Posted on 02/13/2014 4:00:26 PM PST by nickcarraway
Chili tastes are highly personal, often inflexible and loaded with preconceptions — the political party of culinary offerings.
For some people raised in Texas, the notion of beans is akin to cat food, dismissed with derision as filler. Some chili cooks believe flavor rises and falls on cumin levels; others say the story begins and ends with dried chiles. Some like a rich beefy stock, and there are those who extol the entanglement of bacon.
Poultry and venison have their place (beef purists blanch), and vegetarian chili is met largely with guffaws except by the people who smilingly bring it to potlucks, an act that seems to stem from their childhood issues often associated with snack cake deprivation.
Serving rituals vary.
Oyster crackers on the side? Some have never heard of it, but maybe. Rice? Often! My Texan mother-in-law always served chili over spaghetti, a bit of Cincinnati craziness that confused and unnerved me, but I am perfectly at peace with chili dumped over a bag of corn chips, known as Frito pie. (Some regions refer to this as a “walking taco,” but I would prefer you do not.)
Yet just as much of our nation craves bipartisanship on the major policy debate of the day, so, too, do many chili lovers wish to end the crazy decades of rivalries. They believe it is time for us to embrace every form of this warming bowl of red soul food, be it venison-laced, processed cheese-topped, bean-adorned, beer laced, spicy or mild. My husband has even learned to live with beans. He just does not discuss it.
“I don’t disagree with anyone’s chili,” said Robb Walsh, a Texas food historian, the author of “The Tex-Mex Cookbook” and a restaurateur.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I like all kinds of chili except that water stuff I got from Wendy’s
It’s “Chile”, not “Chili” and it comes in either red or green.
I’ve been served chili over lettuce (very strange) and a politician I know gives an annual “Floating taco party” which this author describes as “walking tacos”. State Rep XXX’s “Floating Tacos” are delish!
Have none of you ever had the BEST....SKYLINE CHILI from CINCINNATI???? OMG!! The BEST!!
I make a mean chili. And I put beans in it. I don’t care what the Texans may say.
I have always liked chili but it is hard to get it just right.
Around a month ago, I made a large pot and it was one of the better batches I have ever made.
A couple of weeks later I made another thinking I was doing it the same way but it was very mediocre. It seems you have to get it just right.
The same thing has happened to me.
I’ve had it with beans and without. Without is better. De gustibus non est disputandum.
Cthulu?
I have an old checkout-counter recipe book that featured six former winners of an all-meat (no beans allowed) Chili cook-off. What struck me were four things: several recipes used both chicken and beef bouillon granules, several used both beef and pork, none used ground beef, and all used what seemed very high doses of chili powder. But all used the same basic ingredients with what seemed like minor variations, so I ended up wondering what made those recipes stand out.
Don’t like the cinnamon taste.
I’m a Texan, and I LIKE beans in my chili!
FWIW, The Terlingua International Chili Championship Cookoff, in Terlingua TX, spells it “Chili”.
http://www.chili.org/terlingua.html
I’ve had plenty of good chili, though I have never been able to get a good recipe to make for myself. Something about it never seems to come out right.
As for beans, I like it both ways but prefer navy beans to kidney beans
I can’t really figure out what made the difference but it might have been the fact that I used a different style onion. It sure doesn’t take much to change the flavor.
It also could be my taste buds as I am getting old enough that sometimes I just don’t taste things as well as I used to.
Chili comes from Texas (red) or New Mexico (green).
I also had a head start. A Texas buddy showed me how he made it so I had a pretty good idea what approach I was gonna take.
I am fine with the many varieties of chili, it is part of the wonderful texture of life. But, if it doesn’t contain beef, it’s some other concoction, that ought to have another name. Beef chili made from chunks of some cut of roast is generally better than any ground beef version, but I’ve had very good ground beef chili and did not complain.
I buy most of my beef by the cow and know both the farmer and the butcher. Those wrapped chunks of beef in the freezer speak to me: Chili, Chili
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