Atlanta etc.: Marilyn Wolf's Food Blog and Restaurant Blog

Ben's Chili Bowl is nationally known. After a visit to its location at Reagan National Airport, I understand why. The classic at Ben's is the half-smoke. It's a form of chili dog that, as it turns out, is a cousin to the New Jersey Texas weiner. The dog is served with mustard, chopped onions, and the chili. Ben's chili is prepared with cumin, which gives it a tangy flavor that I love. The dog's casing gives a healthy snap when you bite into it. I didn't catch any of the smoke flavor but the dog had a great taste and texture. The surprise star of the meal was the basket of chili cheese fries. That chili really stands out when paired with melted cheese. The fries are both the ideal transport mechanism and a great flavor complement---their starch really matches up well with the chili and cheese. This dish also taught me a valuable lesson. The cheese ladled onto the fries is pretty standard stuff, but the dish wouldn't taste a bit better with organi...

On a whim, I tried a different way to cook chili that worked much better than I expected. I bought a pork roast (I can't remember the cut, but it was a cheap one) and roasted it first. I then broke up the meat and cooked the chili. In a word, it was great. The roasted pork flavor really came through. Roast pork is particularly tasty thanks to the gentle frying the meat receives from all of the fat distributed throughout the cut. The texture was also great. Rather than cut the meat, I pulled it apart, giving it more of pulled pork BBQ texture. I'll also try it some time with beef, but I suspect that pork is the meat for which this gives the strongest effect.