I made The First Pot of Chili of the Year

I used to hate chili when I was little but that was obviously because one key ingredient was missing -- bacon. I found a chili recipe that not only required bacon but also required the use of the rendered bacon fat. I mean, come on. so now, since the weather has regularly been around 60, my stock pot was calling me from the depths of my cupboard. last week when it was rainy the entire day (in Irondequoit too, that usually doesn't happen. it rains a lot for the whole day in the southern-tier. the lake sort of buffers off entire days of rain. I don't know 'bout snow though), I made The First Pot of Chili of the Year. I found a recipe -- from who else but RACHEL RAY -- and added a few things. this recipe halved makes enough for one to eat it for several days. grandma, Mr. F, Mr. R, and I had it about 3 times each and finished the pot, if that makes sense.

Nick Mangold's Super Bowl C.B.C. (Chorizo Bacon Chili)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6 strips of thick-cut bacon, diced
1 large onion, chopped
1 pound Mexican chorizo sausage, removed from casings**
2 pounds ground sirloin
Salt and ground black pepper
6 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 orange bell pepper, chopped
2 serrano peppers, finely chopped
4 ribs of celery, chopped
1 cup frozen corn
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
2 teaspoons coriander
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cups beef stock
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
Your favorite chili toppings

** to prep the chorizo -- this might seem obvious but I'll say it anyways -- cut it in half length wise and scoop it out with a spoon. chop up a bit with a knife so that it matches the size that the ground beef would be if cooked.

NOW - you may notice beans are missing. beans are a key component to chili, in my opinion. nick mangold obviously hates beans or has some beano problems that normal people don't have -- I added a full can of chili beans to this recipe. I used normal ground beef too and got some chipotle chorizo, compliments of danny wegman. because the chorizo was spicier, I didn't add serrano peppers. I subbed crushed tomatoes for diced tomatoes (canned but seriously. cut 'em yerself if you're feeling especially julia child-esque that day). make sure everything you prep is the same size (onions, peppers, tomatoes, celery) so that they cook evenly. don't scrimp on the garlic.

to start --
chop up the bacon and sizzle it in a big stock pot with the olive oil until it's done. skim it out and set it aside. add the onion until it's almost transparent. add the chorizo and the beef and cook until browned. throw in the pepper, garlic, and salt. in a bowl, mix the celery, corn, and peppers and then throw them all in together until they start sweating like olivia newton john in "let's get physical." add all the spices and throw some extra coriander spice in there because it's your favorite spice in the entire universe and you can't imagine how extra coriander could ever be a bad thing. let this sheeeit sit and stir it and love it and smell it. once everything is all coated in delicious spices, add the stock, tomatoes and tomato sauce (even though I halved the recipe, I still used a whole can of tomato sauce). re-add your bacon and bring everything up to a boil. taste and adjust according to how you're feeling that day. reduce to a simmer and cover. cook it for an hour at least.

serve cook mccready style, with grated pepper jack cheese and sour cream (drink with a really dry red wine or a nice octoberfest).

happy chili season!

(original recipe here: http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/nick-mangolds-super-bowl-cbc-chorizo-bacon-chili/).

p.s. FJ and I found the most amazoid website in the entire world. you can listen to samples used in hip hop songs (and other songs but hip hop songs are the best) and listen to the original song as well as the "cover" song. best ever: "gone" by kanye west, sampling "it's too late" by otis redding.

http://www.whosampled.com/sample/view/328/Kanye%20West%20feat.%20Cam'ron%20and%20Consequence-Gone_Otis%20Redding-It's%20Too%20Late/