A Big Fuck Off Pot Of Chili With Pork & Beef

When I wasn’t being attacked by crystal meth addicts while working as a doorman in San Fran, I had numerous other jobs to keep me going. Various stints in retail, cold calling, grill chef and the obligatory furniture removal for crooked Irish gangsters. By far, my most interesting gig was working as a sound and lighting gimp. The hours were great, the craic was deadly and you’d meet the maddest fuckers. Like Griff the biker.

He was a rigger by day and an Oakland Hell’s Angel by night. The day we met, I had to help him string a load of lights on to a ceiling rig that was 150 feet up from the floor for a corporate party. When you spend 18 hours working in a cherry picker with someone you talk a lot of shite. If you’re gonna hang for even 18 seconds in my vicinity, I can guarantee you one thing, the conversation will involve booze and food. So you can only imagine how much gastronomic waffle went off when he was stuck in my company for 18 bleedin’ hours.

At one stage, we got on to the topic of Chili. Griff’s Hells Angel biker experience meant that he appeared to be a bit of a dab hand at Sloppy Joe’s (chili con carne loaded into a bread roll). Indeed he was. The next day he brought a whole load of them in. They tasted deadly. He gave me some great pointers, like using smoked chilies as well as jalapenos. And always lob in a load of beer into the mix when cooking.

But the best tip I ever got for making chili came from my Aunt Thea, a woman I admire so much – I named my first born after her. One Superbowl Sunday, she made a massive pot of chili with pork and beef in it, but none of it was minced. All of the meat was hand chopped into tiny pieces. This gives the dish a brilliant texture.  Big shout out to her in New Jersey and to Griff, wherever the bleedin’ hell he is.

INGREDIENTS:

-         4 regular sized Pork Chops

-         4 round steaks, get them the same size as the chops

-         1 Can of tomatoes

-         1 Jar of Passata

-         1 Jar of Black Beans, rinsed in a colander(Asian Food Store George’s St)

-         5 cloves of garlic, chopped roughly

-         2 Large Spanish onions, chopped finely

-         3 sticks of celery, chopped finely

-         1 500ml can of beer (any lager)

-         6 smoked chillies, chopped roughly (Taco Taco @ The Epicurean Food Hall or the Mexican Food Stand @ The Temple Bar Food Market).

-         A fistful of jarred and sliced Jalapeno peppers (Taco Taco @ The Epicurean Food Hall or the Mexican Food Stand @ The Temple Bar Food Market).

-         250 ml of Kallo Beef stock, use half a cube (Liston’s on Camden St)

-         2 tablespoons of Oregano

-         1 tablespoon of Cumin

-         1 tablespoon of sugar

-         1 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper

-         1 teaspoon of Sea Salt

METHOD:

-         Take out a big fuck off pot and heat up two tablespoons of vegetable oil in it on a medium heat.

-         Cut the large strips of fat off the pork and steak. Throw them into the pot and fry them until they’re brown and have flavoured up the pot. Then throw them to the dog or your really broke housemate.

-         This bit is a pain in the arse but totally worth it. Make sure your knife is really sharp. Cut the beef and pork into one inch cubes and then cut the cubes into tiny pieces. Try and get 4 little bits out of each 1 inch cube of meat. What happens is that you’ve got these wicked little bits of meat that you can cook for hours but still hold their shape. And it’ll have this really unique texture because most chillies are made with mince which is boring in comparison.

-         Fry the meat in batches. When it browns a little, take it out and put it aside.

-         In the same pot, fry your onions. When they colour slightly add in your garlic, celery and both sets of chillies.

-         After about of 5 minutes of frying the veg put the fried meat back in the pot and stir it all up with a wooden spoon.

-         Add the can of tomatoes, the jar of passata, the cumin, oregano, salt, pepper and sugar. Stir it and let all that fry together on a medium heat for about 5 mins.

-         Then you throw in the beer and beef stock. After a quick stir bring the pot to the boil.

-         When it hits boiling point, take the heat down real low and stick a lid on the pot.

-         Leave it be for an hour and a half, then throw in the beans and stir. Cook for another hour minimum.

-         Garnish each serving with some chopped coriander, a dollop of sour cream and some grated white cheddar.

SERVE WITH:

-         Some boiled rice.

-         Some corn on the cob.

-         A load of Pomegranate Margaritas  before the meal and some ice cold beers during.

-         Keep a few Zantacs handy for any heartburn sufferers (like yours truly).