Sunday, June 14, 2009

A Pot Of Texas Red

Here's the recipe.
Kitchen stained and faded ... typed on a real Smith Corona typewriter in the early '80's.

And here's the chili ...





I have had this recipe for real, Texas Red chili since the early '80's. I don't remember now if I found it in the newspaper or a magazine like Southern Living, but I do remember that it had won the Texas State Chili Cook Off the year before.


I fell in love with it the first time I made it. It was so different from the home-made chili I grew up with. That was very tasty, but so different as to almost be a separate dish, ... which it is I guess.





Duh.


In reality, there are beaucoup types of chili out there, but at the time I came across this recipe as a new college graduate, I had never entertained the idea that chili could wear so many different faces.

I was chili ignorant to be sure.


Looking back, I should have known there were other chili tribes , since I grew up eating both Mom's thin broth chili and the thick and spicy Key's Chili from Key's Chili Parlor in downtown Jacksonville.

The tasty chili Mom made with hamburger meat and kidney beans,was soupier ... no where near as thick as this Texas stuff with it's stew beef chunks and no beans.







No beans ... ahem ...



Well, that's where the Texans and I differ. I like a few in my chili, but never, ever kidney beans. I always use pintos, and not too many ... I want to hit a few once in awhile, but this is NOT a pot of beans.

It's chili.

Give this recipe a whirl and see if you agree.

3 comments:

Florida Beach Basics said...

lovely - thanks. marge

al Malekovic said...

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amarkonmywall said...

WHAT??? I've been missing this place all along? That's because I'm a blogging slacker but PF food is right up my alley. When I was in charge of the local book club last month the marching orders were PF- you should have heard the grumbling from folks who have lived here all their lives and don't know there own resources. Tomorrow? Brace yourself. I'm bringing pure Italian.

That first chili recipe is much more like a basic recipe I've been using for years, with the addition of sliced chicken apple sausage to just add a bit of balance to so much tomato (which I love). In Michigan I canned my own diced, sauced, pureed tomatoes and it was all the better. Looking forward to doing that again in a big garden in NC. And no beans. If I want beans, it's usually black beans and rice. Very nice little food blog you have over here!