A Chili Day

Sheila and I decided today would be a good day for a half pot of chili today. I started early this morning by slow cooking the pork. I got that done by lunchtime. It was so tender and juicy that it took all my willpower not to eat everything as I pulled it apart! Mid-afternoon, I got started on chopping all the peppers and onions. Whenever I make chili, I add an assortment of peppers for some depth. Today, we have three different types of peppers.

I started by sauteing about five cloves of garlic, the onion, and the peppers. After a few minutes, I added some dark red kidney beans and black beans. Once everything started warming up, I added a can of San Marzano crushed tomatoes followed by some beef stock with a bit of corn starch and cream.

After mixing it all together very well, I added the pulled pork from this morning. I often just opt for ground beef because it is easier but I definitely prefer pulled pork. Today I made the extra effort so we could add pulled pork instead of ground beef.

At this point, it was time for seasoning... freshly ground sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, brown sugar, chili powder and cumin. As this continues to cook, melding all those flavors together, I'll continue taste testing and adjusting the spices. Right now, however, it is tasting pretty good!

Here are a few photos of this process.

First, here is a photo of the pulled pork that I made this morning...