Friday, January 2, 2009

There will be Beans !

Ready--aim--FIRE....
Tuesday I decided to make a huge pot of chili--so when I shopped for all the stuff I remembered to get chili powder
(the kind with all the 'chili aspect' in it---cumin-garlic-chili-basil or whatever ALL the ingredients of 'chili' are)
So, at Meinhardts I pick up the envelope of 'chili' powder --
come home...
braise the meat...
cook the onions...
green peppers --
tomatoes...
tomato sauce...
tomato paste (to glue any broken tomatos back together)
black beans--
kidney beans...
and the chili flavoring sauce....
stir...
taste...

........no chili flavor??.....
But HOT oh my god--the chili PREP powder was all CAYENNE

--yes Meinhardts
was literal
(no one else I know is)
instead of calling it cayenne powder
they labeled it chili...most people take that to mean quick n' dirty combo fixins..

Well...2 pounds o' meat is ruined...

all told 5 pounds of edible item should be flushed.....

one bite of this and you'd be in the emergency award...

yes...this was MACE in the non spray version, with beans...
What to do??? go buy real chili fixin powder 2 more cans of each bean--2 more pounds of meat??
damn, no, the idea is use what I've got......remember-the problem is icy sidewalks and getting to any store that has that stuff is a big factor.
well I have curry cubes (Glico) mild...so I'll morph this into CURRY !
I have banana's -
-overly sweet Goldilocks brand shortbread...shaved back to powder...
....milk....
but no yogurt --
no nuthin to kill the fire-
no coconut--no chutney--
--alright all of the above get chopped and sifted in--

oooh the bananas really help
...

milk..too...
so now it has a wonderful flavor--really --not kidding

...cept this is the reaction I would get...
"mmm Thonrndike--this is soo flavourful and sweet --and rich--oooh it is heavenly...

wait....

20 seconds in--

it's a bit hot isn't it??--

ohh it's so good but it's so hot...
oh my god...my head is pounding ...

my gut !"
wheee oooo wheee ooo....(sound of ambulance)
So, I put it away...thinking after a few days in the fridge I'll go buy food to dilute it...like a stew maybe...
so today I bought more meat--more onions -celery-plum tomatoes--potatoes-carrots...and I precooked those things in 3 batches and dumped them into the pot after they were cooked.....stirred it up...simmered it...
and it is just the right hotness...and still flavorful...red wine splashed in helped...so did cranberry sauce (small amount) so the once upon a time chili--will be Curry Stew !

and oh yeah---I used my coffee grinder to powder up some cumin seeds...that will be nice next time I grind some dark roast

and ..DAMN !
this stuff is good...
unfortunately it looks a bit like......

POOT!

chef Thorndike Singh Ouchmypoorhiney

3 comments:

Eugene Costa said...

Monsieur, you have made--how do you call it?--the classic receipt here--a novel discovery in nouvelle cuisinart, is is not so?

It reminds much of Lamb on Roast Pig--you know the story, Charles Lamb, is it not?

I will not inflict to you the history of my vanilla gnocci, also a classique, but leaving no avenue to the progress from the stage first.

I was a very poor graduate student leaving on the small stipend in the basement apartment.

At the end of the month all that I had was some of the ingredients for the tomato sauce, some of the potato, some of the flour, and some of the olivee oil.

But the Latin race is ingenious, is it not?

Suddenly the concept gnocci, which I had learned at my mother's knee, came to my brain in the flash.

"I will make the gnocci," I said to the self, "and eat well for the rest of the week, until my little stipend is paid."

So I make the gnocci.

And as I reach up for the can of tomato paste and the can of tomato puree and the can of whole plum tomatoes, high on the top cabinet, I with accidence knock off the loosely capped bottle of vanilla which fell dripping into the gnooci mix.

Voila--Vanilla Gnocci!

What is a poor graduate student to do but to make the sauce and eat the vanilla gnocci for the week until the little stipend arrive?

So one must keep careful account of resources, and know one has vanilla when the cupboard seems bare, is it not so?

Bon appetit, mon ami--you have been the lucky indeed, and have invented the Nouvelle Mulligatawny Roast Pig that may be a repitition again.

And here you have written the receipt that anyone can follow to the iota.

On the contrary I was not the lucky and the vanilla gnocci does not merit the repeat, I do not think.

Though perhaps Ben And Gerry's are looking for a new savor?

Bon appetit!

Thorndike Pickledish said...

OH man !! That must've been a great dish...I mean, vanilla....mmm...that should make everything taste better--but then...too much is the point here...
and Gnocci --the first time I ordered that years ago, I didn't know how to pronounce it...and the waitress wasn't sure...so she pronounced N'YOLK EE--much like nooky... and soon I had everyone go in and ask her to pronounce it...and order it loudly with HER pronunciation...she giggled alot the the first day or so...and soon went on search of the right way to say it....her boss was getting a kick out of it..so it seemed he gave her some "wrong advices" just to have a laff !
I what ever happened to our little
'Nooky" waitress.. (Umbertino's in BC a fast food Italian place--now reverted back to it's premier restaurant Umberto's) Shame on us for embarrassing her like that --but it was fun...

I love your story on your vanilla accident--might it make an entry over on your Burbank's Tomato??

thanks for these fun comments...they always TOP the blog..and that makes me laugh loud n' proud out in the crowd !

Eugene Costa said...

Top ordering nooky in a B.C. Eats joint--no way--you are the champ.

(I may steal that--vanilla nooky, hmmm).