confused chili a la tejas

I made the most confused pot of chili ever tonight. I started with ground beef and stewing meat that I was too lazy to re-cut in smaller chunks (wondering if it'd ever break down when I threw it in the pot), then chuck I cut up myself, then gallons of chili spices (this is Texas chili, btw), some pureed tomato, and, in a fatally disastrous decision, a wallop of kosher salt that sent the salt levels FLYING. Yuck. Irrecoverable. Disaster. Mon dieu.

So after a quick consult, I drained off a big portion of the salty chili liquid, then threw in water and chicken stock. And more chili spices. With no salt. And started cooking again. Lid on, lid off. Medium, Lo, Medium-Lo. Couldn't decide. Eventually I got it at a brisk simmer with the lid off.

Later I fell asleep watching the Beverly Sills documentary (she is a miracle. I wish I were Beverly Sills). When I woke up: luckily no burning, but all the liquid gone, just a steaming cake of cow meat, starting to crackle ominously around the edges. I threw in more water--too much--brought it to a boil, stirred it all up, then mixed in some paste from masa harina to try to thicken up.

I'm really not sure what state it's in now, except I'm quite sure the chili was confused in the end by all the dessicating and hydrating and boiling and rehydrating. I think it actually might not be thick enough. Regardless, I had a bowl (after six hours of chili-ing, I had no patience for 45 minutes for rice) with a blop of tangy Greek yoghurt on top and it was really good! Now it's cooling down (will take about two hours) and I will have not nearly as much chili as you might think from all that cow, but it'll be good. And I will freeze it, 'cause I'm actually already almost sick of chili.

Ingredients:
organic ground beef
2 lbs. of beef stew meat, cut up
2 lb. of chuck, cut up
olive oil
s&p (more P)
chili powder
cumin
oregano
paprika
thyme
sage
tomato puree
chicken stock
masa harina
agua

Sear meat well in olive oil in a big stew pot in batches so it doesn't braise. Drain fat if you need to. Put all the cooked meat back in the pot, cover it in huge shakes of spices (biggest: cumin, chili & oregano), letting them crackle in the fat in a bit. Then bung in water and two big cans of tomato puree. Cook forever, until the stew meat breaks down. If you need to, add more water or chicken stock, also spices. Stir occasionally to keep things from Sticking. At the end, mix in a paste of masa harina, and adjust s&p. Great with cheese, yoghurt, sour cream, whatever, on toast, rice (esp brown), pasta, quinoa, even, believe it or not, leftover Thanksgiving stuffing if its spice profile is complimentary (oh so good).