Fundamental Chili

This is not something that I am drawn to particularly, however much I have been so in the past. I make it for the comfort and satisfaction of those around me and on request. Each element, I am drawn to singularly, though none of them as a whole.

Southwest chili is a culinary cliche - it describes a convention of preparation and flavor profile to which we are accustomed.

As of this week, I am in a new apartment which despite my efforts, has no gas. Meaning, I have no heat, no cooking ability other than that which I can supply electrically.

"I will make you chili," I tell a loved one. Immediately after stating this I wonder as to how - without a stove to cook on - an oven to braise in - that this can be accomplished. I turn to my sous vide cooking setup.

I considered this an exercise in improvisation. I had to determine the elements that made up a chili and execute it without the use of coventional cookery.

At this point I have not tasted the result of my experiment, it is still heating at 60C in its waterbath.

Because I consider the fundamental elements of chili to be tomato, cumin, ground dried chili peppers and slow cooked meat - I chose to focus on these three things individually.

I took a slice of beef chuck - roughly a pound - cut it into small cubes. I could not sear it and I simply seasoned it with salt and set it aside.

I took 1 onion, 3 cloves garlic, 2 small cans tomato paste and pureed them in a blender, all raw with copious spices, cumin, coriander, chili powder, black pepper, salt. It might be interesting to marinate these together overnight and then drop them in the waterbath.

I use the tomato paste because it is the puree of tomato with the water removed. As the beef cooks, the proteins coagulate and expel water which rehydrate the sauce with more flavor. Whenever I prepare a dish like this sous vide, whether chili, mole, curry or other, I use a dense paste a sauce base, relying on the meat to revive it with its own juices.

Will it turn out? I don't know. Maybe I am writing about longing, or unfulfilled wishes. In which case these questions will never be answered. Maybe "chili" is my own journey without an end. Like the tragic hero in a Kafka story I search for the perfect recipe to no avail.

New Tasting Dinner

Our early fall Goose island dinner had a favorable turnout. Based on this Tiny owners were able to market another similar event with the Lagunitas company. As we sat down to taste during the initial menu planning, we found them uncomplex and all very similar with no noteworthy flavors other than their characteristic intense hoppiness.

We put together a brief list of common bitter ingredients:

citrus peel
burnt
chocolate
coffee
greens
mustard seeds
nuts
pepper skins
broccoli rabe
tonic/quinine
watercress
grapefruit
endive/radicchio
dark celery
bitter melon
dandelion
chicory

Whether or not we liked the goose island beers, we found unique characteristics with each of them that allowed us to tailor each dish to the qualities of the beer. While there is nothing wrong with the lagunitas - a great after-work type of beer - the inspiration did not come as easily. We identified the single unifying quality that made these beers stand out as bitterness. From there we decided to plan our menu.

Conceptually the menu is based around the profile of bitter taste. Because its something we all work with constantly but know very little about, we took this as an opportunity to learn about bitter taste. In Herve This' Molecular Gastronomy, he states that the palate can distinguish between 5 or more bitter compounds - meaning we are able to taste 5 different types of bitterness. It plays such an important role, but is never fully appreciated.

As I start to do research on this concept, I realize how little I understand about what makes bitter food satisfying as well as unpleasant. Even more, I don't have answers to these questions regarding the other tastes.

We put together the following menu:

Scallop Ceviche, chicory, white chocolate
Pils

Halibut poached in orange butter, endive fondue, honey
pale ale dogtown

Choucroute Garni of Pheasant
IPA

palate cleanser poached quince, pumpkin spice sorbet

Leonora cheese, rye, red pepper
censored

Coffee, raisin, malt, brown sugar
maximus