More solar cooker chili

Last night's dinner was chili cooked in the solar cooker using a bastardized version of the recipe for Hard Time's vegetarian chili.

I couldn't figure out why Hard Times would give away their recipes for free until sometime after I'd read the recipe for the fourth or fifth time and realized that it called for a 6-ounce bag of "Hard Times spice mix," which, presumably, is only available from Hard Times. However, I was not intimidated by the bullies at Hard Times, Inc. I whined about it to Cristy, who concocted a mixture of chili powder, oregano and cumin, to which I added a healthy helping of chili flakes and some minced garlic. I cut the whole recipe in half, so I used approximately 3 ounces of said mixture.

Got it in the oven around 10:45am. Kind of late, but I was busy.

Checked on it a little before 4pm. A few important notes here.

1. The pot was so hot that when the condensation from inside the oven bag dripped onto it, the water sizzled.

2. When I cracked the lid on the pot, the steam that came out was hot enough to cause permanent injury.

3. The combination of heat, condensation, metal and plastic makes for a sticky mess if you happen to drop the lid the wrong way into the chili, the design of these oval oven pots (or whatever they're called) being such that it is possible to drop the lid into the pot.

4. Once I opened the oven bag, the pot never really got hot again - the built-up heat within the oven bag is really the key to success.

The chili turned out pretty good. We took it over to the neighbor's house and ate it while watching the final installment of Hell's Kitchen, which was somewhat gratifying because I picked Rock for the winner during the first episode.