"This recipe gets its thick smooth texture by folding in refried pinto beans or black beans into the sauce," Rach says. "The recipe for the beans is actually vegetarian, if you stop before the step of 'refrying' them, which is really just thickening them [in the meat pan], in this case. The beans also make a delicious dip that keeps for days for snacking on with chips and salsa."
For the chili, heat a Dutch oven, deep skillet or large cast-iron pan over medium-high heat. Add oil, 2 turns of the pan, add beef then brown and finely crumble, season with salt, pepper, chili powder, pimenton, cumin, coriander and Worcestershire. Add fresh sausage to browned beef and brown and finely crumble, add onion, garlic and chilies, cook to soften a bit, add beer and let it absorb. Add tomatoes and reduce heat to low.
Turn oven on to 300˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and top with a single layer of fancy tortilla chips. Toast to fragrant and golden, then turn off heat and leave door ajar.
To a medium skillet over medium-high heat, add olive oil, 2 turns of the pan, add onion, garlic and chili peppers, season with cumin, salt and pepper and soften a few minutes, add water and let it absorb, add beans and heat through. Transfer ¾ of beans to a food processor, add hot sauce, agave or honey, cilantro and juice of 1 lime, puree into smooth thick dip, adjust seasoning. Return pureed beans and the reserved ¼ of whole beans to the pan, reduce heat to low and thicken.
Stir beans into chili and combine well.
Serve the chili in bowls on platter with chips alongside and a soup spoon too. Top the chili with cheese, cilantro and onions, pickled jalapeño peppers.