<b>ARUN'S CHILI EXPERIMENT NUMBER ONE</b>
<ul><li>10 dried arbol chiles
<li>3 dried ancho chiles
<li>5 dried cascabel chiles
<li>5 corn tortillas, chopped into small squares
<li>4 cups beef stock
<li>1 medium yellow onion, chopped
<li>3/4 cup bourbon whiskey
<li>4 tbsp blackstrap molasses
<li>3-4 cloves garlic, minced
<li>1 red bell pepper, diced
<li>2 lbs cubed beef for stew
<li>2 whole pork loins, 1 lb each
<li>28 oz can whole tomatoes in sauce - hand crushed
<li>7 oz can chopped green chiles
<li>2 tsp ground cumin
<li>1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
<li>2 chipotle peppers in adobo, minced
<li>1/4 cup finely chopped carrot
</ul>
1. Prepare the dried chiles (all of them) by placing in a pot with enough water to cover well, and boiling 10-15 minutes or until chiles are soft. Drain, reserving liquid, and set chiles aside to cool. When cool enough to touch, remove stems and place in blender with 1 cup or so of the liquid used to boil them. Puree and strain seeds/bits of skin out with a fine mesh sieve. Set aside both this chili puree and the extra water from the boiling.
2. In your stock pot, put together chopped onion, garlic, red bell pepper, one of the pork loins (cubed) and 1 lb of the stew meat cubes. Cook over med-high heat until stew meat is lightly browned. At this point, add in the chili puree, 2 cups of beef stock, hand crushed tomatoes in sauce, bourbon, tortillas and molasses. Let cook until reduced by about 1/4. Pull the meat out and set aside to cool. Once cooled, pull meat apart and return to pot to simmer. By the next round of additions, the tortillas should have broken up and disappeared.
3. Meanwhile, take the other whole pork loin, crust it with chili powder, cayenne pepper and garlic salt, and roast in the oven at 425 for about an hour, or until browned and done, but tender. When done, pull it apart and set aside.
4. After chili has thickened some, add in the other 1 lb stew meat cubes (raw), pulled roast pork loin, the other 2 cups of beef stock, chipotles, green chiles, the rest of the broth from the chiles, cumin and carrots. Let cook until thickened and the last of the stew meat is done and tender.
Serve topped with cilantro, minced red onion and cotijo chese.
