Jenn McKinlay: Y'all, National Chili Day was on Thursday, and I missed it! Darn it. Not gonna lie, I have been having a heck of time keeping track of the days lately. How is it the end of February?!
Ah, well, is there ever a bad day to have chili? No, there is not. To celebrate, belatedly, I'm sharing some chili trivia:
1700's: It is believed that immigrants from the Canary Islands introduced chili to the residents of San Antonio after settling in the region.
1828: The earliest written description of chili was by Houston based author J.C. Clopper.
1880's: Chili queens worked food stands that served chili, making it even more popular in San Antonio.
1893: The popularity of chili exploded when Texans set up a chili stand at the Chicago Exposition.
1952: The first world championship chili contest was held at the State Fair of Texas (naturally). The author of the definitive chili book WITH OR WITHOUT BEANS, Joe E. Cooper, was the chairman of the event.
1977: Chili is declared the official dish of Texas by the state legislature.
Oh, and I dug into the archives and found Hallie's Chili Recipe and Deb's Chili Recipe as well.
I suspect, our Lucy, with her Secret Bean Society membership (okay, I made that up but still her bean post is hilarious) is a vote for beans, but I'll wait to see her answer.
I have fond memories of the year we were snowmobiling in Yellowstone and a bar was having a locals’ chili contest. We got to sample 14 different chilis and vote for our favorite. It was fun to feel like part of the community.
ReplyDeleteBeans for me, not for my hub.
Mine is a house divided as well. I'm for Hub is against.
DeleteChili w/ beans for me and husband, but daughter is not a bean person, so have both.
ReplyDeleteThere's always one. LOL.
DeleteAnd don't you think ANY DAY is National Chili Day, (especially if the outside temperature is below 100° F.) 😆
ReplyDeleteYaaaasss. Preferably with corn bread :)
DeleteOf course! Trader Joe's sells cornbread chips that are FANTASTIC.
DeleteI don't like chili. My husband will eat it with beans and without on hotdogs. He always gets it when we go out for lunch when he feels like having chili.
ReplyDeleteOh, chili dogs are next level!
DeleteBeans, please~Emily Dame
ReplyDeleteYou're my people!
DeleteYummy, with beans, please. In fact, you can even leave out the meat! Grated cheese on top and a side of homemade cornbread? Delish. Hugh likes to have it over rice, but I don't need that.
ReplyDeleteYES!!!
DeleteMy mom always made it over rice. When the Hooligans were home, we always added beans - only way to make enough for the growing lads.
DeleteI love chili. My husband does not. So, whenever he leaves on his once-a-year camping trip with the guys, I make a big pot and have it for dinner and lunch every day until he returns. By then, I'm sick of it, but that's okay because I won't have it again until the following year.
ReplyDeletethat's a lot of chili Annette!!
DeleteWhat a perfect solution! I am
Deletealso happy making a big batch of something and eating it days in a row.
LOL - the beauty of chili is that it's so versatile. On a hotdog, on nachos, etc.
DeleteI like it with beans or without beans. It depends on how it is seasoned.
ReplyDeleteIrwin bought the condominium across the street from mine in the Spring of 1979. By mid-summer, we really didn't need his condo;^)
When we married, he rented his to a engineer from San Francisco and his lovely wife, Linda. She gave me my very first chili recipe. It's been years since I've looked at that card with her careful handwriting. It is the jumping off point for all my chili concoctions. It has beans.
What a sweet story, what were her secrets?
DeleteAw, I love that!
DeleteWithout beans of course
ReplyDeleteYou and my Hub are purists!
DeleteYes Jenn, of course beans! :)
ReplyDeleteI knew it!!!
DeleteTwo kinds of beans, if I'm leaving out the meat. Usually one kind with meat--makes the chili feed more mouths. And any season is good for chili. Just made a pot on Friday!
ReplyDeleteWe made ours on Wednesday - which is how I discovered chili day was Thursday.
