Well, this is what happens when you ask an artist for his award winning recipe for chili. Of course, having watched him assemble his beer recipes, this is really how his process works. Now sit back for a chili in verse.

In Praise of Peppers and Beef

O beef, how well you fill us, with your rich, Prime and Choice marbling of fat. My heart flutters with the sound of your searing to a deep mahogany hue. Porterhouse and friend Prime Rib Steak, join with the lean Filet Mignon in tiny cubes for the pot. Five pounds bathe in beef stock as the sweet notes of Old Ale clean the pan and condense to weld flavors of meat to grain. The white globe of onion is minced fine with small Cipolini as caustic tears well up soon to be tears of joy as the delectable aroma of browning onions with a handful of garlic cloves fills the kitchen. O peppers, global traveler, your appeal is universal. Fresh, long green and mild, like wavy spear points flying from the fields. Bright red flag of caution in a plastic wrapper, the Jalapeños are crisp and inviting but too hot? Caution flung to the wind, Jalapeños flung to the pot. Chili connoisseurs in tropical heat and arid southland dry their best – Ancho and Pasilla, to save and savor and have for later. A red blizzard in the chopper, smells earthy, spicy with hints of fruit evoking dreams of Mole. Who else likes their chilis? Across the sea, Korea, Silly! By the pound they use it in their Kimchi and a thousand other brilliant dishes. Kimchi is delicious, and the heat is not too vicious. Korean red pepper flakes meet western beef. By handfuls, the stuff goes in. Is it enough? Can’t have too much…better add a little more. But wait, there’s more! Now how hot does it taste? Let’s move on to Hungary. Hungry? By now, yes very. Sweet paprika, a pungent mound melts into the sea of spicy beef. Of course this sea needs salt, from one sea to another. And black pepper is its brother, but not today, it’s found another. The crock pot simmers for an hour, then another. Is it done yet? Is it done yet? If Einstein had made chili, time would not have been declared a constant, for it’s clear that it slowed down and nearly stopped as if devoured by this deep dark pot. Is it done? A taste will tell. Not quite. A dash of cumin and of coriander complete the picture. Another taste to make sure…and another… and some more for certainty. Ready for its closeup now.