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This article was originally published on February 1st, 2012 by Andy Isaac and this foreword is written buy BroBible’s EIC, Cass Anderson. Ads on this page have been turned off out of respect. Andy passed away on March 6th, 2025 after a decades-long battle with cancer. His family shared a message that he passed away peacefully beside his loving family. They shared that Andy was “a genuine space of laughter and kindness” and they asked that everyone “carry on this spirit” in his honor.
Andy was a true friend. Someone I’d known for much of my adult life. Along with Chris Spagnuolo and Douglas Charles, we’d co-founded Guyism.com together back in 2009 and much of what I know about this business I learned from Isaac. I never called him Andy unless I was really trying to get his attention. It was always Isaac.
Back in 2015, long after Guyism and and BroBible were merged, he asked me if I could find his chili recipe. I looked in our archives but couldn’t find it. The recipe appeared to have been lost in the site migration. But I recently dug deeper to find it and I emailed him to him last month after he announced he was entering hospice. Andy’s love of food was unmatched and well-documented. Through ‘Faturday’ he spread the gospel of good eating so I wanted to republish his personal chili recipe today for those out there whose lives were touched by Andy in some way. Make this chili, remember the light within him, and carry on his spirit of kindness.
Andy Isaac’s Chili Recipe
Are you hosting a Super Bowl party on Sunday? Are you looking for something that will blow away your guests? Try this spicy chili recipe that I’ve personally tweaked for almost a decade. It’s also a recipe I’ve never shared with anyone, so yes, you should feel special.
This recipe serves 12-15 people, so you’ll have to adjust for the number of guests at your party.
Here’s what you need to do.
1.5 lbs of ground beef (use something that contains at least 20% fat)
1.5 lbs of spicy Italian sausage (go to your butcher and ask them to grind it for you)
6-8 small onions, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
3 Poblano peppers, chopped
Saute the onions and garlic in a large frying pan. When the onions become translucent, thrown in the Poblano peppers. After 2-3 minutes, add the meat until it’s cooked thoroughly (no pink). Add salt, pepper and a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce and stir.
With me so far?
Grab a large pot, preferably one that can hold several quarts of liquid. The bigger, the better.
Add the following (drop 1):
24 oz tomato paste
3 cans diced tomatoes chili ready
32oz tomato sauce
3 14.5 oz cans of low sodium beef broth
6 tpsp chili powder
3 tbsp cumin
3 tbsp garlic
2 Jalapenos, whole
4 Serranos, whole
1 Habanero, whole
Obviously, the type of chili powder you use is crucial. Go with a hotter Chiptotle or Mexican if you want something closer to a five-alarm—an Ancho chili powder will suffice if you don’t want to test your guests’ spice palettes.
Boil 30 minutes on med-high heat. Remove the peppers and allow them to cool for a few minutes before giving them a rough chop and throwing them back into your cauldron. I like to include the seeds but it’s understandable if you want to leave it out (wimp!).
Measure out the following ingredients and mix them together in a small bowl (drop 2).
3 tbsp cumin
12 tbsp chili powder
3 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp garlic
3 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp black pepper
2-3 tbsp cayenne (personal preference here)
1.5 tbsp basil
1.5 tbsp Mexican oregano
Then add:
3 cups chicken broth
2 beef bullion cubes
2 chicken bullion cubes
Cover and simmer for 2-2.5 hours, occasionally giving it a stir. The longer you cook it, the more depth of flavor the chili will have. Oddly enough, freezing and reheating this chili is recommended, although, time constraints may not allow for it.
(Yes, there is a secret ingredient here, one that I will not share with you specifically. But, as to not leave you totally in the dark, it is an expensive chili powder that I throw in approximately 15 minutes before I serve.)
Garnish with onions and shredded cheese and voila, you have one tasty treat for your Super Bowl party.
Again, let me add, cooking chili is not difficult, but it is an art. An art that takes time, patience and a certain, je ne sais quoi. Let me know how it goes!
Content shared from brobible.com.