Garrett’s Jack Superbowl Chili

On one particularly cold Superbowl day, Gary told me this would be a perfect time for some hot chili. It didn’t take long for him to off to the grocery store for a few items.

One thing this chili variation reminds me of, is my Dad. Gary likes beans in his chili too. Thankfully our son follows the taste buds of the paternal side of our family. This is one of his favorites as well. But I still don’t get the bean thing. It’s not for me.

This special Jack Chili is sure to fire up any Superbowl party. Pick your desired ‘hotness’ and serve.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours
– You’ll put it in the fridge overnight
– Than heat it up 2 hours before serving. Preferably in the smoker part of a grill.
Serves: 6 to 8

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground buffalo burger
• 1 lbs Jimmy Dean Pork Hot Sausage Roll
• ½ lbs Bacon
• 1 12oz can tomato paste
• 1 cup water or 1 12oz can tomato sauce
• 1 can pinto beans
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can dark red kidney beans
• ¼ cup Jack Daniels Whiskey
• 1 small onion – diced
• 1 clove garlic
• 4 Jalapeno Peppers – whole!
• ½ tspn Stubb’s Mesquite Liquid Smoke
• 1 tspn Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tspn Salt or 1 Beef bouillon cube
• 3 tblspn McCormick Chili Powder
• ¼ stick of butter

Directions:

• Start this a day before serving!
• In a large soup pot, mix all the ingredients (except the peppers): tomato paste, water, Jack, liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, salt and chili powder.
• Drain the beans and add them to the pot.
• Simmer on medium heat just below boiling.
• Take a fork or knife and poke holes in the Jalapeno peppers. Place the peppers in the pot and continue to simmer.
• In a separate skillet, cook the bacon until crisp. Don’t burn it!
  You want to be able to crumble the bacon into the soup pot.
  Set the skillet aside, don’t clean it! You’re going to use it again.
• Crumble the bacon into the chill and include the excess bacon grease as well.
  Yes all of it, if you’re reading this you ain’t dieting, so just dump it all in there.
• Stir the chili to mix thoroughly.
• Dice the onion and garlic.
  Using the same skillet you used for the bacon, drop the ¼ stick of butter into it.
  Add the onion and garlic and saute them until tender.
• Pour the sauteed mix, butter and all into the soup pot and mix thoroughly.
• Go back to your bacon skillet. Lightly brown the buffalo burger.
  Once it’s brown, add the crumbled meat to the soup pot and mix thoroughly. You want it to be a little under cooked. Pink, not red.
• Back to your skillet, brown the sausage.
  Once it’s brown, add the crumbled meat to the soup pot and mix thoroughly.
• Simmer chili for at least 2 hours, stirring about every 15 minutes.
• Let the chili cool for about 30 minutes.
• If your soup pot won’t fit in the fridge, pour the chili into a large container and let it sit over night in the fridge. Do Not use a plastic container. Glass or metal is best.
  This will allow all the seasoning to soak into the meat and beans.

To Serve:

• About 2 hours before serving fire up the smoker side of your grill. Fill the smoker box with hickory chips.
• Use a grill safe pot and spoon all the chili into that.
• Add ¼ cup water to the chili and smoke it for about an hour.
  – or –
  If you don’t have a smoker on your grill, you can just reheat the chili on the stove. Put the chili back In your large soup pot, place the chili over medium heat.
• Stir the chili after about 30 min to ensure it is warming up evenly.
• Then cook for about another 30 minutes to 1 hour or until chili is warmed up to your personal preference.
• Just keep stiring the Chili about every 15-30 minutes so it doesn’t burn on the bottom.
• Heat the chili to your desired temperature.
• Just before serving; stir through the chili and find all the jalapeno peppers. Fish them out of the mix and throw them away.

Alternatives:

• You can use ground beef instead of buffalo burger. But it tastes better with the Bison burger.
• If you like Jalapeno peppers, chop them and add them to the chili. Be warned this WILL make your chili a lot HOTTER to the taste.
• Don’t re-heat in the microwave! Beyond making a mess, the microwave will kill some of the flavors. Seriously, it will.
• Add a dab of sour cream to the bowl of chili at serving.
• Serve with Corn Bread, Hawaiian Sweet Rolls or your favorite chips for dipping.

© 1997-2019 Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D., Springwolf’s Creations. All Rights Reserved.