Cooking Chili

Chili

Last weekend, Brian and I made chili, a hearty go-to meal for many on a cold day. Brian found a recipe on Genius Kitchen, which called for ground beef, beans, onions, peppers, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and seasonings. Lucky for me, I had some beans leftover from last year as well as all the spices; I only had to spend $15 to get the rest of the ingredients.

Spices

The recipe itself was quite straightforward, involving only three key steps: (1) preparing the ingredients, (2) cooking the ground beef with the onions and peppers, and (3) letting the beef and the rest of the ingredients simmer together.

Beans, beans, the musical fruit

Jalapeño pepper

In cooking a recipe as simple as chili, you'd think that there was nothing to it. But we learned one valuable lesson that afternoon:

"Use gloves when chopping peppers."

While we were waiting for the chili to simmer, I felt a burning sensation on my hands. I thought I had cut myself, but I didn't see any visible wounds, save the pain that I was feeling between my fingers or under my fingernails. I messaged Brian right away, asking if he too felt the same burning feeling. And hilariously, he did!

Even at the smallest doses, capsaicin in peppers can illicit a painful, burning sensation not just in your mouth and on your eyes but also on your skin. And it can also cling on to skin for dear life. I can tell you from my nail-biting habit that it stayed on my hands for days. 😜

Working it

Voila!

Burning hands aside, our chili turned out great. Brian added some additional peppers to his chili, which gave it the heat he wanted. Mine was a little on the milder and runny side, but it still tasted good, especially with the sour cream and cheese topping.

We made a big batch, so we had enough chili for four lunches. 👍