Dutch Oven Campfire Chili

Ingredients

• 1 lb / 453.6 g Cannellini beans, dry
• 2 Tbsp / 28 g Vegetable oil, for the chili
• 3 lb / 1360.8 g Pork shoulder, for the chili
• 1 lb / 453.6 g Hot Italian sausage
• 1 large / 150 g Large onion
• 1 / 14 g Jalapeño, for the chili
• 3 Tbsp / 24 g Chili powder
• 1 Tbsp / 6 g Ground cumin
• 2 tsp / 2 g Dried oregano
• 1 cup / 16 g Cilantro
• 1 can (28 oz / 794 g) Crushed tomatoes
• to taste Kosher salt
• to taste Black pepper
• 1/2 cup / 50 g Scallions
• not weighed Water

Method

1. Prep at home: Soak 1 pound of cannellini beans in water for at least 4 hours. Rinse them and drain them. The comment also allows kidney, garbanzo, or navy beans. This card uses cannellini. Dice the large onion and the jalapeño. Mince the cilantro and slice the scallions. Pack half of the cilantro with the vegetables. Pack the rest of the cilantro and the scallions in a separate bag for the end. Keep the pork shoulder, cut in 1- to 2-inch chunks, and the raw hot Italian sausage in the cooler. The comment also allows chorizo. This card uses hot Italian sausage. A pound is 453.6 g, so the 3 pounds of pork are 1360.8 g. Stir the chili powder, the cumin, and the dried oregano together and pack that bag with the cans and the oil.
2. At camp: Rinse the soaked beans again if you want. Heat the vegetable oil in a Dutch oven over hot coals until it smokes. Brown half of the pork, about 10 minutes. Move it to a bowl. Brown the rest the same way and add it to the bowl. The comment gives those times. It does not say to pour the fat off.
3. At camp: Add the sausage, out of the casing. Cook it, breaking it up, until it is no longer raw. Put the pork back in the pot. Add the onion, the jalapeño, the chili powder, the cumin, the oregano, and half of the cilantro. Stir until it smells fragrant and the onion starts to soften, about 4 minutes.
4. At camp: Add the soaked beans, the crushed tomatoes, and enough water to cover the meat and the beans by 2 inches. The comment does not weigh that water, so it is not in the count. Add a large pinch of kosher salt. The comment says it should still taste under-seasoned, because the pot will reduce, and salt and pepper go on to taste at the end. Both stay out of the count. Cover the pot. Put hot coals on the lid. Heat about 10 minutes, then look. The liquid should bubble gently.
5. At camp: Cook until the beans are soft and the pork is tender, 3 to 6 hours, depending on the coals. The comment says low heat for a long time is the better end. Check about once an hour and add water if the pot is dry. That added water is not weighed either. When the chili is done, salt and pepper it to taste. Stir in the rest of the cilantro and the scallions. The comment says the pot serves 8. Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for a few days. Reheat until the pork is hot in the center.

Nutrition

Kitchen estimate only, not lab-verified. Counted as 1 of 8 bowls. The comment says the pot serves 8. The beans, the oil, the pork, the sausage, the onion, the jalapeño, the chili powder, the cumin, the oregano, the cilantro, the tomatoes, and the scallions are in the count. Kosher salt and black pepper are to taste, so they are not in the count. The water that covers the pot is not weighed, so it is not in the count. The beans are 1 lb dry, 453.6 g. The oil is 2 tablespoons, 28 g. The pork is 3 lb, 1360.8 g, Boston butt, separable lean and fat, raw. The comment does not say to pour the fat off, so the raw weight stays. The sausage is 1 lb, 453.6 g, raw hot Italian. Chorizo is the other option and is not used. The onion is a USDA large onion, 150 g. The jalapeño is 14 g. The chili powder is 3 tablespoons, 24 g. The cumin is 1 tablespoon, 6 g. The oregano is 2 teaspoons of leaves, 2 g. The cilantro is 1 cup, 16 g. The tomatoes are a 28 oz can, 794 g. The scallions are 1/2 cup, 50 g. Added sugars are 0. The card did not list a sweetener. About 7 g of sugars per bowl sit in the tomatoes, the beans, the onion, the sausage, and the chili powder. The sausage, the tomatoes, and the pork are the salty parts. One bowl is 805 mg sodium.

Guest diet / allergy swaps

Short kitchen notes for guests. A fuller gluten-free or dairy-free ingredient list, when we have one, is in the panels below.

• Dairy-free

  The written chili does not call for milk or cheese. A hot Italian sausage or a chili powder can list milk. Use a sausage and a chili powder whose packages do not list milk. The pork, the beans, and the tomatoes stay. This is a kitchen note, not a dairy-free certification.

  • United States: There is no cheese in the pot. Read the sausage and the chili powder for milk.
  • United Kingdom: The same note. Check the sausage and the chili powder for milk.

• Gluten-free style

  The written chili does not call for flour. Wheat, when it shows up, is in the sausage or the chili powder. Use a sausage and a chili powder whose packages do not list wheat. The beans and the tomatoes stay. This is a kitchen note, not a gluten-free certification.

  • United States: Sausage and chili powder whose packages do not list wheat. There is no flour in the pot.
  • United Kingdom: Sausage and chili powder marked gluten free. There is no flour in the pot.

• No pork

  This chili is built on pork shoulder and hot Italian sausage. It is not written for another meat. A different cut would be a different pot.

  • United States: This chili is pork shoulder and hot Italian sausage. It is not written for another meat.
  • United Kingdom: The same note. This is a pork pot.