The Primal Blueprint Cookbook (7 page)

INSTRUCTIONS:

In a large saucepan (at least 4 quart size) or Dutch oven, over medium-low heat, cook bacon or pancetta a few minutes until slightly brown and some fat is rendered out.

Add chopped onion to the pan and stir into bacon. When the onions are semi-translucent, add garlic and stir. Cook a few minutes longer. Add ground meat to pan and cook over medium-low heat until brown (cooked) throughout and no pink remains. If fat seems insufficient, add some saved bacon drippings, lard, or olive oil to keep bison meat from sticking to the pan and drying out. If higher fat ground beef is used, it might be necessary to collect some fat in a large spoon and remove it.

Add spices, water or broth, tomatoes and carrots and stir well to combine. Cover and simmer over low heat for one hour, stirring every 20 minutes or so to prevent sticking (adjust temperature up or down a bit as necessary to keep chili simmering, but not sticking to the bottom of the pan).

Add vinegar and cocoa powder and stir well, adding additional water if necessary, then simmer uncovered another 20 minutes. Taste and season with sea salt and black pepper, to taste.

If more spicy “heat” is desired, add hot pepper sauce to the pot or to individual servings at the table.

Suggestions for leftover chili:

Reheat leftover chili (adding a few tablespoons of water if necessary) in a pan on the stove and serve over hot steamed cauliflower florets. Or, stretch a small amount of leftover chili by making a serving of soup: heat one cup of beef or chicken broth or coconut milk with added carrot chunks, cauliflower florets, or finely chopped tomatoes until vegetables are ‘fork tender’. Add leftover chili and stir. Garnish with finely chopped avocado and/or chopped cilantro.

The original recipe that inspired this stew made enough to feed an army, so this one is scaled down considerably. Feel free to reduce it by half or double it as needed; stews and soups are rather flexible. The amount of broth determines if this turns out more soup-like or stew-like.

You could also call this recipe Clean-Out-The-Fridge Stew. The beauty of the recipe is that it doesn’t have to be the same each time it is made; use this recipe as a starting point and add what you have on hand. Any combination of leftover bits of meat works (especially pork) and “orphans of the veggie drawer” are put to good use—limp celery, forgotten carrots. Voluminous bunches of miscellaneous CSA greens can be put to good use with this recipe, too.

The first time I made this I didn’t have any broth available, but I did have a pig foot (trotter) in the freezer, something I’d been meaning to use. The trotter was perfectly suited and made a rich, delicious broth. Check your local farmers’ markets or Latino “mercado de carne” for pig feet; a ham hock would work well, too. These oft-neglected bony cuts don’t provide a lot of meat, but when simmered the bones and rich gelatinous connective tissues create a nourishing and flavorful broth, especially if you add a bit of vinegar to acidify the water and facilitate movement of minerals from the bones into the broth.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Heat broth in a stockpot or a Dutch oven. If using water and a pig foot or ham hock instead of broth, bring the water to a boil and add the foot or hock and vinegar. Lower heat and simmer about 45 minutes to an hour, uncovered, to make broth. If foot or hock remains intact, leave it in. If it is falling apart, remove with tongs or a slotted spoon.

Add chopped meat to hot broth and simmer for 1 hour, uncovered. Add onion, celery, carrots and cabbage and simmer for 20 minutes more.

Cook the sausage chunks in a large skillet and brown for 10 minutes over medium heat to render some of the fat and develop flavor. Add the sausage to the soup pot with the cauliflower, greens, garlic, and basil or parsley and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until all the vegetables and meats are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste. If pig foot or hock still remain in the stew, remove and discard if desired.

This recipe has been handed down in one of our reader’s families for at least three generations. Anna’s very healthy 90-year-old grandmother reports that she clipped the recipe from a magazine more than 60 years ago. It isn’t a really authentic BBQ sauce, though the vinegary flavor is reminiscent of North Carolina-style BBQ sauce. The rich sauce was traditionally served with boiled or mashed potatoes or rice, but mashed cauliflower, turnips, or parsnips soak up the sauce very nicely as a side, as does shredded cabbage.

The preparation of this dish is very easy and fast (even if you have to make a batch of ketchup first), but the long baking time in the oven makes it an excellent recipe to prepare for company so you can attend to other tasks. The meat can be kept warm in a covered casserole in the oven after the cooking time is up without fear of overcooking; the pork meat just becomes more “fall-apart” tender. Feel free to half or double the recipe, changing the size of the cooking vessel if it seems necessary.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Brown meat on all sides in fat/oil over medium to medium-high heat in a flameproof casserole or Dutch oven.