John Maddens Mess Food

JOHN MADDEN'S MESS

Steps:

• Rinse and pick over beans; place in a medium-sized bowl and cover with water; let soak overnight.
• The next day, drain beans and place in a medium-size saucepan and add one quart of water.
• Bring to a boil over high heat, lower heat, cover; let simmer until beans are tender, 60 to 90 minutes.
• Meanwhile, cook bacon in a Dutch oven or large skillet until crisp; remove with slotted spoon onto paper towels to drain.
• Pour off all but two tablespoons of the bacon fat; saute ground beef, large onion and garlic in bacon fat over high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring often.
• Add cooked bacon, undrained tomatoes, chili powder, salt, oregano and cayenne; stir well and bring to a boil.
• Lower heat, cover, and simmer for about 60 minutes, stirring every so often; steal some liquid from the beans and stir it in if mixture gets too thick.
• Now would be a good time to cook that spaghetti.
• Drain beans, add to meat/tomato mixture, and heat just to serving temperature.
• To serve, place hot drained spaghetti on a large platter and spoon all the chili on top.
• Cut tamales into pieces and arrange over chili.
• Finally, scatter raw onion and dried red peppers over top, and serve.