Gaye made a chili recipe, recently, that was a version of her grandfather’s recipe. He was a firefighter and cook at the Waco Fire Department. Since we don’t care about the regular Thanksgiving meal fare, it was perfect for us, on the holiday. I gave it my spin, but couldn’t decide whether to serve it on mashed potatoes, or with cornbread, so we did both. No matter what you do it’s really, really good!
Chili with Pork Ribs
Ingredients
- 2 TBSP bacon grease or olive oil
- 6-8 meaty pork ribs
- 3-4 lbs chili meat
- 1/4-1/2 cup chili powder
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 large cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 TBSP molasses
- 1 TBSP tomato paste
- 1 TBSP dried oregano
- 1 TBSP smoked paprika
- 2 tsp cumin seed
- 1 tsp cocoa powder
- 1 large dried chili pod, seeded (leave whole if you want to pull out after cooking)
- 1 arbol dried chili pod, seeded (leave whole if you want to pull out after cooking)
- 2-4 cups beef broth
- Salt
- 1-2 bottles Shiner Bock beer
- 1 cup crushed tortilla chips
Instructions
- In a large, ovenproof, dutch oven, heat oil. Brown ribs slowly. Remove and set aside. (we had smoked ribs, so I used those)
- Brown chili meat in batches.
- Place everything but the beer and chips, in the pot. Cover and bake at 175 for 3-4 hours. (You could use a slow cooker, if you prefer.) Remove from oven. Shred pork, and place back in pot, along with the bare ribs.
- Pour in beer, and simmer on stovetop for another couple hours. Remove pork bones.
- Add crushed tortilla chips if you want it thicker. Taste for seasoning, and add salt and spice to taste.
- Serve with grated cheese, sour cream, diced onion or chopped green onion, and chopped avocado.