It’s nearly 100 degrees (F) and 85% humidity
outside here (as it is for many of you) and I’m hungry for comfort food. Not
just any soup or casserole or pasta, but chili. And not just any chili, but my
mother’s chili. I have the recipe and even if I follow it exactly, it still
doesn’t taste quite like when she made it. But that got me to thinking
about the origins of chili.
To explore a bit, let’s dig into
the history of the state dish of Texas, chili. The one thing known for certain
is that chili did NOT originate in Mexico. The Diccionario
de Mejicanismos, published in 1959, defines chili con
carne as (roughly translated): “detestable food passing itself off as Mexican,
sold in the U.S. from Texas to New York.”
Historians believe chili came from the
Canary Islands to what is now San Antonio in the 18th century. Dallas
millionaire and chili lover, Everrette DeGolyer’s research stated that the
first chili mix was a pemmican-type brick on dried beef, fat, pepper, salt, and
chile peppers pounded together and shaped into bricks for the cowboys and gold
prospectors around 1850. A brick could be dropped into a pot with water and
boiled into, well, chili.
In Texas prisons the “bread and water“ was a stew made of a tough cut of beef cut into fine pieces and boiled with chiles and spices.
The food became a kind of status symbol of the Texas prisons and the inmates
used to rate jails on the quality of their chili.
Texas chili went national in 1893, when Texas set
up a San Antonio Chili Stand at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
You can still get
the original spice blend created in 1890 from Pendery’s World of Chilis and
Spices in Fort Worth. (www.Penderys.com)
Any chili afficionado will tell you it all starts
with the meat, or in the case of Texas chili, beef. Ranching is big business in
Texas, after all. To compete in the Terlingua Chili Festival, the most famous
chili competition in the world, you must use beef, cut up in some fashion.
Strips, chunks, cubes, but some version of chopped up beef. I use ground
(gasp!).
Next you brown and drain the meat; add… Well, here.
I’ll let William Clark Green tell you how to make it.
The Chili Song – performed by William Clark Green
See you next month!
Tracy
Thanks for the info and the link. I LOVE Chili and make a mean potfull, but would love to get the original seasoning.
ReplyDeleteWe’ve tried several of the chili powder mixes. Pendery’s Original is one of our favs.
DeleteOh, chili. There are as many ways to make it, but no matter wha, it's still some of the best stuff in the world. LOL Doris
ReplyDeleteI've never had a bowl of chili I didn't gobble up. Thanks for the reminder of how good it is.
ReplyDeleteMade you hungry, didn’t I?!
DeleteTracy, do you have William Chili mix there where you live? That is what my mom always used when I was growing up--it's just all the spices in a packet that you use and it is wonderful stuff. I wouldn't know what to do without that! When I make chili, I use ground meat too. That's what I grew up with. But my mom never put beans in chili, and that's how my hubby likes it. So that's how I make it. LOL I make it even hotter with some picante sauce, but that Williams Chili seasoning is a great starter--just add it after you brown your meat and then whatever else you want to put in along with the requisite tomato sauce and water that makes the liquid (I always end up adding more water because I put so much other stuff in there). LOL I loved reading the history of chili! I always thought it came from Mexico, too!
ReplyDeleteFingers got ahead of my brain--WILLIAMS CHILI MIX. Not William.
DeleteI’ll have to search out that chili mix, Cheryl.
DeleteI love it when I learn something new.....didn't know chili originated from Mexico. That said, I always make a big crock pot of chili when my boys come home. They love it and I make lots so they can take a care package home with them. They don't want the kidney beans in it, but I do add one can and if they want to pick out the healthy stuff, that's their choice. My mom never made chili and neither did I until many years later. Love the stuff. Thanks for an interesting blog, Tracey.
ReplyDeleteMy DH and I love beans In our chili. I guess we didn’t stay in Texas long enough.
DeleteTracy,
ReplyDeleteChili is one of those dishes that no matter how carefully you follow a recipe, each time you make it, it seems like the chili has its own unique flavor. (or maybe that's just my chili lololol). My first recollection of eating chili was a school lunch and it was called a Haystack: Chili over Fritos with lettuce, tomato, and grated cheese on top (sour cream if you want). This is a staple at concession stands during football and basketball games down here in southeastern Colorado. The traditional junior class supper-fundraiser at the local school is a stew and chili supper at the Homecoming football game.
Chili is one of my top favorite foods. I did not know that it didn't originate in Mexico, but in Texas. I thought it so interesting about the chili "bricks". That sounds like it could have started in the 21st century, so I'm even more amazed that it happened so long ago.
ReplyDeleteChili is made differently in just about every state and I like quite a few of them. Now, of course, there is even a vegetarian and vegan twist to chili. Everybody loves it. I make mine with kidney beans and just the right amount of spice. Great article, Tracy!
So Portugal? Who knew? It makes sense as the Portuguese took chillies from South America to Asia. I never gave a thought to where it came from because I was too busy enjoying it. Love chilli!
ReplyDelete