Chili is Serious Business at our House

Chili, sans beans, which will be added right before serving.


Midmorning today I started the first pot (no doubt of many) of the season.

Ingredients:

• 2 LB pork loin cubed
• 2 TB oil
• 1 1/2 medium onion chopped
• 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic minced
• 15 oz can tomato sauce
• 4 dried gaujillo chilis
• 2 chipotle chilis
• 2 TB chilli powder
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• A small handful of oregano leafs
• 12 oz bottle of beer
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 x 15 oz can of beans (I used 1 can kidney and 1 can pinto)

• I chopped the vegetables while defrosting the meat.
• I also brought water to boil in a pot to have on hand to rehydrate the peppers.

• When the meat was defrosted, I cut it into cubes.
• When the water came to a boil I put the peppers into individual jars and filled to the rim with boiling water. I used a pint size jar for the chipotles and a larger jar for the guajillos.

• I set the kitchen timer for 30 minutes and put the peppers to the side.
• I browned the pork.

• And sauteed the vegetables in the oil for 5 minutes.

• I then combined the meat and vegetables and poured the tomato sauce over and stirred well to combine.
• Next I prepared the cumin seeds.

• I dry fried them in a small cast iron skillet until they were fragrant and began to pop.

• And then ground them in a mortar and pestle.

• I broke off several sprigs of oregano from the window box and chopped the leafs into small pieces and added it, the cumin, and the chilli powder to the meat and vegetable mixture.

• When the peppers were ready I cut off the stems and cut in half, and then removed the seeds and chopped the peppers into small pieces.
• I reserved the water that the chipotle peppers had soaked in and added it to the chili mixture.

• I added the peppers to the chili and then poured a bottle of beer over the mixture and stirred well to combine everything.

• I cook my chili all day long, starting in the morning and then 10 minutes before I'm ready to serve it I add the salt, sugar, and canned beans.
• I keep coffee and reserved liquid from rehydrating the guajillo peppers on hand, just in case the chili gets too thick.