Another Pot of Chili

Chili is definitely one of our favorite meals. It’s easy to make with the crock pot and there are endless ways to vary it…with beans, without beans, spicy or not.

This time I used grass-fed beef, wild hog, and a little bacon…just because I wanted to see what it would be like with bacon. I can’t say the bacon make any huge waves in the flavor, but it certainly didn’t hurt it. 🙂

It turned out a little less spicy than I would have liked, but having shared it with some friends who enjoyed it, I think it was the right amount of heat for a mixed group.

Ingredients

• 1 lb of ground grass-fed beef (from US Wellness Meats)
• 1.25 lbs of wild hog
• 5 strips of bacon
• 1 medium sweet onion, roughly chopped
• 1 can of ranch style beans
• 1 tomato, diced
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tbsp chili garlic paste
• 2 tbsp of our homemade pico
• 1 cup rabbit broth (1 cube in 1 cup water)
• 1/4 cup Stubb’s spicy BBQ sauce
• 1/2 cup coffee
• zest and juice of one lemon
• a bit of salt and pepper

My Method: 

1. I ground the pork (hog meat and bacon) through my kitchen aid grinder, twice.
2. I browned all the meats on the stove and then moved them to the crock pot.
3. While the meat was browning, I mixed together the chili garlic paste, pico, broth, and BBQ sauce. I deglazed the meat pan with it and simmered it for about 2 minutes, then added to the crock pot.
4. I added the coffee, chili powder, onion, and ranch beans to the crock pot, mixing all together well.
5. I zested the lemon into the crock pot, cut it in half and squeezed out all the juice.
6. I added a touch of salt and pepper.
7. I let it cook for about 6 hours on low. Perfect. 

Whenever I meet someone who does not consider chili a favorite dish, then I’ve usually found someone who has never tasted good chili.
~ Jan Butel