1 lb. ground beef (suggest 2/3 round and 1/3 chuck)
2 lg. onions (puree 1 and dice the other and keep separate)
4 ribs celery, pureed
2 cans tomatoes, drain liquid
1/2 can tomato paste
4 cans tomato sauce
1 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. cayenne (red) pepper
1 tbsp. Tabasco sauce
1 tbsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar (to reduce acidity)
1/4 c. cooking oil

Saute 1 large onion and 4 ribs of celery in 1/4 cup oil. (If pureed, cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.) Add ground beef and stir to brown in loose pieces.

In the meantime, thoroughly mix the tomato paste, sauce and all chili powder, red pepper, Tabasco sauce, salt and sugar. Pour this mixture into the onions-celery-beef and continue cooking for 1 hour.

In the meantime, drain tomatoes from their own juice and crush into spoon-size pieces. (You can use the drained juice for some of the tomato sauce and increase the tomato paste or simply save the juice to make soup at another time.) Saute the second onion which should be minced in pieces that can be seen in the final dish. Put both the second onion and the crushed tomatoes into the mixture, stir well and cook for an additional 20 minutes.

SUGGESTIONS: If the mixture is too spicy for your taste, cook with only 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper and no Tabasco sauce; then place the Tabasco sauce on the table for your family members who like theirs hotter.

Add a can of kidney or red beans to the completed mixture to use as bowl chili and serve with crackers; or cook macaroni and mix it with the chili for a delicious spicy chili-mac dish.

This chili also tastes wonderful "as-is" on a hot dog, as a sloppy joe, or on an Italian or smoked sausage served on a hard roll.

For a larger crowd, cook 5 pounds of meat with 3 pounds onions (divided in half as above) and a whole stalk of celery (save the heart for salad).