Oh, yum. I’ve been working on this recipe for awhile now. I hope you enjoy it.

Prep time is about 45 minutes, then four or five hours in the crock pot.

Ingredients

• Ground beef: 1 1/2 pounds
• Chorizo (beef or pork): 1 1/2 pounds
• Premium bacon: 8 strips
• Green bell peppers: 2 large
• Onion, yellow: 1 large
• Tomatoes (diced): 2 28-oz cans
• Beans, kidney: 15-oz can
• Beans, pinto: 15-oz can
• Beans, black: 15-oz can
• Corn, frozen: 10 oz
• Beef broth: ~8-12 oz
• Salt: 1 tblsp
• Black pepper: 1 tsp
• Cayenne: 2 tblsp
• Oregano: 1 tsp
• Cumin: 3 tsp
• Ancho chili power: 2 tsp
• Coriander: 1 tsp
• Cinnamon: 1 tsp
• Garlic, minced: 1 tblsp
• Grandma’s sorghum molasses: 1 cup

Instructions

1: Pour tomatoes in large crock pot and turn on high.

2: Cut green peppers into strips and chop onion. Set aside.

3: In large frying pan, fry bacon until it’s done but not yet crispy. Remove from pan, leaving as much of the grease as possible. Put bacon on some paper towels to drain and cool.

4: Put chorizo into frying pan and cook until thoroughly browned. Remove from pan, against leaving as much of the juice as possible, and put into crock pot. (I prefer beef chorizo, but pork works great, too.)

5: Put garlic into frying pan and then add the beef. Brown in the remaining grease. Again, remove the meat and place in crock pot, being careful to leave as much grease as possible. (Beginning to detect a theme here?)

6: Put onions and peppers in frying pan and saute for three or four minutes – ideally until the onions are cooked down a bit but the peppers still look fairly crisp. Dump everything into crock pot. (Yes, everything – you can stop worrying about leaving the grease in the pan now.)

7: Now that bacon has cooled, cut it into roughly 1-inch squares.

8: If your house is like mine, there has been a dog in the kitchen ever since you opened the first pack of meat. Give dog a small piece of bacon and some ear scritches. Add the rest of the bacon to the crock pot.

9: Add the molasses and all of the spices. Pour beef broth into crock pot until the liquid level comes almost to the top of the meat and vegetables. Stir thoroughly.

10: Cover and cook on high until you can see the liquid bubbling/boiling. Reduce to low, cook for 4-5 hours, stirring occasionally.

11: With about an hour remaining, drain the beans and add them, along with the corn.

Serve with tortillas, add shredded cheeze and/or sour cream if you like.

And by all means, let me know in the comments below what you thought of it. If you have suggested improvements, I’d love to hear them. I’m a guy who loves chili, but I’m hardly a chef, so anything that helps me become a better cook is welcomed.