Beef and Bacon Chili

It is freakin' freezing around here (around -30C at the moment), and that means I had a serious need to make comfort food. My usual chili recipe was easily adapted for bacon -- really all I did was substitute for what would normally be 500g of ground pork.

BEEF AND BACON CHILI

1kg ground beef
500g bacon
2 large onions (yellow or white)
2 large cans stewing tomatoes
1 can beef broth
1 small can tomato paste
8 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 jalapeno (finely chopped, including seeds)
1/3 C chili powder
2 T cumin
2 T oregano
2 T cinnamon
2 T cocoa
1/2 bottle beer (I used Corona; or substitute equivalent amount of sherry/red wine)
3 14oz cans of kidney beans

Slice the bacon into small-to-medium-sized pieces, and fry until crispy. My pan is only big enough to fry half of the package at a time, so I fried up half the package of bacon, then set the cooked bacon aside and poured the bacon drippings into my big metal pot. I then used the pot (and the bacon drippings) to brown the ground beef and chopped onions. While browning the beef, I simultaneously fried the rest of the bacon in the pan.

Drain excess fat from ground beef/onions, and add bacon to big pot (I drained the second batch of drippings from the bacon pan, but didn't make any effort to pat the bacon pieces dry in either batch).



Add everything else. Simmer uncovered on low heat, stirring occasionally, until desired thickness is reached. I let mine simmer for six/seven hours before serving, and it will be even better today after having settled in the fridge overnight.



Served with proper fixins, including the most excellent guacamole made by Cin, and bacon cornbread from our local Kiwi (who will hopefully post the recipe herself).