Alton Brown's Cheaters Chili

In Alton Brown’s book, I'm Just Here For the Food (aff), he devotes 3 pages to the description of a chili cookoff contest in which the object is to make the best chili using the least amount of money for groceries. Of course, Alton wins because he is the author and the master of all. The idea is that original chili cooks on cattle drives would have not had all the ingredients that modern chefs put into their chili. Cattle drive cooks would have had limited ingredients, inferior cuts of meat, and plenty of time to make it. If you think about it, the idea of chili was to stew the meat for a long time to soften and tenderize those inferior cuts of meat.

The chili he makes is repeated in an episode of Good Eats entitled The Big Chili. My personal recipe for chili isn’t exactly like Alton’s, but I do like to use as little ingredients as possible. So today, I am going to try something new, and make chili Alton’s way. The only thing I do not have is a pressure cooker, so I will take Alton’s hint and make my chili in the oven.

When I give this some thought, I don't think I would have ever used a pressure cooker to make chili. I may not be out on the plains of Nebraska, rustling up cattle into my cast iron dutch oven, but I believe that a certain amount of tradition be adhered to. Cook it low and cook it slow.

Brown's recipe called for beef, pork, and lamb. I don't reckon chuckwagon cooks would have had access to lamb, so I didn't use any. Not that I care, but we don't eat lamb in our house. What did surprise me is that he used pork chunks in his chili. I had never even thought of doing such a thing, but now I'm glad that I did. Texas may be beef country, but a little bit of pork never hurt anything. I don't think I'll ever cook chili without pork ever again.

This recipe below is not the exact recipe that Alton used on Good Eats, and I think that's OK. Chili is more of a process and a "look-taste-adjust" type of recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 pound cubed chuck or stew beef
  
• 1 pound cubed pork (preferably slightly fatty)
  
• 2 bottles of “middle of the road” beer
  
• 2-3 cups of your favorite salsa
  
• 2-3 handfuls tortilla chips
  
• 2 chipotle chiles, minced plus 1 teaspoon adobo
  
• Cooking Oil
  
• 2 TBSP chili powder
  
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
  
• Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large, oven proof pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Season the meat with a pinch or two of salt and pepper. (1) Brown the meat in batches, removing from pan when seared, brown and crusty on the outside. (2) Be careful not to crowd the pan or else you won't get a good sear.

When all the meat is seared and removed, add 1.5 bottles of beer straight into the pot and start scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon or spatula. Add the chili powder, cumin, salsa, and beef. Stir well. Add 2-3 handfuls of tortilla chips and crush them up. Give the entire mixture a couple of big stirs. (3)

Cover with a lid or foil and put in the oven for about 4 hours. Check once per hour, stir, and adjust liquid levels with extra beer. (4)

Remove from oven and serve hot in bowls with green onions, cheese, sour cream, and Fritos.