Southwest White Chili, and other notes

[chanaleh]

lyriendel asked me to supply this recipe, because towk, who [it turns out] normally hates chili, approved heartily of this on Sunday night. Admittedly, it's not very chili-ish when it's done, despite consisting entirely of meat, beans, and spices. But it was good -- and the most complicated part of it was looking in 3 different supermarkets for the hechshered

Comments

[tamidon]

I'll see your Jonathon Coulter and raise you Codawann

[lyriendel]

Wow! What an awesome recipe--I can keep all the ingredients on hand in my cabinet/freezer, it takes only 30 minutes to cook, *and* Michael likes it! :)
Thanks!
We may try to make this in quantity in Hawaii one night. :)

[lyriendel]

Wait, how can green chiles *not* be kosher?
Are you guys keeping super-strict kosher year-round now? That could be a problem for providing food for you two for our reception.

[chanaleh]

Question the first: The chiles themselves are a plant product and, as such, inherently kosher, so if I were chopping my own there would be no problem, but when you get into industrial food processing, things get a lot more complicated. Plus, chiles fall into the category of "davar charif," a "sharp-tasting" food (along with radishes, onions, garlic, vinegar, etc.), which transmits trayf-ness more readily than normal foods. So the equipment on which such items are processed has to be more carefully supervised/regulated for the food to be considered kosher.

Question the second: No, neither of us is keeping any more strictly kosher than we ever have. However, I've kept a kosher *kitchen* for years, which J never has before; and looking for hechshers is more about preserving the sanctity of my kitchen equipment than of our stomachs. :-) As long as there is something non-pork-or-shellfish-based available, we'll both be fine at the reception (and in Hawaii, etc. etc.).

Does that help? :-)

[lyriendel]

Ah, okay. That shouldn't be a problem then. :)

[hauntmeister]

Oh, that's a hilarious video! Thanks!

[muchabstracted]

Oooh, excellent! *bookmarks page*