Tom's Root Beer Chili

Tom's Root Beer Chili Recipe
Those that know me know I love root beer! I also love doing taste tests. My favorite Root Beer ins Henry Weinhard's or Stewart's but A&W is my go-to for recipes. I have even been known to give a  baptism / holy ghost talk using root beer as an object lesson if you are interested. So, I have always wanted to try root beer in chili. I switched to pulled pork because I think it goes better than beef with the little sweetness the root beer brings. Don’t let the root beer scare you. Most would never guess it is even an ingredient, yet I think it really adds something unique and tasty. In fact, it's proven to be a favorite at yearly church chili cook-offs. Finally, I am a meat chili guy, the beans are only an accompaniment. I like manly meaty chili with just 2 cans of beans but my wife likes 4 cans so you can certainly add more beans if you are less "manly"!
30 minutes total prep time, 6-8 hours cooking time.
1 lg. crock pot
1 large frying pan

Ingredients:
5-6 lb. pork shoulder
1lb.bacon
28 ounce can diced tomatoes
(3)15.5 ounce cans of chili beans
12 ounce can tomato paste
2 onions
1 bell pepper (green or red)
2 liter bottle root beer
3 T olive oil
3 T Worcestershire sauce
6 cloves garlic
2 T dry BBQ rub or seasoning.
5 t ground cumin
4 t ground coriander
6 t chili powder
½ t cayenne or red pepper flakes
¼ t ground clove
¼ t ground cinnamon
salt and pepper to taste

1. Pat dry pork shoulder and rub with 2 T dry BBQ seasoning.
2. Add one T olive oil to hot pan and sear pork shoulder on all sides.
3. Lay seared pork shoulder in crock pot turned to “high” with fat side up .
4. Chop 1 lb. bacon into 1 inch pieces and cook in the same hot fry pan. Stop before it becomes crisp. (It will cook longer with the meat.) Add the bacon to the crock pot and discard bacon fat without cleaning pan leaving a little fat in the pan for next step.
5. Dice one onion and add to fry pan along with 3 cloves of minced garlic. Add onion and garlic to crock pot before garlic turns color.
6. Pour 1 liter (half of the bottle) of root beer into the hot pan and heat until it is about to boil. Then, pour warmed root beer into crock pot and cover.
6. Cook pork shoulder on high for at least 6 hours.
7. After 6 hours, the meat will be falling off the bone. Carefully remove all meat and any pieces of fat and place on a cutting board.
8. Pour remaining juices, onions and bacon from crock pot into a mixing bowl.
9. Remove bone from pork shoulder and with two forks, carefully separate, remove and discard all fat like you would with any pulled pork recipe.
10. Once fat is removed, dice pork into 1 inch pieces.
11. Return meat to the empty crock pot.
12. By this time, the melted fat and grease from the pork juices will have risen to the top of your mixing bowl. With a ladle, remove & discard as much of that liquefied fat sitting on top of the bowl of juices as possible. Pour all the meat juices with the onions and bacon that remain back into the crock pot over the chopped meat.
13. Add 1 T olive oil to frying pan and sauté the second chopped onion and chopped bell pepper.
8. Add 4 cloves minced garlic and continue to sauté until vegetables start showing hints of color then spoon into crock pot.
9. Add all remaining ingredients (*except for the remaining root beer*) to the fry pan.
28 ounce can diced tomatoes
(3)15.5 ounce cans of chili beans
12 ounce can tomato paste
3 T Worcester sauce
5 t ground cumin
4 t ground coriander
6 t chili powder
½ t cayenne or red pepper flakes
¼ t ground clove
¼ t ground cinnamon
salt and pepper to taste
10. Cook until warmed through and then add to crock pot and stir all ingredients together.
11. While fry pan is still warm, add remaining 1 liter of root beer and boil until it reduces to about 1- 2 cups. Reserve for later.
12. Continue to cook chili in crock pot long enough for flavors to combine and mellow. (30 min-2 hours)
13. Immediately before serving, stir in the remaining root beer reduction. I do this last minute so the root beer flavoring won’t “cook out”.
14. Enjoy!.