I have paid my dues; so, let the tacit riffing begin.
So the recipe is not intended to turn out like this. The plate above is riffing on the Banana Toffee Pudding Pie. What I did was incorporate a chocolate-banana rad un-whip layer beneath the banoffee layer on a choco-graham-cracker crust. Basically, assuming you already have the recipe and book Vegan Pie in the Sky by Isa Chandra Moskovitz and Terri Hope Romero, it goes like this;
make the graham cracker crust, fold in some cocoa powder; press into the bottom of a springform pan and pre-bake for ten minutes
while it is baking make rad whip, in the process of blending together the ingredients add some melted chocolate chips and a frozen banana and puree until smooth
pour rad un-whip into springform on top of choco-graham cracker crust
begin making butterscotch/pudding layer per instructions in Vegan Pie in the Sky, replace dark brown sugar with turbinado sugar
chop three ripe bananas
once you've finished pudding steps, add it and the bananas per instructions, sprinkle the top with a 1/4 cup chocolate chips
plate with finely chopped chocolate on top
Prettier plating can be had by not using a springform and pressing into a pie pan. If you wish to pretty up the springform version I would recommend 1/4 additional agar and cornstarch.
Friday night, after one day of marinating over the book, and another day getting excited about cooking things from it, and a lunch of ear-marking my copy with post-it flags, we sat down with my copy of Vegan Pie in the Sky: 75 Out-of-This-World Recipes for Pies, Tarts, Cobblers, and Moreby Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terri Hope Romero, and pounded out some Tasty.
I had done much of the pre-shopping Thursday night, but by the time I got home, and realized that I didn't have a rolling pin (yes, this was my big debbie-downer), I panned off cracking open the book and baking. That said, I did read Ghost World instead while Thursday night NBC murmured on in the background; not a bad way to go to get along.
Out of the gate, the book itself is a great package. Beautiful layout, organized flow, great pictures of everything. Simply, utterly edible in and of its CMYK self. I can't wait to bust the binding and have a handy dandy friend to lay and coax me back to the task at hand.
It's a good weight in both the paper stock for being in the kitchen as well as for not being some cumbersome tome or flighty flit of pamphlet. If you're familiar with the prior two volumes (cookies and cupcakes), you will be at home here.
At last. Friday night rolled around, my cook book was inordinately flagged ("Why didn't you just flag the ones you don't want to make?"), and we stopped off at the coop to get some final ingredients (for one thing, Miss Kristin made it clear that it is imperative moving forward to use unbleached a/p flour; but also for coffee, silken, cookies, etc). While we were there, I told Beth she should come over for some baking and Miss Kristin gave her directions. This time I did not as much mean it when I said I would be massacring some pie crusts.
The Digs:
Crusts - (2) Buttery Double (pastry-style) Crust; (1) Oreo Crust (Variant of Graham Cracker crust)
I wanted to ensure a representative sample of both recipes and difficulties. As a complete n00b to baking pies, and making crusts, I wanted to knock out some standards, and have more than one go at the classic buttery double crust. So we did the BCG Cheesecake in the Oreo crust, the other two in buttery doubles (the cherry having a sugar-kissed lazy lattice top crust, the blueberry having a slotted vent whole crust).
The Banana-Chocolate Cheesecake filling was mad-easy, as was its oreo crust; with a food processor and a few minutes to pound out that crust, you will have a quick-setting, quicker-vanishing cheesecake. A key component of many of the cream based recipes is soaked cashew, so there is the required prescience of having a solid amount already soaked.
(Soak 2-3 cups ahead and yer gold)
Aside from that, everything about the Banana-Chocolate Cheesecake was rapidly made, chilled, and consumed with a gravity-defying ease.
The fillings for the other two pies were equally straightforward. The dough for the crust was the more intimidating aspect. I have made a handy amount of pizza dough in my time in a lot of shapes and styles. But pizza is so forgiving, almost to the point of apathy. ["You don't have yeast? You're going to make me chug Genny Cream Ale to get me all gassy? OK. Fine. Whatever. Yes. I will still taste great. Go to hell."]
So I mixed up a nice solid double batch of the buttery double crust dough. Miss Kristin recently got a pastry knife so this task was a bit easier than I was accustomed to (insofar as I cream butter and sugar, which takes a minute). I also sifted the flour something like three or four times. And we refrigerated everything to do with the dough.