DeleteOne winter, I was lucky to find a Folklore course at the local university – pre-Covid – where at that time learning from your desk was a novelty. It was a lovely mix of in-house students and those from Long Distance Learning. For those from home, it was in your time frame, so you could join when you wanted and stop and start as you wished. Participants were young people from the university, a lot of whom were international students – mostly Chinese and Saudi. The outside participants were a mix of extremely international people of all ages, and upbringings – Canada, Sweden, Egypt, China. Some of us were old and therefore free tuition, which meant that we could not participate in some of the readings those were only for people wanting credits – but we could participate in the chit-chat. The course was Food & Culture.
ReplyDeleteA long introduction to chili, I know, but there is a point – and a great discussion. Chili was the topic of the day. Two American types of chili were to be discussed – did you know there are two main categories of American-style chili – me neither? One was Cincinnati and one was Tennessee, I think. One was long slow cooked with multitudinous spice pastes and rubs, and meat, not ground meat. Beans were a debate, but not as much as rice – chili on rice, or just chili in a bowl. Add-ons were not as much of a thing, but more to choice, or locale.
A recipe was given for each type. Of course, I tried them. I didn’t like either enough to add it to a permanent recipe over and above the usual recipe of ground beef, a can of this and a can of that. Sour cream, cheese and jalapenos on top – maybe lettuce if there is any. No kidney beans. Once a year – maybe.
Texas claims the American origin of chili and I'm sure would have happily weighed in on that discussion.
DeleteBeans please. My sister makes a meatless chili recipe that contains chocolate--different but yummy.
ReplyDeleteOoooh, that sounds amazing.
DeleteI grew up in Wisconsin and chili always had macaroni added. People will say "Oh you mean chili mac" No, it was chili. When you visit Green Bay, they have spaghetti added with a bowl of oyster crackers included. You can pick your heat level. When we were in the Cincinnati, we had to try the Cincinnati chili. It has spaghetti. I believe some cinnamon was added to the meat sauce. It was good. I like chili in any form. Often make it and have several meals of it and I don't have to think what to have for meals for several days. I prefer it with beans.
ReplyDeleteI'll be in Cincinnati in June and I am definitely looking for chili with spaghetti. OMG - it sounds amazing.
DeleteKidney beans. Black beans. Any kind of beans. Of course! And I coulda guessed how Lucy would vote.
ReplyDeleteLOL - me, too.
DeleteMy grandmother's recipe calls for kidney beans. But not everyone is the family likes them so sometimes I use one can of kidney and one of black beans or just use black beans only.
ReplyDeleteBlack beans would be fabulous. I always used kidney but now that the Hooligans are gone and the Hub is the chili cook, it's all meat.
DeleteNo beanskk
ReplyDeleteYou'd love the Hub's chili!
DeleteI don't go "bleh" to too many foods, but Cincinnati chili: bleh. Doesn't it have chococlate in it and served ON a mountain of spaghetti and UNDER a mass of grated cheddar like a crowning birds nest? Anathema! And I get fat just looking at it.
ReplyDeleteDepends. One chain uses cocoa, and the other main one uses cinnamon. There are also chili dogs, which can be served different ways, like the spaghetti, with chopped onions or without, with beans or without. Grated cheese fluffs out a very small amount of cheese and makes it look like more.
DeleteI'm not a fan of most of this style chili, but it fascinates me. Then there's the same chili dog argument around the Detroit area, the home of the hot dog.
I've never heard of it, but I'm going there in June and I'm hunting it down. I have to!
DeleteJenn, are you coming for a book-related appearance? I'd love to introduce you to Cincinnati chili!
DeleteKaren, I'm not a fan of Cinci-style chili, either. I don't care for cinnamon in my chili and I'd rather have it with cornbread or tortilla chips than spaghetti or rice.
DeleteI love vegetarian chili, but no one else in my family does, so I suffer through all the rest (without much protest!!)
