Robert's Pineapple Chili

My best chili is a Terlingua Red made with heavy chili de arbol, browned ground beef, a pineapple, and one of pulled pork shoulder, pulled brisket, or pulled chuck roast which has been pressure-cooked (or slow-cooked) in charred vegetable bone broth, and then braised in that same bone broth before being cooked into the chili. You can also cube the meat for a more conventional look but pulling it lets it blend with the ground beef more. Vegetables are mostly onions, tomatos. Ideally vegetables used will be fresh and often roasted/charred before being added to the chili.

I really like the bright, simple heat of chili de arbol offset against the sweetness and tartness of pineapple. The goal is that after being reduced by simmering on low heat on the stove, the savory flavor of the broth and meat, the sugars and tartness of the pineapple and tomatos, and the bite of the chilis all balance out. Doing it the whole way I do it, including making the bone broth, is a messy process of maybe 6 hours (if you skip enough steps you can get it down to probably 1.5 hours). This will make about 5 lbs of chili, and you'll usually have broth leftover, which is great to freeze and use later.

Can be simpler

You can definitely just do it much simpler just by skipping steps. You can use store-bought broth (mixing chicken and beef broth for pressure-cooking or slow-cooking the meat is fine, including some chicken broth is counterintuitively good to make the beef soft). You can use whatever ground meat you have on hand (I've done turkey too). If you do add a pork shoulder, there's no need to sear it. There's no need to roast or char tomatos or onions. You can skip fresh vegetables and just use canned vegetables and powdered spices. You can even skip the chili de arbol and just use what some people do (cayenne and chili powder), or use the peppers of your choice.

Part 1: Broth

This broth has three purposes:

• Pressure-cooking (or slow-cooking) the pork or beef
• Braising the pork or beef after it has been pulled
• As an ingredient to the chili, adding savory, deep, dark flavors

You can skip making your own broth and just use store-bought. Making the broth is more than half the work of making the whole chili. On the other hand, it lends a dramatically intensely savory quality. The broth is the flavor that makes you lick your lips and want more after you finish your bowl.

Ingredients

• 4 lbs beef bones (I generally do 2 lbs marrow bones, 2 lbs knuckle)
• 2 carrots
• 3 white onions
• 2 tbs apple cider vinegar

Optional (your call, personal style, fun)

• A nopales cactus leaf
• A grilled peach cut in halves (pit removed)
• Prickly pear fruit

Recipe

1. Char the onions, either on a grill, or by broiling on a tray near the top of the oven. Char very hard, you can remove any too-burnt parts before use
2. Add the onions, carrots, vinegar, and bones to your pressure cooker, and cover with the minimum amount of water (probably 4 cups)
3. Pressure cook on high pressure for 90 minutes (longer is fine)
4. Strain the broth to remove all non-liquid material
5. Transfer the broth to one or more glass containers to cool
6. When cool, the fat will have risen to the top and hardened. Scrape it off with a spoon and discard (or save to use as grease later in recipe). The broth should be semi-solid at this point.

Part 2: Pulled Pork (or brisket, or chuck roast)

Ingredients

• 2-3 lbs of either pork shoulder, beef brisket, or chuck roast
• The broth
• A few cloves of garlic

Recipe

1. Sear one side of the meat hard (if pork shoulder with skin on, sear the skin side).
2. (Optionally) roast the garlic
3. Add the meat and garlic to your pressure cooker (or slow cooker).
4. Cover with the minimum amount of broth for your pressure cooker. It's ok to add water also, but not more than necessary.
5. If you prefer cubed meat for looks, cube the meat now, and skip to step 8.
6. Gently pull the meat apart, strand by strand. I use these tools for that: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HPEM54M but some strong forks can do it too. This takes a while and is work.
7. Spread the meat out in a shallow pan and pour some broth over it,not very much, but enough that every bit of meat has broth to soak into it as it braises. Braise until the top part of the meat becomes slightly crispy but not too long to where it will dry out.
8. Put the meat aside into the large pot which you'll eventually be making chili in. It's ready.

Part 3: Chili de arbol

Ingredients:

Buy a bag of dried chili de arbol. It will last a while. I use 12-25 chili de arbol for this amount of meat, adjust depending on how much heat you want. I wouldn't go below 8 for this recipe, you'd barely notice em. If you want to get creative, you could add one or two dried/roasted ancho chili here too.

Recipe

1. Dice chilis while dry (if you forget to do this now, you can use an immersion blender to do it after step 3)
2. Boil 1-2 cups water (or chicken broth) in a small pan
3. Add chilis to boiling water and boil until very soft
4. Add the chili de arbol and the water to the large pot with the meat in it. If you want, you could only add half now, and save the other half for later to add more heat to taste after you have the chili cooking.

Part 4: Terlingua Red

You can follow any Terlingua Red chili recipe you want here really. What follows is a basic one that uses powdered spices and adds a pineapple.

Ingredients

• 1 pineapple (or can of pineapple)
• 3 lbs pounds of coarse ground beef (or whatever)
• 2 tbs garlic powder
• 2 tbs onion powder
• 2 tbs ground cumin
• 4 tbs red chili powder
• 3 tbs cayenne red pepper (can add more as it cooks)
• 12 small tomatos (on the vine is good)

Recipe

1. Brown the ground beef over medium heat using oil, bacon grease, or using the fat from making your broth earlier
2. Drain the ground beef in a sieve
3. Add to your large pot that has your other ingredients in it
4. Add some broth to the pot
5. Add the above spices to the pot
6. Cut the tomatos in half (removing stems) and add them to the pot (roasting the tomatos is optional)
7. Add the pineapple to the pot in slices or chunks, either is fine
8. Put the large pot on low heat, slowly bring it up to a quiet simmer. You're going to lightly simmer this until it reduces to your desired thickness. If it gets too thick, add more broth or water.
9. Taste as you go. Simmer it until the tomatos just disappear. You can continue to cook this on low heat as long as you like.

Sides

Serve with:

• salt, pepper
• sour cream
• fresh chopped onion
• fresh sliced radishes
• fresh cilantro
• chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• lime wedges