We were excited and paranoid like a bunch of high school kids smoking weed in their dad's pot closet
But when I would start to take that paranoia and externalize it, to doubt and double-doubt myself, I just turned to the introductory sections of the book. A great cookbook has something that makes it more than an indexed collection of 3x5" cards in a fancy binding with shiny pictures. A great cookbook has not only a voice, anybody can have a voice (donkey!); but a voice that will talk you down from the ledge. Vegan Pie in the Sky, in line with the rest of the collection, has a great voice and uses every conceivable opportunity to exercise it.
Isa Chandra and Terri Hope(if it is commonplace to drop a first and a middle name for the one, why not the other with such a nice middle name as Hope?) not only lay out a terrific spread of a lexicon at the beginning of the book, but in each recipe there are waypoints to navigate you through the trip-ups of any recipe. This helps not just because you now know your craft a bit better, and you now know what to watch out for, but also you will know how to pick up the strings and mend what goes awry. It's more of a "don't stress over X, here's the nerd-skinny on it." So, if you're at all like me, basically, a lot of times when a recipe contains some archetypal form, and you are looking to master that form, often you can walk away better-informed by failure than by success. The authors do not let an opportunity slip where they can inform an action or step. They also don't burden the book with cumbersome, extraneous details.
They toe the line between giving you all-the-knowledge-you-ever-need-to-improvise-in-the-face-of-impending-doom AND maintaining a pragmatic focus on the steps at hand with an elegant, soft-touch that leaves you ready for anything.
So when it came time to do the crusts, the real crusts, the ones we had lined up for; once we were all exhaled and had drawn our measured breaths and chilled our hands, we were ready.
We [okay, me] were [was] scared but informed and prepared and eager.
After cutting in the fat to the flour, and mixing the wet ingredients, we made liberal use of the tip to incorporate apple cider vinegar into the crust while dividing the batch into two sets of two half batches (i.e. quartering into four crusts).
The first go at dough (the first two crusts) came out less well than the second (the second two crusts). A few contributing factors to be considered;
I formed first dough (FAIL). Beth made second dough (WIN). Period.
------------------------------------------------
possibly more liquid (a.c.v. + aq.) for second half
nicer, caring-est hands for second half (I'm not saying I didn't care, I may have even over worked it, caring too much; just that Beth might have a better touch, she may have lingered a bit more thoughtful)
more resting time (in fridge) for second half
improper fat distribution with first over second half (i.e. second half had nice marbled fat content, first half appeared to be more homogeneous)
It is quite possible I am not thinking of other independent variables. It is also possible that after I am not on my first pie crust I will be all good anyway. My gut tells me, however, that ultimately, the catalyst or other culpable agent for the superiority of the one dough over was Beth's magic hands.
Pure and simple.
Let me qualify this with saying I am totally nit-picking because the end results was fantastic to eat and easy to make because the instructions were delivered in a way even I can understand, which is not to say in some condescending "dummies..." way but in a down to earth conversational, informational, and practical tone.
Yeah, so the first crust was just a bit less elastic, and a smidge more difficult to work with. These are just the factors which may have skewed the crusts, keep them in mind if you do a comparison. I rolled out a half from each set; the second went much better than the first, and was like a wet, stretchy paper towel in terms of durability and usefulness whereas the one I did was temperamental like a wet newspaper.
At the end of the day, the Buttery Double was not only a pleasure to make, bake, and partake; it was emboldening to feel the power to create crust flow through our fingertips.
So we had three pies, and a desire to double-down and crown each. Three batches of Rad Whip on the triple. Done. Miss Kristin has a knack for the cupcakes and frostings, and she totally hit a grand slam on this one. Not only successfully working a huge batch (which always creates marginal shifts in measurements, I don't care what anyone says), but getting each one to piffy puffy peaks and tasty sets. She was also wholly responsible for the amazing Oreo (Newman-O to be precise) crust, and the maintenance of all the inter-phase materials and serving drinks and watching the dog. (Mostly, I just changed songs on the mp3 player and played with the dog and ate food from Miss Kristin's fridge.)
So the modest $11 cover for Vegan Pie in the Sky is definitely worth it for all the vegan empowerment you can contain.
