Preparation and Steps to this Recipe

Let’s Cook This Chili!

Step 1: Peel and chop your pumpkin. My friend, this is a chore and a half. But, real pumpkin chunks makes for a much better chili than does a can of pumpkin puree. Goal: 1 ½ pounds of prepared pumpkin chunks (give or take).

Step 2: Brine the pumpkin chunks for 4-24 hours.

Here is the brine recipe we use here at Beer and Iron: 12 ounces of beer to one tablespoon of salt.

Take 1-2 pumpkin beers and pour them in a zipper bag. Add 1-2 tablespoons of salt (1 tablespoon to 12-ounces of beer). Once the foam has subsided and you are sure the salt has dissolved, add the prepared pumpkin pieces to the bag of brine. Then, store this in the refrigerator for the next 4-24 hours. Drain the brine from the bag; discard the brine.

If you are ready to start cooking your chili, place the brined and drained pumpkin pieces in a bowl lined with a few paper towels or a colander to drain.

If you are going to cook later, add a few paper towels to the bag with the brined pumpkin pieces and store in the refrigerator until you are ready to cook your chili.

Chef Tip: Leave two 12-ounce cans/bottles of pumpkin beer out and let the beers reach room temperature. This is optional, but suggested. I don’t like to pour refrigerated liquids into my hot pot. We’ll be adding about 2 pumpkin beers to this recipe later.

When you start cooking this recipe, have one of the beers open and nearby. We’ll use this beer when we add the seasoning.

Chef Tip: While you are preparing the ingredients, my suggestion is to take you 5-quart cast iron Dutch oven and place it in a hot (400°F / 200°C or hotter) oven. Let that pot heat up and get fry-ready.

Step 3: Cut and prepare your onions, garlic, and  peppers. Keep the onions and garlic together and the peppers separate from the onions and garlic.

Step 4: Open both cans of black beans. Drain and rinse them. Have them at the ready.

Step 5: Open your can of fire roasted tomatoes. Just leave the can there and have it at the ready.

Step 6: Prepare your seasonings. Have them measured and mixed. We’ll be adding the seasoning during a “hot” moment and will not have time to measure each one out when we get to that step.

Step 7: Open both your beef and sausage packages. Have them at the ready. We’ll cook the sausage first, remove the sausage, and then cook the beef. We will need to drain both after they are pre-cooked. Have something set up to receive the sausage first and to let it drain and soak up the excess grease. Then have something set up to receive the cooked beef to allow it to drain. I suggest separate draining receptacles.

Step 8: Using your 5-quart or 7-quart cast iron Dutch oven over medium-high or high heat, sear the pork sausage. Once the sausage is seared and cooked, set it aside to drain. There is an expected “amount” of pork fat / grease that should remain in that pot. We’ll use that to brown our ground beef.

Chef Tip: I like chunks of meat in my pumpkin chili. When I cook my pork sausage, I usually flatten-it-out in the pot and just let it cook like a large sausage patty. When one side is seared and that nice and toasted Maillard Reaction going, I flip it over (often the turning causes it to break apart into smaller pieces) and “toast” the other side. Once both sides are seared, I “kinda” break it up into chunks. I do the same thing with the beef.

Step 9: Add the pound of ground beef to the hot pot and cook it in the residual pork fat / grease left in the pot from when we cooked our pork sausage. Once the beef is seared and cooked, set it aside to drain.

Step 10: There should be some grease / fat left in that pot. If not, add just a enough to sauté the onions and the garlic. Add the onions and the garlic to the pot and sear until translucent(ish).

Step 11: Add the peppers and sauté a bit; maybe a couple or three minutes.

Step 12: Turn the heat to low or remove the pot from the heat.

Step 13: Return the beef and pork to the pot.

Step 14: Add the can of tomatoes to the pot. We add these here for a bit of moisture. This will make it easier to add our dry seasonings to the pot without it getting all lumpy and gummy.

Step 15: Now, add all of the seasonings to the pot. The seasoning will coat the vegetables and other ingredients.

Step 16: Add the Prepared Pumpkin Chunks and mix again. Do not add the brine to the chili; the brine should have been discarded.

Step 17: Before you add your beer to the mixture, “level off” the ingredients. We need a flat and leveled (not packed) surface.

Step 18: Add just enough pumpkin beer and just enough to bring the liquid level up to the top of the leveled ingredients. Turn the heat to low and let the chili start to simmer. NOTE: You can substitute the pumpkin beer for a broth or even a non-pumpkin beer variety. 

Step 19: After the chili starts to simmer and bubble, check for thickness and saltiness. If you feel the chili is too thin, add the ¼ cup of flour. If you feel it needs salt, salt to taste.

Step 20: Let the chili simmer until the pumpkin chunks are soft and ready to eat. The longer the chili simmers, the softer the pumpkin chunks will get and eventually to the point of mixing into the chili (the chunks will essentially dissolve).

And that’s about it. You’ve made yourself a pot of stick-to-your-ribs chili right there.