I made this recipe for Maya & Asher’s joint birthday bash last Saturday. Well, sort of. I changed so much that I don’t think it’s the same recipe anymore. But it was certainly inspired by that one, so it deserved some linkage.
It was rockin’ awesome, and disappeared pretty quickly. I don’t normally cook pork, but I picked up a pound of locally produced, hormone and preservative free sausage at the farmer’s market, and it begged to be made into chili. The chili turned out to be just the right amount of hot, which is a rarity for me. While I can make a pretty decent chili, I seem to always make it not hot enough, or too hot.
Modifications:
- Instead of boneless pork shoulder, I used a combo of italian sausage and ham steak (which my mother-in-law had left in our freezer when she stayed here in August).
- Used two whole jalapeños, seeds included.
- Reduced chili powder to about three tablespoons because I ran out. Included jalapeño seeds (see above) to make up for it.
- Added three diced sweet peppers when I sauteed the onions and jalapeños.
- Doubled the cumin. Because I Heart Cumin.
- Substituted water for the beef broth (didn’t have any).
- Some of the reviews of the recipe suggested using beef instead of the coffee; I stuck with the coffee because we didn’t have any beer. But when I make this again, it will be with beer, just to see.
- Used homemade pinto & black bean mixture instead of the canned red/kidney beans.
Go thou and make chili. Because it’s November (!), and what else is November good for? (I mean, besides that major turkey holiday at the end of the month.)
“Here, Here!” (And raise our large mugs of chili and clink them together.)