Uncle Jack
Feb 6, 2008, 6:29 AM
Post #5 of 6
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Re: [Anonimo] Your favorite chili recipe?
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Chiles are an integral part of the cuisine of Mexico and most of the southern United States. Chiles of all kinds; large, small, red, green or yellow are tasty, nutritious, healthful and often very exciting. The Mexicans were eating chilies centuries before Columbus ever even thought of sailing to India.
CHILI is something else. CHILI is a Texas invention. Best research indicates that CHILI first came on the scene in San Antonio around the 1840s. CHILI contains meat, (usually beef) red chilies, onions, garlic, oregano, cumin?, salt, pepper, and sometimes epazote for the more enlightened. These are the ingredients that were available in and around San Antonio at that time. Remember, most Anglos/Europeans, other than the Italians, still considered tomatoes to be poisonous in the 1800s.
Real Texas CHILI does not contain:
Tomatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers, celery, parsley, carrots, Worcestershire sauce, A-1 sauce, beer, Jack Daniels, rattlesnake meat, Tequila, tofu, chardonnay, sugar, molasses, or any of the other crap commonly found in cutsie-poo “CHILI” recipes from Sunset or Gourmet magazines.
Now, some of you may like tomatoes and bell peppers and rattlesnake meat, and that’s just fine. Yo mamas may have been feeding you some concoctions made with hamburger, tomato sauce, and canned kidney beans since you were a kid and I’m sure that it is tasty; but it ain’t CHILI
Beans, usually pinto beans, are almost always served with CHILI, but as a side dish, not in the CHILI. When you add beans or any of the other ingredients mentioned above, you no longer have CHILI; you are cooking vegetable/beef stew. Do yourself a big favor. Don’t ever tell a real Texan that you put tomatoes in the CHILI
Now, Chile Verde is a whole different ball game.
San Antonio Style Texas Chili
3 lbs beef, cut into 1” cubes
Or:
2 lbs beef, cut into 1 " cubes
1-lb pork cut into 1 " cubes
(Traditionally tougher and cheaper cuts of meat are used. I like beef brisket and/or pork shoulder. It‘s quit common to use deer meat also. I’m pretty sure that back in the 1840s, because of necessity of both economics and availability, a lot of goat, sheep, and rabbit was used.)
4 Tbls flour for dredging meat
3 Tbls oil or lard
2 or 3 medium onions, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 qt. Stock (I prefer chicken stock, but that’s a personal choice)
2 or 3 Ancho chilies, washed, stems and seeds removed
4 or 5 dried red New Mexican chilies, washed, stems and seeds removed
1 or 2 Serrano chile, stem and seeds removed, chopped fine (optional)
1 Tbls Cumin seeds, freshly ground
2 Tbls Mexican oregano
1 tea Epazote (if available and entirely optional)
Salt & pepper
Lightly flour the beef and pork cubes. Brown the meat in the oil over medium heat, stirring often. Add the onions and garlic and sauté until translucent but not brown. Add stock and simmer covered for 1 hour.
Soak the dried chilies in hot water for 30 minutes. Purée them in a blender with a little of the soaking water and then strain to remove skins and any remaining seeds. Add this sauce to the meat along with the remaining spices and simmer for 2 hours or more until tender.
Serve with cooked beans on the side and corn bread or fresh tortillas.
Garnish with chopped tomatoes, chopped onions, and cilantro.
A ice cold Bohemia or two certainly doesn't hurt.
(This post was edited by Uncle Jack on Feb 7, 2008, 1:19 AM)
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