Each recipe and pie was as amazing to cook as it was to eat. The following night, at the pumpkin carving party, a great fun was had, at which all enjoyed the fruits of our collective labor; I would say it was in honor of the pies, but it was to mimic the massacre of orange faces. I'm guessing for the three of us though, there was a place of honor the pies.
There will be an awakening of personal gods you had not previously known or convened; and it will be good.
There is an archetype of the Great Giving Pie; a Crust for all Seasonings. It showers its blessings and gives us a reason for sweets and savories. If you have never touched this structure in your ego, and want to find that part of yourself come into being, then you need this cook book.
Dig in on a dark night with a sturdy crew. Plot a course (the digs above worked well for an introduction, but I get the impression any collection more suited to your palette will do equally well). Wake up not just the body and the mind, but be willing to awaken your primal, pie-baking Monster. Stock up in advance and be prepared, for here, there be dragons.
Also, made the Blueberry Lemon Corn Biscuit Cobbler (p.84). Super fun, super easy, super tasty. Like every other recipe so far. Planning on getting hot and heavy with the Boston Cream Pie (p.167) either tonight or tomorrow. I'm super glad to be consistently bringing the inner deity out in my kitchen. If you want a hitchhiker's guide for this, Pie in the Sky is your way to go.
The cobbler may seem like the easy way out of making a pie, but there is also the fact that, after cooking dinner and breakfast, sometimes you need a great pick me up for October-feels-like-November days. This recipe has the kind of pick me up that says, "you may not be in the warmest clime, but with me inside you have a kindling energy to last days."
(Note: if, like me, you opt for a 13x9" casserole dish, instead of the recommended 9" deep dish pie pan, I recommend either doublling the recipe, or doing at least the biscuits @ 150% quantity. You get the vibe from it being so spread out that it's less symmetrical than it was designed to be, though it still tastes great)
I was emailed by Laura from Wild Goose Creative five days ago. She said that as a participant in the 2011 BaconCamp, they thought I (along with the others in the email no doubt) would be interested in participating the Grilled Cheese Throwdown qualifier.
Local Matters will be launching its own events lineup for Local Food Week (9/30 - 10/6) here in Columbus on Saturday October 1 with the Grilled Cheese Throwdown. Totally worth the five dollar ticket price; it should be great.
So, in the five days since the email, what have I come up with? First there was the Beer-battered double-fried monster, which would have just been a good mix sans deep-frying. I liked it, but the wow factor was in the ingredients, and I could get wow out of execution as well, but wanted something inventive. Second was Grilled Cheese a la French Tiramisu. Basically I wanted to make a savory play on the ladyfingers with a french toast style egg-wash and substitute the mascarpone for brie and butter cheese. But seriously, 80 ladyfingers sandwiches? Not likely. The question became one of wow and mass production. And the solution?
We will be making a large batch for this for a few reasons. Mac 'n Cheese is great to freeze, we need to have multiple samples for polishing technique, and (if we qualify) we will need to prep 80-100 servings. For purposes of this example We are making two 9x13 casserole dishes of MnC.
Begin by starting enough water to boil 3 pounds of ditalini (or some other small, regularly shaped pasta). Add the li'l tubes when boiling, bring to al dente. Move forward with making a bechamel, 3/4c flour to butter for your roux, then scald in 2c half & half, and then 1 1/2 cup milk. Next we add 8 ounces each of cheddar and colby-jack. While gradually stirring in the cheese, bit by bit, sautee onion until soft and sticky, add one large, minced poblano pepper and 5-6 cloves minced garlic.
So now you've got some 2 1/2 - 3 quarts of mornay (roux based bechamel with cheese melted in it) to mix with your 3 pounds of ditalini. Toss it up real nice and even, then pour out into 2 9x13 casserole dishes (ceramic/pyrex) and bake at 350'f for about 30-45 minutes or until the pasta has absorbed most of the liquid. Mind that you don't want the past to get crispy (a little tough is okay, but crisp lips sink ships), so stir it every so often if it starts browning or looking too dry.
This MNC will serve as the base for your 'flatbread' or "flats".
Now I like to think, and may have been told this once, that it is good to know your ingredients. It makes sense, and it is ultimately the responsible thing to do. So I strongly urge you at this point to site down and have a nice bowl of the MNC. You could also do so prior to baking (it would be a bit saucier, but the texture wouldn't be as amazing).
