All this in just 45 minutes
on 01/03/2016 at 11:27 PM
Pendletons?
Please don’t take this the wrong way. I heartily endorse the right of every individual to eat whatever he or she desires. And this is certainly not intended as criticism. But I would be remiss in my duty as a Texan if I did not point out that your dish, delicious though it may be in its own right, is not chili. For as all good Texans know, real chili does not contain beans.
Hey Tex, don’t take it the wrong way, but that article is full of it.
I use 20 times as much chili as the typical recipe. So if I put a few beans in there, BFD. I dare the most sensitive cowpoke to be able to taste one. Plus, I put in a good dose of epazote, which takes the farts out. Mostly.
As to “inventing” chili, as claimed at the article you linked to, I think Texas is, ahem, being Texas. Chili is a dish descended from Hungarian goulash, a beef and pepper stew, adapted/blended with native Mexican ingredients. The Hungarians used what they had, and the local paprika (red pepper) can pack a wallop. Goulash has been around almost longer than history, and there has always been a variation called bab gulyas which uses beans. Like so many other dishes, chili con carne is a clearinghouse dish; use up whatever you’ve got leftover before it goes worse. Add some more hot sauce and boil it a while longer, and nobody will notice.
I read your link, and frankly, both Lady Bird’s and Tolbert’s recipes are ... anemic. There’s more zoom and more depth in a bowl of English Spicy Beef Stew (with beans and peppers). Good heavens: 3 pounds of meat and ONE spoonful of cumin? Please. When did “authentic Texan beef and pepper stew” become boiled beef with dash of Tabasco and a hint of spice?
