These are Alton Brown’s recipes but I wanted to share them here since they pretty much rule.
Couple of my thoughts:
- Be sure to use dried chilis for the powder. It doesn’t say that in his writing of the recipe and the first time I made this, mine came out like chili paste and wondered for months why Alton called it “powder.” Now I know.
- We’re not huge fans of lamb in this, so feel free to leave that out.
- Since I can’t do peanut oil, I used canola oil since it has about the same heat tolerance. It doesn’t taste like peanuts but it’s the closest oil I could think of.
- Since I’m gluten-free, I can’t do most beers either but I used Bard’s Tale gluten free beer and it was pretty good IMHO
- I added a little more adobo sauce and chipotle chilis just because
Chili Powder
Ingredients
- 3 dried ancho chiles, stemmed, seeded and sliced
- 3 dried cascabel chiles, stemmed, seeded and sliced
- 3 dried arbol chiles, stemmed, seeded and sliced
- 2 tablespoons whole cumin seeds
- 2 tablespoons garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
Instructions
- Place all of the chiles and the cumin into a medium nonstick saute pan or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, moving the pan around constantly, until you begin to smell the cumin toasting, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Set aside and cool completely.
- Once cool, place the chiles and cumin into the carafe of a blender along with the garlic powder, oregano, and paprika. Process until a fine powder is formed. Allow the powder to settle for at least a minute before removing the lid of the carafe. Store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
Three Meat Chili
Ingredients
- 3 pounds stew meat (combination of beef, pork, and lamb)
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 (12-ounce) bottle of beer, preferably a medium ale
- 1 (16-ounce) container salsa
- 30 tortilla chips
- 2 chipotle peppers canned in adobo sauce, chopped
- 1 tablespoon adobo sauce (from the chipotle peppers in adobo)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
Instructions
- Place the meat in a large mixing bowl and toss with the peanut oil and salt. Set aside.
- Heat a 6-quart heavy-bottomed pressure cooker over high heat until hot. Add the meat in 3 or 4 batches and brown on all sides, approximately 2 minutes per batch. Once each batch is browned, place the meat in a clean large bowl.
- Once all of the meat is browned, add the beer to the cooker to deglaze the pot.
- Scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the meat back to the pressure cooker along with the salsa, tortilla chips, chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, tomato paste, chili powder, and ground cumin and stir to combine. Lock the lid in place according to the manufacturer's instructions. When the steam begins to hiss out of the cooker, reduce the heat to low, just enough to maintain a very weak whistle. Cook for 25 minutes. Remove from the heat and carefully release the steam. Serve immediately.
