Studio Living During A Pandemic: Hot Stuff for a Hot Day: Sous Vide Chili

(special equipment used: Immersion circulator, food processor)

I have to confess, when first confronted with the sous vide method in my home I was skeptical that it was worth the time. Sometimes it takes me a while to get used to an idea, to the consternation of select people.

The building where I live was built in 1929 and used to be a hotel. Its kitchen is built into the entryway. Amazingly for a Manhattan apartment, it fits all my stuff, which is why I'm here (well that and my previous building got bought and they decided not to renew leases). The thing is, the electric stove is quite small. In fact it's so small that my Dutch oven does not fit comfortably on a burner. I can't get the center of the pot on the center of the burner.

So we adjust. I haven't made chili in a while, and our friends at Will It Sous Vide? have a recipe where I stole the method and a few ingredients. I adjusted for what was in my cupboard and fridge, and opened a bottle of beer. So what we have is:

• I pound of beef chuck stew meat
• 2 poblano peppers
• 2 large onions, quartered  (I used vidallia and they were slightly smaller than your average pink grapefruit)
• 2 jalapeño peppers
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon of habanero powder (I still don't remember buying the jar of Dave's Insanity, and I can't find it on the company website. If you gave this to me, thank you)
• 2 dried chiles--the kind you buy in the spice aisle at the grocery store. (Remember, this is what I had in the house)
• 1/2 teaspoon of Liquid Smoke
• 4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, plus 2  teaspoons of the sauce
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon chili oil.
• 1/4 cup (2 ounces) of beer (optional). I used Abita Amber.
• 2 cans diced tomatoes with green chiles
• 2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• the juice of two limes
• grated cheddar cheese for topping
• sour cream for topping
• rice, tortillas, pasta, whatever you like with chili

Lifehacker used a kitchen torch to char the vegetables and the meat. I don't own one of those, so I improvised. I put two of the onions, one poblano, one and one jalapeno in the oven for a broil, and then put the other half of the vegetables and the garlic in a dry non-stick pan. Half an hour later, I had some nice char. I didn't brown the meat because I didn't want to add any more oil to the mix, since I had the chili oil already and I generally don't add fat to sous vide dishes.

The broiler gave me more char on the peppers than the pan, but I got better browning on the quartered onions and garlic from the bad. Total time on the heat was about 30 minutes.

Next up, a trip to the food processor. I blended everything in two batches (my food processor is small, it's an accessory to my stick blender). I ran the blades until everything was a uniform color.

I used two vacuum bags. I stared with adding a serving spoon full of the blended vegetation, then the meat, which I cut into bite-sized pieces. About halfway through adding the meat, I added another spoonful, finished adding the meat, added one more spoonful, then sealed the bags.

The bags went into a water bath at 149 degrees F for eight hours Because I often go nocturnal on the weekends, this meant it was finished at 1:30 in the morning. I considered a late supper, but opted for finishing touches on the following day.

That was pretty easy. I opened one of the bags into a medium saucepan, added one can of diced tomatoes and green chiles, a can of rinsed black beans, and the juice of a lime. I let that simmer together, uncovered for a bit while I grated some cheese and made some rice.

The first serving wasn't that great. A bit soupy, probably because I was impatient. Then I figuratively gave myself a Gibbs slap. I still had leftover pepper/spice mixture. I mixed that in for the next serving and it was much better.

The meat wasn't quite where I wanted it, though. There was a little more chewiness to it than I wanted. I was looking more for a braise where it would fall apart if you put a fork or your teeth in it.

Definitely worth the experiment. I have the other half of of the batch in the freezer for the next time, and I think we'll be seeing this again.