My day today involved quite an adventure, which I've decided to share with you in this post. Let me give you a little background first. I like to think of myself as an experimental cook. Meaning I find recipes that seem interesting and then set out to make them, regardless of whether the recommended skill level matches mine or not. Consequently, I've had a quite a range of results. Most of them have been at least decent; some have even turned out very well, and some . . . well, some of my experiments have struggled mightily. Tonight was an experimental night, and it produced some very interesting results.
It all started a few weeks ago, when I was looking at recipes online. I've discovered this is something I like to do; don't ask me why, but looking at recipes that I think are awesome but that I know I'll probably never make has become a favorite pastime of mine. Anyways, in my meandering search through MSN's cooking web page, I discovered a recipe for Slow-Cooker Beef and Black Bean Chili. Our apartment recently inherited a crockpot, graciously donated by Sam's mom, and I, being the budding chef that I like to think I am, was looking for recipes that would involve this wonderful tool. So far, I've had very little experience with crockpots, but I felt like this was a good time to change that, and the recipe seemed promising. I decided to go for it.
Even though I collected the ingredients the next time I went to the grocery store, I didn't have a chance to actually make the stuff until today. I'm big on following recipes (mostly because the times when I've ventured away from the beaten path have been the times when the finished product was sub par), so I systematically went through and added each ingredient: 1 can of tomato sauce, 1 pound of beef, 1 cup of beans, 1 medium onion, 2 garlic cloves, 3 tablespoons of chili powder, 2 cups of water, 2 teaspoons of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Not until after I'd added all the ingredients, turned on the crockpot, and started working on my homework did I realize that something seemed fishy about that. Did the recipe really say three tablespoons of chili powder? Yes, yes it did. In my mind, after the fact, that seemed like a lot of spiciness. But that's what the recipe said, so that's what it must be.
Well, I think something must be wrong with that recipe, because eating any food with that amount of chili powder in it is a new form of torture. Don't get me wrong; the flavor of the chili was very good. But that flavor only lasted for about two seconds before it was devoured by FIRE. And that fire could not be quenched, no matter how many spoonfuls of sour cream or cupfuls of water were used in the vain attempt to put it out. Needless to say, not much of the chili was actually eaten, and if anyone with a hankering for VERY HOT food feels so inclined, there's plenty left if you'd like to come over.
So what is the point of this whole story? The point is that tonight I realized how very grateful I am for food that DOESN'T clear out your sinuses and sear away your tastebuds. And I relearned that experimental cooking is still fun, no matter what the outcome. My final lesson: handle chili powder with extreme care, for it's a deadly weapon.
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