Warming up a cold afternoon

Had my foster son visiting me, and I asked him what he’d like me to cook for him. He thought for a minute, and said, “Chili.”

Well, OK. I can do that. Matter of fact, I’m not certain but what this may be the first pot of chili I’ve made all winter. I’m happy to say I haven’t lost my touch.

The cast of characters.

I laid out two pounds of buffalo and one pound of ground beef to thaw before we went to bed. Next afternoon, I browned it up, sauteed an onion and a half and a fist-full of garlic cloves, and dumped that all in the pot with three cans of tomatos, two cans of drained pinto beans, a can of Ro-Tel tomatos and green chilis, a bottle of beer and a whole heap of spices.

Let it be noted I do not know how to make chili in any amounts less than a metric ass-load. Dunno why. It just doesn’t cook up right unless made en masse. Go figger. Fortunately, it keeps well.

The good stuff.

My spice blend for chili incluldes a whole bunch of chili powder, a somewhat smaller bunch of cumin, some allspice, a pinch of cayenne, a healthy couple of pinches of Aleppo pepper, and the crowning touch — about a teaspoon of pimenton de la vera. This stuff is wonderful. It’s pricy. I don’t care. Get you some, and get ready to impart wonderful, smoky goodness to everything it goes in.

I can’t tell you how much of anything, because I don’t measure. I shake, stir, simmer, taste, and then add until it’s right.

I intended to put some cocoa in it after it had simmered a few hours, but I forgot.

The finished product.

Simmered all that for about two and a half hours, added some masa harina (maybe a third of a cup) to thicken. Scattered some corn chips on top. Made some potato skins to go with it, and it was absolutely tasty.

There is the small matter of that metric assload of it that’s left. Guess it’ll be chili for lunch at work one day this week.

You ‘n y’mama ‘n ‘em get hungry for chili, come on over.

 

 

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