Back when we were touring colleges with our younger son, we had a meal at a place called The Kingfisher in Tucson. An unremarkable place, really, but I was served a delicious and memorable chili. I replicated it as best I could at home. This is what I wrote down.
The TL; DR version of my recipe:
Make a pulled pork dinner one night.
Sometime in the next couple of days, cook up your usual chili and add all the leftover pork.
For my Tucson Chili this weekend, I used regular-old canned kidney beans, skipped the bacon, and added a little ground beef just cause it was in the fridge. I slow-cooked my pork shoulder for longer — at least three hours and maybe four.
My spice rub was homemade and I can’t begin to tell you what was in it, but we keep things on the mild side in this house. Likely cayenne, cumin, salt and some kind of paprika.
I did, however, chop half a dozen jarred jalepeno rings and throw them in. Worcestershire sauce? Three jigs. Red wine vinegar — couple tablespoons. And a few tablespoons of dried oregano. Also: two tablespoons of tomato paste.
For topping, I chose shredded cheddar cheese. Gooey and delicious!
This is high level comfort food, I must say, and given how raw and grey it’s been around here lately (do I live in a terrarium?), it was seasonal as well.
BTW because this stew relies so heavily on spices, veggie substitutions can be made without loosing the depth of flavor.
Veggie version:
Stir a pound of diced mushrooms in with the onions. Add three cloves of garlic. Cut up carrots (two?) into tiny diamonds and add those. Add two kinds of diced peppers. For broth, use jarred mushroom-flavor.
If you skip dairy toppings, this version is also vegan (come to think of it, I don’t know what’s in Worcestershire sauce so maybe skip that too?)
It probably goes without saying that the flavors will vary depending on the variety of mushrooms you select. I’ve used cremini and portobello to good effect. If you like shiitake (I don’t) they would bring a nice smokiness to the sauce. Be sure to add the water in which you soak them to the pot as well.
We walked over to Wegmans this morning. These are instructions on a large piece of machinery near the parking lot.
The chili looks delicious! Thanks for the vegan recipe as we are vegetarians. Worcestershire sauce has anchovies in it, but I can get around this. I’m definitely putting this on the menu this week.
Maybe soy sauce as a substitution? Also I forgot to say I added two Tablespoons of tomato paste.
I love a good chili … and yours looks GOOD!!
Yummy 😋
And it’s such a flexible recipe!
We ate at Kingfishers many times when we lived in Tucson. Great place. Weird location.
Did you? I went online recently to see if I had the right name and to look at menus and learned it’s changed ownership recently. I didn’t see chili on the menu. But the photos helped me recall that it was a decent place and a treat to eat there. I guess it would’ve been more accurate to say “nice restaurant but in a weird place.”
I appreciate this because I make chile every couple of months. I make it differently every time; never even write down the mixes I really like. This one looks so good.Can’t wait to try it!!
You remind me to mention that it freezes well!
Yes, you are so right Dee that chili is the ultimate comfort food and yours looks mighty comforting. Making chili is like a Jackson Pollock painting, throw whatever you have in the pot and I never make my chili the same way so it is always a surprise. Here in New Mexico, I’m spoiled by the variety of chiles that we have to cook with.
For a number of years, I could eat very spicy foods, then could not and now, I am back to eating spicy. My husband is a spicy chili guy and when he used to cook, his chili was so hot that I felt like I needed to sit on a block of ice to enjoy it!
I like to use pork as well as ground beef, but in the last couple of years I have taken to using buffalo meat once in a while. Only a 1/2 lb because it is expensive but so good for you. Sometimes I cook the beans from scratch, other times open cans. Besides using dried red chilies, ground chili powder I also have cut up a poblano chile and sometimes add a cup of corn and a bit of masa to thicken the chili. Queso fresco or cotija or shredded Fiesta mix cheese is our topping and also a dollop of Greek yogurt. I also like to make a version of Moosewood’s vegetarian chili. Tucked into the freezer, we always know that we can have a good meal quickly.
I’m not surprised your concoctions are making me drool. I am late to learning about different peppers. Quite a variety available here tho nothing like New Mexico.
Funny the shifting tolerance to hot?