Skip to main content
Main

Texas Truck Stop Chili

A hearty chili made with beef brisket, bacon, onions, spices, tomatoes, and chipotle peppers.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 16 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Cumin and oregano match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 983 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Texas Truck Stop Chili

Time3 hours

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef and bacon

  1. Cut beef into 1/2 inch cubes.

  2. In a Dutch oven over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp, then remove and reserve.

  3. Remove all but 1 tablespoon of drippings and reserve.

  4. Over high heat, sauté beef in batches, adding drippings as needed, then remove to a bowl.

Build the base

  1. Over medium heat, sauté onions in any remaining drippings until well browned.

  2. Meanwhile, heat a skillet over medium heat, then add cumin and cook 1 minute.

  3. Then stir in chili powder, paprika, oregano, pepper, salt, thyme, and cinnamon.

  4. Stir seasoning and garlic into onions and sauté 1 minute.

Simmer the chili

  1. Stir in bacon, broth, tomatoes, chilies, and beef, breaking up tomatoes with a spoon.

  2. Heat chili to boiling, then reduce heat.

  3. Cover partially and simmer gently for 3 hours.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

436Calories
34 gProtein
20 gFat
33 gCarbs

Counts 14 of 15 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 14 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Plum1 medium (66g)30
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Oregano1 tsp dried (1.8g)5
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cumin + oreganotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together983 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Oregano + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together791 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Cumin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,103 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  5. Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Beef brisket
Becomes tender over a long simmer, adding a rich, meaty body to the chili.
Bacon
Its rendered fat and crisped pieces add savory depth to the cooking base.
White onions
Browning them builds sweetness and deep savory flavor in the chili.
Plum tomatoes in puree
Break down during simmering to add body, acidity and a saucy texture.
Chili powder
Blooms in the fat to give the chili its main warm, earthy flavor.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma that mellows and sweetens as it cooks with the onions.

The step that matters

Browning the beef in batches over high heat. Crowding the pan traps steam and leaves the meat grey instead of browned. Browning in batches lets the surface caramelise, which builds the deep savory flavour of the finished chili.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, cumin, oregano, pepper, thyme, cinnamon, clove):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Eggplantfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, cumin, oregano, pepper, thyme, cinnamon, clove. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesRoast BeefRoast Beef211 recipesBeef LoafBeef Loaf175 recipesCream of Tomato SoupCream of Tomato Soup107 recipes