and eat it standing at the counter. It's the best chili of the night, every time, and nobody else ever gets any.