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By Root 706 0

ingredients (except the beef) and simmer for 10 minutes. With a stick blender, purée the mixture, then add the beef to the pot. Cook over low heat (below a simmer) for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and season with salt and pepper if necessary.

This chili is really good as is, but if you cool it and store it for a day or two it’s fantastic when reheated.

Yield: about 2 quarts

Note: As far as the chile powder is concerned, there are many types available on the market. I prefer ones that are a specific type of chile with nothing else added. Paul Prudhomme has a whole line of them. You can use a mild one or a hot one depending on what you like.

To roast a pepper: Cut in half from top to bottom. You’ll leave behind the core, seeds, and stem. Now you can go several routes:

1. Lay them skin side up on a pan and broil until the skin is totally blackened.

2. Lay them skin side down on a hot grill until the skin is totally blackened.

3. Using tongs, set or hold them over the open flame of your range until the skin is completely blackened (the pepper is left whole while blackening for this option).

Once blackened (they’ll look burnt), put them in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap to steam. Once cool enough to handle, peel away the black skin.

Software:

2 pounds chuck steak, cut into

½-inch cubes

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon chile powder (see Note)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1½ cups finely diced onion

4 cloves garlic

2 ancho chiles, split, seeds

removed, and roughly chopped

2 California chiles, split, seeds

removed, and roughly chopped

2 roasted red bell peppers (see

Note)

1 chipotle chile in adobo (one chile,

not one can)

4 ounces canned diced tomatoes

¾ cup beef stock

¾ cup delicious beer (I use

Shiner Bock)

Hardware:

Sauté pan

Medium-sized heavy-bottom pot

Stick blender

Working under Pressure

The first pressure cooker, called the “ingester,” was designed in 1679 by French physicist Denis Papin. It consisted of a glass container to hold the food and liquid that was sealed before being placed inside a metal container. Water was then used to fill the gap between the glass container and the metal vessel, and a metal top was screwed on. The entire device was then heated on a fire. To ensure that the cooker didn’t explode, Papin included a safety valve to let out excess steam once the desired pressure had been reached. By varying the weight used to keep the safety valve in place, the pressure could easily be regulated. Measuring temperature, on the other hand, was not so easy. Daniel Fahrenheit and Anders Celsius invented their temperature scales after Papin had died. So Papin created his own way to check temperature. He had a depression in the top of the pressure cooker, into which he would place a drop of water. He then used a 3-foot pendulum, which swings in a period of about 1 second, to time how long it took for the drop to evaporate. Unfortunately, the ingester blew up a year later.

TARGET FOOD FOR PRESSURE

Lamb shanks

Beef oxtails

Veal shanks

Pork spare ribs

Pork shoulder (chunks)

Hard vegetables, such as carrots, rutabagas, and beets

Collard greens

Mustard greens (mature)

Swiss chard

Beef brisket

Mutton

Brown rice

Barley

In 1939, the first commercial pressure cooker (made by the National Pressure Cooker Company, known since 1953 as National Presto Industries) debuted in the United States at the New York World’s Fair. The pressure cooker was put on the back burner during World War II, when many manufacturers had to turn their attention toward war efforts. But after the war ended, pressure cookers were a hot item.

Today’s pressure cookers are both safe and efficient. The heat inside a pressure cooker creates steam, which expands, creating 15 pounds per square inch of pressure, which in turn raises the boiling point of liquid to 250° F. In this extreme heat, foods cook two-thirds faster than they would in boiling water.

All pressure cookers utilize a heavy pot or pan, a lid that locks,