To begin making a flat, spray the inside of a 9", round springform pan with coconut oil then dust lightly with flour (keeps from sticking and browns gently). Preheat oven to 425'f. Using approximately room temperature MNC, measure out 8/3 c (2 2/3) in 1/3 - 1/2 c increments and pour into pan. (You want the flour on the bottom to remain even, so try to minimize pushing them around on that surface.) Bake for 15 minutes.
Release but don't remove springform and allow to cool for a few minutes until pan edges are not searing to the touch. Re-tighten before next step.
Prepare two egg washes. The "Group" wash will be of a larger quantity (depending on how many flats you will be making), the ratio being 1 egg to 1 Tbsp water. The "Solo" wash will be just 1 egg frothed up with 1 Tbsp water (you will need one of these for each flat you do). Mix the solo wash in a pourable container.
I chose to take a slightly Provençale approach to flavoring, as it is a mornay and, effectively, a scrappy quiche blend. Anyway, I sprinkled my herbs (parsley, tarragon, rosemary) on top at this point; if you do herbs for yours, now is the time so the wash can distribute them.
Pour solo wash around middle and edge rings of flat first, center ring last. Bake at 425'f another 15 minutes.
Remove and unsnap your pan's corset. Put a cutting board (gently) over top and flip the flat onto the cutting board so the bottom "crust" is butt up. At this point, your flat is done and should have a light brown but sturdy crust. There will be white and yellowish parts if the solo egg wash had some unmixed parts, no biggie. It should have an edge like this;
Reach for the group wash and your brush, whip it up a bit, then apply generously to that toasty bum. Dust a flour breading (with garlic, onion powder, salt, and black pepper) on top, then sprinkle some corn meal last to finish her off.
Heat some canola oil in your cast iron skillet to medium/medium-high, once there pour out extra oil. Flip skillet over cutting board with flat in middle, flip cutting board over and return skillet to heat.
moneyGrab your cheese; I chose a mix of 3 ounces each of sliced gouda and havarti to give it a mild tang, and creamy melt. Put one cheese each on one half and the other on the opposite (you are going to fold in half along the cheese meridian), then top one side with thinly sliced tomatoes. Around the rim, pour or spray enough water (or tomato juices if there is some) to steam-melt the cheese and quickly cover with a tight fitting lid. You may want to give a clean perforation to the cheese meridian with your spatula at this point. Reduce heat to medium.
Flip the flat over once (a) the cheese is melted and (b) sliding a spatula underneath (1) comes out clean and (2) the bottom has browned (or almost gotten there) to a nice gold. If the top side looks good flip over to ensure the other side is nice and golden. The lower and slower you go with it the crispier the bottom can get before burning.
Anyway, remove from pan, trim as necessary. I have serve the half flat in halves, quarters, and fifths and the sandwich holds up in each of the portions so feel free to rely on its structural integrity.
The qualifier was yesterday for the Grilled Cheese Throwdown. I was actually 90% packed when the alarm went off to start, and I had had time to bake a third flat in anticipating any kind of mishap and to be able to select the best ones to cook (of which the third I made was the best, naturally). I don't know yet how I did, but I did get a good nod on novelty. I made two flats' worth of sandwiches with a nice plating along thinly sliced tomatoes. and had plenty of leftover flat and sandwiches to share with the competitors.
Last night I made the third flat for dinner (I split it with my roommate) using Guggisberg's Farmer's cheese. It went well with the Roastier Tomato Eggplant Soup I made the other day, this time I put a slice of the Farmer's cheese on top (not vegan, like the grilled cheese).
image not enlarged for texture, i just got real close. but it's off the richter scaleThe Farmer's Daughter has a home-y, comfortable feel to it. It's not as bizarre as it sounds (grilled cheese on flat bread made out of macaroni and cheese). It is all comfort food; grilled cheese, mac and cheese, and quiche (if you don't recognize quiche as comfort food you've never had a fresh warm slice for breakfast in an Ohio winter). The ingredients have a wholesome, relaxing taste and it's a lot of fun to enjoy. For science, I recommend you try it.
Before I get into future iterations, I need to thank some people; Cameron first for incubating this, Carolyn for pushing the baking idea (I had already done it but the reinforment helps), my cousin Bill for helping with the skillet portion, Maureen for the cement, and Kate for the thickness. Each one of these people pushed me over the obstacles I was at in their own way.
