A pot of chili, a loaf of bread, and thou.

Ok, so it turned out to be two pots of chili, because "thou" doesn't like beans...and Fred came over for dinner, so I guess it should be: Two pots of chili, a loaf of bread, Fred, and thou...
...but first! Elly had her first non-baby-food food. And of course, it was pizza, bbq chicken pizza...and of course, she loved it.



On to the chili...

After what seemed like months of continually busy weekends, we finally had a break. So I took advantage of it by doing what makes me happy...cooking. I cooked all weekend, starting with the pizzas, making the chili powder, making a HUGE batch of chicken stock for the freezer, and cooking a wonderful pot of chili.

I decided to make the chili entirely on my Big Green Egg, so I got some advice on dutch oven cooking from my fellow "eggheads" at http://www.eggheadforum.com/, found a good chili recipe, and got cookin'.

I had made a batch of spare ribs a few weeks earlier, and had put the trimmings in the freezer. I decided that adding smoked rib meat to the chili could only be a good thing, so I mixed some chili powder I had made the night before with salt and sugar to make a bbq rub, and smoked the rib trimmings for a few hours. Here they are fresh out of the fridge and on the Egg. I was struck by the beautiful red and green colors of the chili powder.


Once the ribs were done, I brought the temperature up in the egg, and roasted some fresh plum tomatoes right down near the coals. Once they had cooled, I skinned, seeded and crushed them, saving as much juice as possible.


I had some uncooked brisket left over in the fridge, so I diced some of it, and ground the rest. Both batches got browned in the dutch oven.


Then the onions were sauteed, and the peppers (jalapeno and serrano) and garlic were added...


...followed by the chili powder and other spices, and the tomatoes...


...and then the liquid. Rather than using just water, I cleaned out the freezer, and used up the last of my beef stock, and chicken stock, and then added a beer, for good measure. I also added the smoked rib meat.


Once all the ingredients (except the beans) were in, I let the chili cook for a few hours (half with the dutch oven lid on, and the rest with it off) and then cooled it, and put it in the fridge overnight. The next day, a chilly (no pun intended) football Sunday, I brought the pot out of the fridge, set a portion aside for bean-free Cori, and added a can of kidney beans to the main batch. While the chili(s) got a final bit of cooking, I baked a loaf of bread (also a first in the Egg, simply because I could).


It all turned out quite good, though, if I had one complaint, it would be that the recipe called for too much chili powder. I should have followed my instincts when I saw how much I was supposed to add, and only added half, tasted, and added more as necessary. The chili wasn't overpoweringly hot, but it had a bit of an aftertaste from so much spice. But it was still oh, so good.