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.