Epic Pulled Pork Chili

Well I decided to make use of that leftover pulled pork and was immediately impressed by the first chili recipe Google found for me. There wasn't quite as much meat left as I had originally thought so I followed her guide and bought a small piece of pork tenderloin, seared it with some salt and pepper and threw that in the pot too. I broke up the bbq pork in to shreds, and discarded most of the fatty bits.

BBQ pulled pork shreds

The main ingredients and spices I used are pretty standard for chili including: onions, red/green pepper, mushrooms, black/kidney beans and chili powder. But it's obviously the specialty items that really made this shine. The stars of the show included honey and the rest of the morning's coffee:

This leftover coffee is not just going down the drain

Her recipe called for bourbon. I didn't have any of that, but I figured this scotch was no slouch.

The richest and smokiest scotch around

I fried up the veggies, put it all together and let it simmer and reduce for a couple of hours.

The spicy masterpiece simmering away

So my final ingredient list was something like this:

• 2 lbs bbq pulled pork
• 1 lb boneless pork loin
• salt and pepper 
• 2 small onions, chopped 
• 2 red bell peppers, seeded and chopped 
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar 
• 2 Tbsp chili powder 
• 2 Tbsp cumin seeds 
• 28 ounces canned diced tomatoes 
• 4 Tbsp honey 
• 1 cup black coffee 
• 3/4 cup smoky scotch
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained 
• 1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

 
With the wife gone to the great white north of Labrador for the next month, I had to enjoy the first bowl by myself.

The first magic bowl

So much flavour. The scotch and the bbq pork each contribute a special smokiness, while the coffee and honey add a lot of richness and depth. I think that instead of eating it for lunch every day this week like I usually do with big meals like this, I'm going to save it in the freezer and bring it out for a special occasion...