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Chili Meat Sauce

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Ingredients
  

  • 1 lb lean ground beef ( can use 1/4 pork )
  • 4 cups water
  • 12 oz Chicken or Beef stock
  • 4 oz Tomato paste ( unseasoned, see below )
  • 1 tbsp Onion powder
  • 1 tbsp Chili powder ( make your own - see below )
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 - 1 tsp cinnamon ( depends on freshness, see below )
  • 1 tsp dried parsley
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Instructions
 

  • Whisk the tomato paste in a large pot with the water and stock.
  • Break up the raw meat in the liquid with your hands.
  • Add all the seasoning (see note on cinnamon below), stir well.
  • Turn on the heat to medium, stirring often.
  • Once it comes to a light boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 2 hours, or until desired thickness. Keep stirring often so nothing sticks and burns on the bottom of the pot.
  • After 1.5 hours, test for cinnamon, and adjust other spices as desired.

Notes

I'd normally use fresh onion and garlic, but this is more of a meat sauce than it is a proper chili.
If you only have crushed or diced tomatoes, you can puree it a blender and simmer in a small pot until it's reduced to about 1/3, or just puree 2 cups of tomatoes with juice and reduce the water by 2 cups.
Start with 1/4 tsp cinnamon, and taste after 90 minutes. Adjust all the herbs & spices at this time.
You can also sweeten this up with ketchup, and/or brown sugar.