I just made a small batch of chili this morning, and I think it's the best I've ever made. I can't stop eating it, ("just one more sample please?" The "samples" keep getting bigger and bigger) and I need to have some left come dinner time because that's what I plan on having for dinner.

I started with some bones from a chicken carcas that were left over from a chicken that Elliette baked for me the other day. I boiled that in two cups of water with two large dried New Mexico chilis for about an hour (actually, a bit less). While that was boiling, I put 4 large jalepenos in the toaster-oven to blister. Once the Jalepenos were black and blistered on the outside, I dropped them into a bowl of cold water, peeled the skins off, cut stems off, and dropped them into the blender. I took the bones out of the water and poured the stock with the chilis into the blender with them. I pureed that and then started on the meat.

I chopped up about two lbs. of cheap pork and a whole onion. I put that in the skillet with some (ok, maybe a bit more than "some") bacon fat and browned it. When it was mostly cooked I added about 5 finely minced cloves of garlic and about two heaping tablespoons of cumin. Oh, salt and pepper too, don't forget that. The chili sauce from the blender got poured into a pot, and the pork went in with it. It's simmering now and I can't stop eating it. In fact, the whole reason for this post is to get me out of the kitchen and stop "tasting" it.

It was extremely hot when I first made it but it seems to have calmed down to a nice burn level after simmering on the stove for an hour. I don't think it'll last there much longer, though.

I grew up in chili country (Texas) and my dad always made what I considered the best. He and my mother have won several blue ribbons at chili cook-offs. I have never been able to duplicate what he made until today. Now I think I've got it dialed in, finally.