Bowl of Red Chili

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the Seasoning Mix ingredients thoroughly in a small bowl. Makes 6 tablespoons plus 2 1/4 teaspoons. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the seasoning mix all over the meat and work it in well with your hands. Remove the seeds from the dried chilies you are using and place them on a baking pan and dry them in the oven until brittle, about 10 to 13 minutes. Let cool. When the peppers are cool enough to handle, crush them in your hands into the bowl of a food processor and blend into a fine powder. There should be about 7 tablespoons in all. Place the cornmeal in a small skillet over medium-high heat and toast, flipping the cornmeal and shaking the skillet constantly, until the cornmeal is light brown, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside. Place the salt pork in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Cover and cook, uncovering the pot occasionally to scrap the bottom, until the salt pork is a deep brown color, about 30 minutes. There should be a film on the bottom of the pot that looks like ground red pepper. Remove the salt pork from the pot with a slotted spoon and set aside. Turn up the heat to high, and when the fat remaining in the pot is hot, add half the beef to the pot. Cook, turning once or twice, until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Then brown the remaining beef and remove to the bowl. Add 4 cups each of the onions and bell peppers, 2 cups of the celery, the garlic, and the remaining seasoning mix to the pot. Stir well, cover, and cook 8 to 10 minutes. Add the bay leaves, cover, and cook, uncovering occasionally to stir, about 15 minutes. Remove the lid and cook until the vegetables are sticking to the bottom of the pot, about 6 minutes. Stir in the ground peppers and the browned beef. Cook until the meat sticks hard and forms a hard crouton the bottom of the pot, about 20 to 25 minutes. Meanwhile, place the browned salt pork and 1 cup of the stock in the container of a blender and process until thoroughly blended. When the meat has formed a crust on the bottom of the pot, stir in the salt pork/stock mixture and scrape the bottom of the pot. Add the tomatoes, the remaining 2 cups onions, 2 cups bell pepper, 1 cup celery, and 1 cup of stock. Scrape the bottom of the pot well and cook, uncovered 12 minutes. Cover the pot and cook over high heat 8 minutes. Add the toasted cornmeal and 1 cup more of the stock to the pot and scrape the bottom. Stir in the remaining 3 cups stock and the cumin. Bring to a boil. cover, lower the heat, simmer, scraping occasionally if the mixture starts to stick, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, makes about 18 cups.