Chilly Weather = Chili Time!

This has been a whirlwind fall.

It was about twice as much work as I had thought possible to finish our new smoker. But we made it. I was in the author’s tent with my cookbook at the Museum of the Appalachia’s Homecoming last week. This pasted week end I had the Lil’ Red Barn Bar-B-Q at The Union County Heritage Festival. We are having a pot luck supper at the Paulette Volunteer Fire hall Monday night, so I thought I would cook enough B-B-Q for both at the same time.

We have 2 cookers, and now I can run 250 lbs in each at the same time. I knew that there was going to be two others selling B-B-Q, so I backed down to 125 lbs and that was a mistake because we ran out before 3 p.m. We were the only ones that were cooking on site.

Our Lil’ Red Barn stood out, and the wood smoke and the Bar-B-Q cooking really pulled them in. We will only serve pulled pork on a bun. We tell everyone that real Bar-B-Q does not need any sauce, and that real West Tennessee Bar-B-Q will have slaw on it.

We ask if they want it or not. If they want sauce, we have the best there is: Lil’ Red Barn Bar-B-Q sauce. We have “The Memphis Original,” “The Memphis Original with Applesauce,” and “The Memphis Original with Smoke Flavor.” All of our sauces are mild. We have Frank’s Hot Sauce for them to add.

And while cooking Saturday morning it got down to mid 30s with a heavy frost. That made me think of CHILI!


Chili with Beans
Approx. 8 servings

The way it was made before ground meat.

2 Tbsp Lard (to brown meat with)
Meat – 2 lbs good beef sirloin, boneless roast cut into small cubes
3 cups crushed tomatoes
3 cups onions, chopped and packed
1 large Green or Red Bell Pepper, chopped
2 Tbsp garlic, chopped fresh
1 tsp Sugar, or to taste
4 Tbsp Chili powder (You may want more)
3 Tbsp Cumin powder
3 Tbsp Paprika powder
Salt and Black Pepper, to taste
4 cups Chili Beans
1 cup Celery, chopped
2 tsp Oregano, dried
1/4 cup Tomato paste
8 cups Beef stock
1 cup Beans, fully cooked to blend as a thickener

1) In a large skillet take the lard and brown the meat.

2) Place the meat in a pressure cooker with 1 Tbsp of chili powder for 10 minutes then let the pressure off. That will make the beef broth and make it tender.

3) I then fry my celery for about 10 minutes then add the peppers for 10 minutes, then the onions for 10, then add the tomato paste, beef stock, whole beans and every thing except the meat and beans to make a paste of. Simmer for 2 hours.

4) Stir every few minutes, taste and re-season. Add your meat and simmer for 1 hour.

5) Now add your mashed beans to thicken it. I like to serve mine with a glob of sour cream, some chopped green onions, Oyster crackers or plain soda crackers. Let everyone add there own hot sauce.

An Incredibly Easy Wintertime Comfort Food

Well here it is October already. I wonder if your year has passed as quick as mine has. It seems like only yesterday that we were taking down our Christmas lights and now it is about time to start putting them back up. We have about 40,000. It takes me a while to do it. Betty won’t let me get on top of the house or on our Gazebo, which I make into a crown. Next to it is our martin gourds that are on a 20 ft. pole that will let down to clean. I remove the cross arms with the gourds and add a 12 ft pole with a 8 ft. lighted star mounted to it. It takes 4 good men to stand it up. I try to have it all set and ready by Thanksgiving. Enough of that.

Here in East Tennessee it dropped down to the low 40s. That makes me think of comfort food. This is one that we had when I was a child. You can let each person make there own, with a little help. Maybe I should have started with a chili recipe! We will do that the next time and call it, "The rest of the story."

Try this. You will ALL like it.


CHILI and CHIPS

It started out with fried cornbread way back yonder. It was known as a chili stack.

Then in 1982 at the World's Fair here in Knoxville, Tennessee, they started using Fritos corn chips and called it Petros. Now we just call it Chili and Chips.

What you'll need:

Chili that is boiling hot
Corn chips, whatever kind you like
Shredded cheese
Chopped Bell peppers (any color)
Chopped onions (purple)
Chopped onions (green)
Chopped tomatoes
Chopped celery
Sour cream

Put the chips in your bowl.
Add cheese, and then pour your boiling chili over it and it will melt.
Then add what ever veggies you want. Top it off with a heaping tablespoon of sour cream.