Bert Greene's Peppered Chili

Ingredients:

Preparation:

1. Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add half the garlic, half the onions, and all the green pepper and cook for 5 minutes.~ 2. Make a large well in the center of the vegetables and place the ground beef in the center. Raise the heat and cook, stirring and scraping the skillet with a metal spatula. Gradually stir in the surrounding vegetables and cook until the meat is evenly browned. Transfer this mixture to a Dutch oven.~ 3. Heat the vegetable oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter in the skillet. Saute the beef shoulder, a few strips at a time, over high heat until it is well browned. Transfer the strips to a plate as they are done. Lower the heat, then wipe out the skillet with paper toweling. Return beef strips to the skillet. Stir in the ground chile and cook 3 minutes over low heat. Transfer to the Dutch oven.~ 4. Melt the remaining butter in the skillet over medium heat. Add the remaining onions and garlic and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, sugar, and bay leaf and cook for 10 minutes. Transfer the mixture to the Dutch oven.~ 5. Stir all the remaining ingredients except the beans into the Dutch oven. Bake, covered, in a 300' oven for 3 hours.~ 6. Stir in the beans; bake 1/2 hour longer