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love, love, love chili! I am happier without beans, but fine with them. I love to put grated cheddar cheese on the top, and maybe a tiny bit of sour cream, too. And maybe it’s sprinkling of chopped up black olives.
ReplyDeleteJonathan likes it with rice, but I don’t think you need rice.
I had a pal who used to put sugar in hers – – and it was pretty delicious. Does anyone do that?
And I’m just thinking now, I’m not sure I have ever ordered chili in a restaurant. It’s one of those things I only have when I make it home.
And now I am starving. :-). On the road in North Carolina… xxx
My nephew makes a sweet chili--neither I nor his younger brother want sugar in our chili! And chopped onions with grated cheese and a dollop of sour cream is also yummy!
DeleteSafe travels, Hank. I would never think to add sugar...hmm.
DeleteMeat plus red kidney beans, black beans, pork and beans, and chickpeas! Served with grated cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream! Yum!
ReplyDeleteI love chick peas - they don't get enough respect.
DeleteCannot tell the difference between chili with beans or without beans. However when I get chili from the deli, I noticed that the Vegan (no meat) chili tastes better to me. I like chili with non dairy cheese or non diary sour cream.
ReplyDeleteDiana
I don't think I've ever had chili without meat. Hmm.
DeleteBeans; usually no meat.
ReplyDeleteDebRo
I think I have to try the no meat version.
DeleteI like my chili with more beans than meat or no meat, topped with a sprinkle of shredded cheese and no sour cream. I do prefer it with rice.
ReplyDeleteLots of no meat chili advocates. I must try.
DeleteI make my mother's recipe for chili "soup". Instead of the ground beef, I use venison. It always has at least kidney beans, sometimes black or garbanzo. However, I've made chicken chili, white chicken chili, butternut squash and black bean chili, and I forget all the different kinds. My sister-in-law makes a white chicken chili that has no beans, but gobs of cheddar and cream cheese and the spoon stands up by itself. (She and my brother are long-distance runners, they can handle the caloric load. I feel my arteries slamming shut when I have any.)
ReplyDeleteOf course I live in "Cincinnati Chili" land, and there are no fewer than five or six versions of that beanless concoction--you can choose to add beans or not. You can have my share.
Then there is the tomato controversy. Do you use tomatoes or not? (In my mom's version, yes.)
The point is, no one way is the "best", there is just a favorite, which is different from everyone else.
I like tomatoes and green chilis in mine. Yes, that chicken chili sounds deadly.
DeleteI was fascinated that it came from the Canary Islands!
ReplyDeleteYes! I'm with the "any day is chili day" crowd. Beans, please. I was an insanely picky eater as a child, but I loved chili first time - I might have been 6. In fact I still use the recipe my mom clipped from a newspaper, way back then. I also make vegetarian chili, white chili, and buy, at the supermarket fancy soup section, turkey chili with an elusive sweet flavor.
ReplyDeleteYou are a connoisseur, Triss!
DeleteI do hope you're taking notes, Jenn. We expect a definitive answer! LOL - kidding. As for me, it depends: Beans with chop meat, none with brisket. Oops, my bad. That brings up another controversy - ground or chunked!
ReplyDeleteOh, brisket chili would be amazing!
DeleteI love chili. My husband, meh. To clarify, I love MY chili. With beans for me, not for him. I’m from Wisconsin too, but do not eat chili with macaroni. I like kidney beans, black beans, and butter beans - obviously I’m making a big batch! I don’t have a recipe I follow, just put enough good stuff together and it’s chili! Can of diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, bottle of beer, chili powder, cumin, pinch of cinnamon. I’ve always used ground meat, onions, red and green peppers, sour cream on top…. now I’m hungry!
ReplyDeleteGlad you clarified, Melinda! :-) Pat S
DeleteLOL - now I'm hungry, too.
DeleteSo fun, Jenn! I usually use kidney beans, but would be happy with pintos or black beans, whatever happens to be in the pantry. Chili is infinitely riffable!