Future iterations:
Heuvos Mornayros (yeah you know me) - Ramp up the peppers in the MNC (i.e. pureed anchos in adobo in mornay); chili powder/paste, oregano, cumin sprinkle; fried chorizo; swap to a smoked cheese with chipotles
Grilled Lorraine - mostly the same but swap to a sharper cheese and add ham
Grilled Cheese Cube - Figure out how to make it into a cube, brown, slice on a bias, and then pour in fondue; also make it inside out (i.e. inject inside with cheese then dip in cheese)
work papers, for Science!Well that's enough grilled cheese for this week. Very exciting stuff I must say. Spawned two stackexchange questions and half a dozen posts. I would not necessarily recommend you go make the investment in making the Holy Hog's Hell chili unless you need to trigger an epic episode, or are otherwise buying a ticket for a vision quest. This however, is a recipe that's economical (you're paying it forward cooking this much MNC in bulk, and only 2 2/3 cups is needed for the Farmer so you can freeze the rest). This is a recipe you should make in preparation for hibernating.
Note: This recipe contains no outgoing source links except by doubling back to the Betty Crocker one for mornay, which is actually just a write-up I refer to occasionally. This one, aside from Cameron mentioning grilled cheese and macaroni & cheese in the same sentence, has no pre-existing structure. If you know of a place that has anything like this let me know.
Also, you should reproduce this recipe for science. It is actually simpler than you think, but it combines a plurality of beginner-level techniques that are each worth learning for their own sake (roux, mornay, temp tweaking, and egg wash / breading for sauteeing in zero oil).
In the midst of this Freddie Mercury weekend, another chili cookoff, and some amazing stuffed peppers / chiles rellenos I got to getting to the point where I had to wrap up the HHHC whether or not I had final pics or not; so continuing from Night 3.2: Early Dawn and the afternoon...
So particles, waves, whatever; after cooking for 18 straight hours (and only a few incremental doses of sleep), your nerves eventually take over. The morning sun was gentle a calm a few hours before it was time to leave. But once eleven rolled around and the final touches had gotten their executions, it became a race to the finish.
I got all packed up, my cousin and roommate got to try the chili and gave big approving thumbs up. We raced to the Dispatch Kitchen at the North Market where the comp was being held. Unfortunately, I was a bit more than all nerves by the time I got there and didn't have enough mental bandwidth to really get to talk to everyone, or share in our bacon delights. The three that stuck out were the banana-nut muffins with avacado-bacon frosting (there were these mini-dynamos of the subtlest kind of rad), bacon pop tarts (the most amazing shortbread with good bacon and fantastic frosting), and cayenne bacon ice cream (so smooth and then a little burning zing and oh crap I'm chewing a little bit o' bacon!).
I didn't get to try any of the winners, though I saw the one and wasn't compelled by the winning bacon sandwich, mostly because I was vying for an alt. The bacon sandwich that should have won (if a sandwich instead of chili were to have won) had bacon integrated into every facet of its composition, even the bread's fat and the fat the bread was fried in. Granted, I didn't eat either, and the plating by the latter wasn't very good. Oh well.
The winning people were great though. I wanted to win, but was so happy to share in this kind of a competition where it was really just a bacon celebration. Having the judges giving the goody bags to winners was cool, and the lady who won the sweets category was so amazed, but above and beyond the competition aspect, the camp aspect really shone through. I've never seen such satisfied grazing before. There were 200+ people there, in this tiny room, and bacon everywhere. There was a kind of gluttonous, deadly peace that settled on the packed venue.
Sure, we were reveling in clogging our arteries. Yes, the exploitation of animals was clinging to our lips. But you only live once. And if you're going to bother killing yourself, bacon is a great way to go. In terms of myself, I said it before, "no win, but all win." The process and project was epic. I was able to come up with a vision and see it through to completion. There is no trophy or prize that quite competes with that.
