The Monster Mash
Irit and I were watching a Nature series recently on Color, narrated by David Attenborough. Beautifully photographed. Stuff we didn’t know, such as the capacity of some animals to see and utilize UV. Some stuff that we of course knew, such as the tendency of animals to use vibrant colors to message “warning, danger., hands off, proceed at your peril.” I would put our red chili sauce, made from an intense mash, in that category.
Our soul food kitchen house chili sauce takes 4 months to prepare and comes straight from Sean Brock. I mean, who else has the obsessiveness to create a hot sauce that takes so long to make? For those interested: 2.5 kilos of roughly chopped red chilis mixed with 75 grams of salt and then pulsed in the food processor; let sit two months, then add 4 liters of white vinegar and let sit another two months before draining, blending, and sieving. It’s a monster mash with an equally monstrously long shelf life in the refrigerator, one of the many things that appeals to me.
The main appeal, aside from the fact that it is really good, is that it fits with our ethos of that really good shit can take a long time and considerable patience to prepare. I’m not sure I could have prepared this dish as a younger chef, woulda been too antsy. Even now, I like to look up on the top shelf of our soul food kitchen and gaze on the red mash doing its thing, counting down the days just a bit.
Which leads me something I hadn’t expected to discuss: The edginess of Slow Food. On the one hand, I have largely embraced the pace at which we prep our foods. It makes total sense to me and fits the rhythms of a life I think is preferable: One devoted to longish conversations around the dinner table with good friends and families, good food, and even better alcohol. On the other hand, I have a certain skepticism regarding ideologies, any and all, and dislike the weight that such ideologies bring. I worry that my emphasis on Slow Food can easily segue into a certain type of sanctimoniousness — a sin far more egregious than any number of the so-called Deadly Ones.
So to sum up here: I prefer the process and end result of such things as making our red chili sauce. But I’d rather be an apostate than a zealot any day. So if I get too preachy on this subject, just shoot me.
