Texas chili --> texas sloppy joes

I'm staying at my brother's place in Tacoma for the week. He likes chili. But he doesn't like beans. So that is to say, he likes texas chili. A land where they have been known to believe that adding tomatoes and beans to chili is to adulterate the meaty goodness.

Now enter me. I have a vegetarian (well, now eats fish) boyfriend. I make bean heavy, meat free chilis. And I wanted to make chili today. So I used my brother's love of texan chili as an excuse to try something new. The end result has good flavor (though not quite the level of spice I like; it should hurt a bit). But I'm all about texture, and the ground beef being the main player made it not okay as a stand-alone, in my book. So I improvised! I slapped it on a bun and called it a sloppy joe. And it rocked!

Here is what I did. I sort of used a few recipes, but I'm bad at following directions =D

Texas Chili:

My picture. Sorry for the poor quality.

3 strips thick cut, fatty bacon
1 6-oz can tomato paste
2-3 lbs leaner ground beef (I used 7%) (venison would be a fine sub here, just add an extra strip or two of bacon)
1 medium onion, chopped up as small as possible because I hate the texture
somewhere between 2-5 cloves of garlic, depending on your preference, minced
3 Tbs chili powder
1 Tbs paprika (I would add more a second time around!)
1 Tbs cumin (more of this, too)
1/2 Tbs salt (more to taste later if you want)
A good grinding of pepper... I didn't measure
12 oz dark beer
3 cups water

1. Get a big pot. This is all you'll need for the cooking. Yay chili!
2. Heat the pot up, then drop in the bacon strips. Fry until a little below what you would do normally for eating. Take out the bacon and set aside. Keep as much of the drippings in the pot as you can.
3. Add the ground beef. Brown in the drippings on a lower heat. While this is browning, chop up your onion. Once meat is almost all brown, add the garlic and onion. You can turn the heat up a bit here. Allow to cook until all meat is brown and onion is soft.
4. Add all the spices. Stir, then add the tomato paste. Stir well to coat all the meat. Add the beer, stir, and turn down heat. Allow this to cook for a couple minutes. While this is cooking, cut up your cooked bacon into smaller pieces (I did around the size of a nickel to a quarter).
5. Stir in the water, and add the bacon pieces. Mix everything together well, and put the lid on. Bring to a low boil, then turn down to a simmer. At this point, partially cover the chili and allow it to cook for two hours. Stir occasionally. I stirred probably no more than 6 times. I don't think it hurt for the lack of attention. Just keep cooking it down until it reaches a consistency you like for your chili. I like mine thick. After cooking for an hour to an hour and a half, taste some of your chili. Add more salt or pepper or spice if you want.

Enjoy! I heated a roll, split in half, and then topped it with the chili to make a little sandwich. I hope you enjoy it!