If you wish to pursue this vision journey, here is a rough of the steps. You might refer back to the linked posts to find all of the details:
For Meat:
Make spice base. Begin by toasting anchos, guajillos, and pusillas then processing down (blender, processor, mortar & pestle; whatever works); then combining with your favorite mix of spices. Take half and that's your chili powder. The other half (may need more) you will add some brown sugar to, that will be the rub
Injection marinade pig butts using orange juice, vinegar, sugar, chili powder, and rub
Apply glue (honey+mustard), then cover with a thick layer of rub
Let rest overnight
Apply a second layer of glue lightly if necessary, then really cover with rub
Smoke meat for 7 hours (I used a mix of mostly apple, with a bit of hickory)
Wrap in foil and stick in refrigerator, let rest two days unless you're using quickly
For Chili:
Do a pseudo-braise in roasting pan in oven (skip this if done and ready to pull to integrate in chili immediately); open top of foil pouch and pour in orange juice, coffee, and beer (I used a white ale), re-seal pouch
Prepare stock by frying up bacon, pull bacon keep grease
In the bacon grease, carmelize onions, then add garlic and peppers (the fresh ones I used were jalapenos, anaheims, and habaneros), wait until really good and gooey
Reduce with a nice quantity of coffee (3-4 cups)
Once it get low and looks a bit like a yellow-y tar, add dry spices starting with a quarter of the chili powder you set aside. Now start trying to figure out what you will be missing. Make a note of it but don't act on it.
Add tomatoes; simmer low for a while with a nice quantity of orange juice (~12oz)
I like to add the clove and fennel (aids with digestion, cuts down on the impact of chili's acidity and matches any tomato sauce well) sooner than later. Once you have a nice amount of liquid, and a tomato-y vibe it would be a decent time to start adding the spices that need time to distribute themselves and mellow and marry.
Now is also the time to start gauging the sugar you will be using. I had a few; unrefined cane sugar, brown sugar, and honey (along with orange juice). Don't be shy in the beginning. I learned over the weekend the reality of trying to get on top of it too late in the pot. The point of the sugar is to compensate for bitterness and to buffer capsaicin; so use it. Although chocolate isn't there to work toward the same end as sugar exactly, it also can make its entry now so you can judge the play between sugar and chocolate.
Now get ready to really just leave your pot alone. Stir it now and then, but your main job will be tasting it from here on out; you're basically committed to the rest.
Once the meat has braised a bit, you can open the pouches and dispense with the liquid by poking holes in the aluminum foil and fanning it out. The point now is to toughen back up the bark (smoked rub) on the outside, and make sure you have juiced the connective tissues above the 140'F mark for all you can without breaking too far into the mid-160s.
Pull the pork. Dump it gradually into the chili. Pour in the drippings from the pan with the first pig butt if you have two; then add more beer and orange juice and coffee with the second butt's worth. Add bacon
Bring pot to a simmer to get rid of some liquid, stirring regularly. By this point you should have a very rich looking and tasting pot. Reduce heat after the color of the chili returns
You still want to have been tasting the stock itself regularly. Now is a good time to add some more peppers if necessary; these peppers' heat will be dissipated like the ones from early on.
Sugars are also still able to get some good play. If you added fennel and clove you might want to touch them up a bit more (if you overdose the clove, cinnamon and cardamom will help you take the edge off it).
Once you can taste that the meat has gotten a good uptake of the flavor of the stock (maybe 30-45 minutes), you can move to crock pot. This is a nice low maintenance way to get some of the side work (i.e. candying bacon, cooling garnish). So in other words; migrate chili to crocks, make candied bacon, and cooling garnish if you haven't had a chance to yet.
When you decide the chili is distributed and tasting good, it's time to take the chili to the next level: gravy. Whip up about (what amounted to) 4+ cups of roux.
Drain off all of the chili liquid from the crock pots into the large pot, tilt to one side and start flopping the roux in there, and incorporate it by stirring it in gradually. Do this too all the liquid of the chili to ensure a smooth, cohesive texture. If you have some bacon grease from candying the bacon use this instead of butter or some other fat.
Taste the gravy. This is the home stretch and your priorities and options are as follows; pungent spices, peppers' heat, and bite. Depending on how much more time you will be cooking you can also add fresh herbs at this point. I like adding them throughout, but in reality its just to gauge what I want it to taste like later, they don't really persist after hours of cooking. Most of the spices will have a wider distribution and benefit from longer cooking and having time to marry.
You should not have any bitterness by now. That's what all those sugars were for. If you do have a bitterness, you will need to mask it at this point. I recommend very finely ground coffee, orange rind, lemon/lime zest/juice, and chocolate. I have also used pureed mandarin oranges to compensate for too much heat.
