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Rejoice! It is National Chili Day!

There are two things wrong with this illustration. Answers at the bottom of the post.

According to the Bean Institute Bulletin, February 28 is National Chili Day. Rejoice!

Betty Crocker is hosting a chili cookoff.

I have now posted two things Uncle B cannot stand: Betty Crocker and fake national holidays dreamed up by marketing types to sell products. w00t!

While we’re at it, here is a bunch of chili recipes on Pinterest. No idea how Uncle B feels about Pinterest, but I hate it. It’s like some horrible maze that you get trapped in and can’t get out of. Or steal pictures from.


Two things wrong with the illustration: that’s a megaphone, not a spotlight, you goofy artard. And a real Texan chili never includes beans. So I’ve been told. I don’t really understand how that works, though. Plus you can’t get much more Texan than my mother, and there were beans in her chili. And no chili powder. She hated chili powder because it reminded her of Mexicans. In her defense, a Mexican field hand murdered her grandpa.

Comments


Comment from Some Vegetable
Time: February 28, 2019, 9:50 pm

My born-n-bred Texan friend just visited us from Tokyo (don’t ask) and he made up some real Texas chili for us. It contains -“no goddamn beans”– and is surprisingly delicious. It’s even a very simple recipe.

3 pounds hamburger, browned and fat drained
2 or 3 large onions
1 quart water
9 TSP of Chili Powder
5 TSP cumin
1 TSP salt
1 TSP garlic powder
1- 2 TSP expresso or dark instant coffee
2.5 TSP black pepper
16 -18 ounces tomato juice (500 ML)
4 chicken bullion cubes (optional)
.
Cook one hour and then thicken with crushed saltine/soda crackers

It seemed way too simple to me when he was preparing it.

My personal recipe involves black beans, kidney beans, refrioles, cocoa powder, coffee and something I won’t tell anyone.

However, it was really good, and I may just defer to his version from now on.


Comment from DurnedYankee
Time: February 28, 2019, 9:50 pm

I refer to Pinterest as “PinCrack”.

Mrs Durned is hooked and I am frequently a victim of all the amazing things OTHER people can do with home projects.

“Look at this Mr D! We can do that with that bookcase! And these kitchen counters! And the old dresser drawers! “.

And she reads it on her Kindle, and hands it to me to look at, and I inadvertently touch something and lose whatever she had on the screen.


Comment from DurnedYankee
Time: February 28, 2019, 10:05 pm

Indeed NO beans.

And don’t even begin to get them started about acceptable bar-b-q, if you aren’t tending the smoker for 7 to 10 hours (or longer) you ain’t doing it right.


Comment from Mark Matis
Time: February 28, 2019, 11:37 pm

It is entertaining to listen to this, since plain “chili” has NO MEAT. You only get meat when you go with CHILI CON CARNE. It is actually a Mexican peasant dish. And they frequently did not have the Carne to go with the Chili…


Comment from Uncle Al
Time: March 1, 2019, 12:51 am

Uncle Al’s Super E-Z Chili:

1 large container of Publix grocery store deli hot chili
1 handful shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Many splashes Cholula original hot sauce
Microwave, stir, eat

You’ll have had better, but it’s pretty good.


Comment from Some Vegetable
Time: March 1, 2019, 12:53 am

Texas Chili ain’t Mexican Chili. It’s Texas Chili… and it ain’t got no goddamn beans in it.


Comment from Mark Matis
Time: March 1, 2019, 1:10 am

So cultural appropriation is fine with you, <bSome Vegetable? What’s next? You Texans gonna start calling New York Strip steak “beans and franks”???

Chili is a MEXICAN dish.


Comment from Some Vegetable
Time: March 1, 2019, 2:06 am

Chili is a MEXICAN dish.

Uhm, sorry, but you’re wrong about that Mark.

https://www.houstonpress.com/restaurants/history-of-texas-chili-without-beans-6426046


Comment from Subotai Bahadur
Time: March 1, 2019, 4:32 am

Speaking from the admittedly unusual point of view of a Chinese-German raised in Colorado, it sounds like y’all are doing a Chile Roja, Red Chili based on beef. My wife is German and most of northern Europe in ancestry with more than a touch of Highland Scots. She makes a kick ass Green Chile [Chile Verde] based on pork. For the starch, she uses hominy, making it Chile Verde con Posole. It is a recipe that all of our kids [and sons and daughters in law] have latched on to. Chiles, or Chilis, can come in many forms.

Subotai Bahadur


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: March 1, 2019, 8:32 am

Beans and franks is a French dish, you culture-appropriating heathens. They call it cassoulet.

(I almost swallowed my tongue first time Uncle B cracked open a can of beanie-weenies and sniffily called his lunch cassoulet).


Comment from Deborah HH
Time: March 1, 2019, 11:29 am

A very popular canned pinto bean in Texas is Ranch Style Beans from Fort Worth. Seasoned with lots of chili powder and cumin, it comes out of the can dark rusty red, with a ring of orange tinted fat that’s probably lard (I’ve never checked!). My favorite meal as a child was Ranch Style Beans with cut up wieners, served with thin slices of cheddar and saltines. I still like it 🙂


Comment from drew458
Time: March 3, 2019, 1:16 am

While Some Veg’s recipe looks pretty decent, there are also those who don’t think even tomato products belong in a bowl of Texas Red. Personally, I don’t care either way. Cook what makes you happy.

Any chili recipe is really only a variation of the pepper stew dishes that have been made in Europe for centuries. Lecso, goulash, pepperonata, etc. These are made with or without meat, can be hot or mild, and use what peppers are available. And if they have dried beans sitting around, in they’ll go.

My chili uses about 20 times more chiles than most recipes you’ll find. It’s pepper stew, and anything else added is just an accent.

Take a couple pounds of dried chili – ancho, guadjillo, etc – snip them into rings and seed them, and soak them in hot water for a couple hours. snip the rings into 4 or 5 bits. Brown up a couple pounds of cut up meat, whether it’s hamburger or chunked steak or bison or venison. Even turkey if you’re one of those people. Eww. Take a man sized handful of whole cumin seeds and toast them up a bit in a fry pan. Now grind them, 3 Tbs at a time. Add onions to the pot you did the meat in, add a couple cans of drained and rinsed pinto beans, salt, a pound or so of tomato products ( I like the Rotel stuff ) if you want, a cheap bottle of beer, and some hot pepper sauce. Put it all in a covered Dutch oven, and put that in your regular oven set at 250-275 for 2 hours. Check it, mix it again, taste it, adjust it, add more liquid if needed. Stew it another hour or so. When the pinto beans dissolve, it’s about ready. Add a couple cloves of garlic if you want, add some more hot spice or sauces if you want. Find your balance between chili, cumin, and heat, but keep the cumin flavor bold. I put in a shot or two of whisky at this point. If you absolutely have to, add a few tbs of quality chili powder, or a couple handfuls of ground dried anchos and smoked hot paprika. Some more diced onion. Stew it another half hour, then serve it however you want. What you have is pepper stew, with some meat and beans to add body, and some tomato to soften the spices and hold it together. But the chili flavor is intense. The stuff is dark red brown, rich, and will fill you up good with a bit of corn bread on the side.


Comment from Steve Skubinna
Time: March 4, 2019, 8:10 pm

Talking of cultural appropriation, apparently the National Dish of Texas (Chicken fried steak) is the German settlers’ take on Wienerschnitzel.

As for Texas National Dish, it depends on whom you ask and probably time of day. It’s also chile (no beans) and smoked brisket and Frito Pie. Or nachos.

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