texas chili in china

Jesse, Matt, Brendan and Henry cooked at the Bubba’s 6th annual chili cook-off in Shanghai this year. It was an all day event from 7:00am to 7:00pm. One of our friends flew in the night before from Texas and brought us genuine Texas dried chilies. In this homemade chili mix, there were chipotles, Mexican chili, ancho chili, smoked poblanos, cayenne pepper, Mexican oregano and roasted cumin.

Jesse & Matt’s Chili Ingredients:

New York strip, cubed
Homemade chili powders
Onions
Garlic
Roasted tomatoes
Cilantro
Maple Syrup
Homemade beef stock
Homemade chicken stock
Salt

The amount of each ingredient can be adjusted to your own liking. Great winning chilies always have 2 to 3 dumps (dumps being chili powder mixture going in at different times within the cooking cycle). The longer it cooks, the better it tastes. That’s why you have to use a dense piece of beef like a sirloin or tri tip. Jesse & Matt smoked part of the strip to add a great smoky flavor to the chili. For the homemade beef stock, Jesse browned beef bones, beef short ribs and aromatics then slowly simmered for hours.

Matt, Jesse and Henry behind their Joe Dirt themed chili booth.

roast loin of pork with ancho chili & caramelized onion

1 pork loin, bone in (about 2.5 pounds, 5 bones)
2 onion, sliced
2 tablespoons good olive oil
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped
1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
1 1/2 cup good red wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon sugar
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400° F / 200° C.

In a roasting pan, place the pork bone side down. Liberally season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, drizzle 2 tablespoons olive oil, rub 1 teaspoon ancho chili powder, minced garlic and rosemary on top of the pork.

Roast in convection oven for 35 minutes or 45 minutes in a regular oven, until the internal temperature reaches 140° F / 60° C. Remove from oven and let stand, covered with aluminum foil for 15 minutes.

While pork loin is roasting in the oven.  In a saute pan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat, caramelize sliced onions with 1 teaspoon sugar, salt & pepper until soft and golden brown. Deglaze pan with 1/2 cup red wine and 1/2 cup chicken broth. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to a simmer, until the liquid is almost gone. Repeat with a second 1/2 cup red wine, reduce for about 5 to 10 minutes. Add the last 1/2 cup red wine, reduce sauce to half and slightly thickened. Season with salt & pepper. Remove from heat and set aside.

Remove the bone from the roast pork loin. Slice roast pork, arrange on platter and serve with the warm onion reduction.

“Our market” at 328 Jianguo lu near Taiyuan lu. 嘉善菜场, 建国西路328号近太原路。We find the produce at this market fresher and better than most larger Chinese supermarkets in the area like Tesco and Carrefour.