QKO

I do a lot of meat smoking, so I save the leftovers for chili. Leftover smoked steak, smoked ribs, smoke pork loin and chops, even smoked turkey, whatever.

OK, so here's my secret chili recipe, which is a bit soupy cause that's how I like it too.

Chop up a whole red onion and sweat it till it just starts to wilt in a big pot with a tablespoon or so of oil along with a couple of big heaping tablespoons of minced garlic.

I cube up my smoked meat and toss it in the pot, usually about 4 or 5 cups of cubed up meat. I put in a couple cans of tomato sauce, a couple cans of plain petite-diced tomatoes without the spices, a small can of tomato paste, and a couple cans of black beans, drained and rinsed. I prefer the black beans to the kidney beans, but sometimes I'll mix in a can of dark red kidney beans too.

Put in one of those milk-carton-like containers of beef stock or beef broth, or a couple cans of same. This makes it soupy and gives it lots of flavor, also cuts the overpowering tomato flavor. Add a few good shakes of Worchestershire sauce if you like that, as well.

Now for the secret ingredient. Get a bottle of La Victoria Salsa Ranchera (Hot!) or your favorite chunky hot salsa. Put it in to taste, some people like it a little hotter than others.

For the amount I make I usually use about two or three heaping tablespoons because that's about all the heat the wife can take. Stir it in, bring it all up to a high simmer and simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally.

I don't use any chili spices or chili powder because to me they don't have the flavor I get from the salsa, and the salsa goes well with the smoked meat. But I've also used the same recipe for hamburger chili and it works well too but you don't get the smoky flavor of the meat. I suppose if you were making hamburger chili you could put in a few drops of smoke flavoring.

I've always gotten rave reviews from my smoked chili - maybe you'll like it too!