Recipe- Cowboy Chili

Okay I get it. It’s July. Why am I posting a Chili recipe in July? I have maybe three decent answers.

1. We found ourselves in a cooked meat overload and I wanted to use all of it and create something delicious.

2. Heard in the weather news that in the next week, we are supposed to experience a “polar vortex” and temperatures will drop into record lows everywhere. So, perhaps my body senses that fall-esqe weather is approaching and wanted a fall-esque dinner!

3. I am missing my Stepdad Gaylon who passed away 6 years ago last month, and he was and will always be my favorite Cowboy.

Pick your favorite answer and read on.

So cooked meat overload looks like this: We had about a pound of frozen cooked flank steak from a month ago when we had grilled it up, but went out of town before we could eat it all. I knew that thawing it back out wasn’t going to yield amazing flank steak in and of itself, so I knew I would need to get creative to get the best out of it.

Then, one night this past week we had grilled up a beautiful ribeye and two large porkchops on the grill but wound up not eating them in a very strange and rare occurrence of just not eating dinner. Seriously, neither of us were hungry that night, so we cut up the meat and used a bit the next morning in some scrambled eggs, but I still had probably another pound of that mix in the fridge.

SO! I had two cuts of beef, and some pork, all smokey and grilled and needing to fulfill a destiny. And that destiny began with a trip to Publix, and then the below course of events.

I chopped up the customary onion, chilies (a red and a Serrano), Jalapeno and garlic and threw it into a pot of hot butter and oil. Paula Dean style y’all.

Then while that sizzled away, I chopped up the already cut up meat. Here is the beautiful pallet of land dwelling mammal awaiting it’s turn.

By the time I got back to the pot, the onions and peppers had begun to caramelize and the bottom of my pot was turning brown, so I added in soy sauce, white cooking wine, and Worcestershire so it would break it up and then reduce. Then I added the meat, and a can of diced tomatoes and pinto beans. Hashtag not paleo. Chili needs beans and that’s just life. I’ve made it without beans several times and despite my best intentions at clean thoughts, I always seem to mutter quietly “wish it had beans”.

Then I added beef broth, and spices. And this is where I am useless at recipes. I add whatever I want and I don’t really measure. Sorry. Here you see me doing my best to show you how much stuff to put in.

I used Chili Powder (duh), Cumin, Salt, Pepper, All Spice, Sriracha, Oregano. Then I just let it simmer for a few hours until a taste test tells me what else to add. Then I set it on low, put the loud lid on it, and sat down with this to pass the time.

That my friends, is home made Coconut Milk icecream with fresh strawberries. Time passed quickly.

I named this Cowboy Chili because I can’t imagine any Cowboy turning down a bowl of it. No sissy ground meat here! This requires some starched jeans, a strong jaw, and a brimmed hat to fully enjoy. Okay brimmed had optional.

And thennnnn….I probably shouldn’t show you this. I don’t even have a good excuse for my actions. But I made this too. I think it’s apt that the sun is shining down on it, in a moment of divinity.

It’s probably best we don’t mention this again. I mean, I ruined a perfectly good 9 month long streak of maintaining a bread free home. But this sure was delicious.

Chef’s note: This required numerous brow wipes with a handkerchief and exactly 1 beer. Enjoy!