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.