Grandma’s Green Chili

-2 large pork chops. Bone-in pork shoulder is the best. I always used those. It has the perfect fat content.
Less fat = less flavor.

- One (1) 796 ml can Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes. “Fire Roasted” is the “secret”
ingredient Also, make sure they are the “crushed” kind, not diced, or peeled, or chopped or any of
these, but crushed. Getting the right tomatoes is the secret! At least in Canada…that will make more
sense in the next paragraph Note: if you cut this recipe in half, don’t use the whole can of tomatoes.
I don’t want to waste the unused half of the can either, but the chili will taste like spaghetti sauce, LOL.
Just use half the can if you cut this recipe in half. They don’t have smaller cans of the fire roasted
crushed tomatoes.

- Six (6) 127 ml cans Old El Paso Chopped Green Chili’s. If you want REALLY amazing green chili, get hatch
green chilis. Thing is, IDK if they even have hatch (fire roasted) green chili’s up there. Mennomex in
Aylmer is probably the only place that *might* have hatch green chilis, but even if they do it will only be
during the summer. I would call them first before driving there for these. If you call ahead and ask them
for this, you might want to specify “fire roasted fresh green chilis, not canned” because I don’t know if
Canadians know what “hatch” green chili means (“hatch” = fire roasted). If you DO find some, definitely
switch the tomatoes to either the *not* fire roasted kind (but still crushed), or even better, get fresh
tomatoes and hand crush them yourself

- Chopped jalapenos, 250 ml (enough to fill two of the empty Old El Paso Chopped Green Chili cans). I
get the 375 ml jar of Mezzetta Deli Sliced Hot Jalapeno Peppers. Good quality.

- ½ teaspoon oregano. Be careful with this. You can easily add too much.

- 1 teaspoon salt

- Garlic powder (how much? I never really measured it but I usually put what seems like quite a bit. I
don’t think you can overdo garlic, lol)

Chop up the pork chops and start them cooking first, no need to add oil they will cook in their own fat.
You can season the meat with salt and garlic as its cooking. Cook on low heat, like level 1 – ½ or 2 and
cover the pot. Keep the pot covered during the whole process. You gotta cook the meat up slowly or the
chili will have kind of a weird flavor when it’s done. Check on it after about 15 minutes and stir from
time to time. Leave the bones in until at least the next day after it’s sat in the fridge all night.

When the meat is still a little pink on the inside, not quite fully cooked, add the tomato. Let it cook for
another 20 minutes, still low heat (1-1/2 or 2. Just leave the heat at that level during the entire cooking
process, stirring every 15 minutes or so).

Add the green chilis and allow everything the simmer in their juices. Keep stirring as it simmers for a
while. You can also add the oregano as it is simmering. My grandma would throw in all kinds of spices. A
pinch of this and a pinch of that. Even meat seasoning. You can try a couple different spices that might
seem good. She would keep stirring while it simmered, taste then maybe add a little more seasoning.
Last you add the jalapenos just before you’re done cooking. They seem to get hotter (the spicy kind of
hot) the longer they cook. Just keep stirring and tasting until you think it’s good.

I never really added water or a slurry when I used the canned ingredients I could get in Canada (listed in
this recipe) plus the pork shoulders. They all seemed to have the right amount of water, but you might
play with that someday.

If it’s too thick, add hot water and let it simmer covered for about 5 minutes so everything can mingle.
Add the water slowly, ½ cup at a time and stir it a bunch after you add. You’d be surprised at how far a
half or full cup of water will go. If it’s too runny, the best thing to do is to let it simmer down uncovered
and keep an eye on it. To thicken it with a slurry is a bit fickle unless you like it really thick.

To thicken, you can add a flour slurry but these are fickle. You only want to add a little bit at a time. A
little slurry goes a very long way, too, and I’m talking like one or two little teaspoons can ruin a whole
pot! Any time you add a slurry you can’t really tell how thick it’s going to be unless you let it sit for about
2 or 3 minutes after you add the slurry and stir, so just add a little bit at a time and go slow. If you add
too much slurry, adding water to compensate doesn’t seem to help either, LOL. So, you can’t undo a
slurry, LOL. Just go slow. Start with ½ teaspoon at a time. Once you like the thickness, same thing, let it
mingle for 5 minutes, covered.