ReplyDeleteI think that's why everyone loves it - easy to cater to your own taste.
DeleteWell timed, Jenn - this morning, our priest announced the St. Luke's 1st annual he hopes) Chili Cook-off. I add SO many beans to mine! In fact, one of my, shall we say, most acclaimed chilis is vegan. All my kids did drama in high school, and several of them had vegan friends acting or working backstage. There were always a few days and evenings for every production where parents would lay on a buffet - set building Saturdays, tech rehearsal and dress rehearsal evenings, etc.
ReplyDeleteI noticed it was always ONE vegan mom who would bring in the ONLY thing her kid could eat. So I did some research and found a great recipe with black, pinto and kidney beans, loads of veggies, and classic chili seasoning. It was a huge hit, both backstage and at home. I usually serve it with grated cheese and sour cream on the side for non-vegans if they so desire.
Oh, I should add the magic ingredient if you don't use beef or pork fat: smoked paprika. I swear, it's like magic.
DeleteI am addicted to smoked paprika, Julia! And I'd love your vegan chili recipe!
DeleteI love smoked paprika! Brilliant.
DeleteThis is making me hungry! Beans for me. I have several chili recipes I lean on, but current favorite is an unconventional one from the NY Times that has (gasp!) no garlic, but it does have: cocoa powder, Guiness, peanut butter and chocolate. So unctuous! And it also contains smoked paprika along with allspice and ancho chili powder. I know it sounds odd. It is not sweet, but it is really good. And easy to make. I usually make it with ground turkey to balance out the fact that I basically have dessert in there too.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds AMAZING!
DeleteNo beans in my chili. I use hamburger or ground venison, and then whatever Wick Fowler or Carroll Shelby says to do on his package. Grated cheddar and sour cream and Fritos on the side to construct your bowl of red. Mom added beans to her chili, but I think it was to stretch it out to feed more kids. A friend in Ohio introduced us to Cincinnati chili. Very strange. No thanks.
ReplyDeleteServe with cornbread and a cold beer!
DeleteHub is a big fan of the Carroll Shelby seasoning!
DeleteI'm embarrassed that as a Texan I did not know all the fun chili trivia!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! LOL!
DeleteAs a recovering meat-eater I make mine with Morningstar chorizo-style crumbles. I cook the beans from dry because I think they taste better than canned. I used to have it over rice (mostly to stretch it) but these days I opt for polenta with some shredded pepperjack stirred in. Try it!
ReplyDeletePolenta??? Hmmm. Yes, pepperjack and chili are a match made in heaven.
DeleteYes, I use light red kidney beans, one can. I also use beef, and I have to have macaroni, too. I usually make a pot of chili (actually in microwave) once a week during the fall and winter, but since I haven't been cooking this past year, we've missed that. My husband actually came up with a chili that's not bad at all, after I told him to add green peppers and onion. His was based on a "Darn Good Chili" mix. It wasn't until 2012 that I found out people put sour cream as a topper on their chili. A friend and I were in town for the National Book Festival, and I wanted to visit Kramer Books, as I usually did when in D.C. We decided to eat at their restaurant, and on the menu was "Obama's Chili," and it came with sour cream on top. That was a great discovery for me.
ReplyDeleteMe, too! I came late to the party with the sour cream and unlike Hank mine is not a tiny dollop. LOL.
DeleteThanks for sharing all of your tidbits and recipes today!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds fabulous, Alicia! I am forwarding it to the Hub.
ReplyDeleteWith! Better for the planet & better for digestion & damn delish if you get good beans - I'm the chili queen at our house & I use a 1 to 1 ratio of beans & chuck
ReplyDeleteI tend to mix some runners usually some sort of ayocote with pinquinto & King City pinks or moros
LOVE so very much that the first book about chili - written by a Texan - referred to it both ways! Thanks for sharing that little nugget
Totally jealous of Jenn's bean club membership - I've been on the waiting list for like 7 years 😭