Add the meat from the crocks and you're done.
That's a lot of steps, and no measurements and no list of ingredients. Mostly it's pork shoulder, peppers, tomatoes, onions, bacon, beer, orange juice, coffee, spices, herbs, bittersweet chocolate, honey, brown sugar, cane sugar, more spices, some herbs.
Some Notes:
Cooling garnish - made with sour cream and cream cheese (with powdered candied bacon, ground orange rind, and chocolate). Incorporate bacon fat as a thickening agent. P
Candied Bacon - go with the brown sugar on cookie rack over cookie sheet method with foil underneath. Use foil to create a spigot for pouring off and reserving grease. Try to engineer a way of creating bacon brittle.
Chili - try adding 4 pounds of bacon to the 15 pounds pork shoulder; try with a thicker cut of the bacon and chop into bigger chunks
Magic Dust - grind some orange peel, mix with into a bunch of nutritional yeast and a little coffee grinds; sprinkle on top instead of cheese
Side-Note:
The music was essential. Woods, some Bon Iver, but really the majority of the work was done by good 'ol Basia Bulat and Gillian Welch. It's an emotional experience. It's a low, low burning and you need whatever goes deep, deep for you. The twists in the emotional narratives kept my brain limber. I was looking for cracking open and I needed repetition and repetition. Make sure you've got headphones too. The idea of me bip-bopping around the kitchen at four am listening to depressing girl music makes me assume my roommate would have killed me. Headphones help you go deeper anyway.
went through four of those chafing dishes, plus the judges' samplesSo there were a lot of gratifying comments and shocked faces (when shock turns to smile is most gratifying of all) at my sampling table. I overheard one say he'd pay fifty bucks for the recipe. I know that is a paltry sum relative to my own idea of its worth, but it was something kind of tangible in terms of one person's appreciation. Granted, he could basically have as good a recipe as I could write up for free reading it here, but it's the thought that counts.
I was super pleased with the outcome. I wish I'd had more time where I was decompressed. Helping out in the back washing dishes with people was a ton of fun somehow, mostly the camaraderie was high and the stress was done.
The first layer of winning that came out of this really was having a vision and implementing it with precision.
The real winning that came out of this was the journey. It wasn't work, it wasn't 'the doing'; there were 28 hours spent cooking a single dish and its components. 34 hours invested counting other preparations, but 28 hours inward (18 of which were synchronous and basically alone). 'The doing' ends after the four or five hour mark. It's a journey when you are on a stretch of road, and you know intuitively n the right direction, but it is comepletely alien and seems to have no apparent bearing on where you're headed.
I like the adjective epic. Consequently I don't want to throw it around or abuse it. So with all due respect and knowing full well just how much I sound like I have my head up my own ass; this chili recipe is epic. The results are epic. The journey an epic.
There are things we toss around as, 'do this, it will change your life.' We might start accessibly with a dish at a restaurant, a movie, or an album or something consumerist like that. I don't mean consumerist in a negative slant, but these are passive experiences; they appeal to our self that doesn't like to put itself on the line but enjoys consuming what other people put on the line. You move on to the next level which are experiential things; climb a mountain, jump out of a plane, bike a century. These experiences put us in touch with a part of ourselves that is getting put on the line - the emotions in exertion, life and limb, and our idea of physical boundaries.
I can't fit this experience into the latter category as I would have assumed. There was too much of me in it. It was more than overcoming a fear or an obstacle. Beyond barriers, there was a ferocity to pursuing this road. Mostly, what I would say is, if you feel burdened; in your heart, if you are feeling knotted and crippled, but filled and ready to scream; come to this chili recipe and make your peace. I am sure the timing could be condensed by at least 8 hours, but for every minute, hour, that your pour into it, the deeper you go. At first you can let yourself get trapped /in it/. So wrapped up in your own head and bullshit and rationalizations and judgments and fears and egotisms and the ligatures you use to suspend your sense of self. For every minute, hour that you plod the road your head will begin to loosen and eventually it can crack open if you let it.
p.s. It's not the Droid Bionic, buuuut I did get an HTC Evo 3D recently, and the picture quality surpasses the Droid 1 from Motorola by far. You can look forward to newer food porn being ever so slightly prettier. YAY APPETITE PORN!
7:10PM in 
