Chili, beans or no beans?

[teejaywhy]

And just to trigger the purists... I will be serving Cincinnati Chili for the Super Bowl to honor my Bengals.

Truthfully, I don't even consider it "chili," but whatever it is, it is delicious!

 

[Andy Mink]

And just to trigger the purists... I will be serving Cincinnati Chili for the Super Bowl to honor my Bengals.

Truthfully, I don't even consider it "chili," but whatever it is, it is delicious!

View attachment 158468

That looks tasty!

 

[Lorenzzo]

Where there's sour cream, there's going to be beets.



Heh. Set them the task of making okra edible. That will teach them.



OK, but if someone posts 34.7 does that give them more or less win in threads like this?

Thinking about it, I guess you could win high or low. Where I'm coming from though is purely prurient interest. OK...not prurient but uncultured curiosity.

 

[coskigirl]

Chile con carne with beans is an oxymoron. There is no such thing, just as there is no such thing as a hot fudge sundae with bananas, strawberries and pineapple. The moment beans hit the pot, whatever you're cooking has turned into something else; that something else might be very good to eat, but it's not chili. Most of what is passed off as chili in the US is actually a delicately seasoned beef stew, similar to Elizabeth Taylor's favorite, and it has very little (if any) chile picante in it. You can't have "chiles with meat" if you don't really use any chiles.

I like both Elizabeth Taylor and her favorite stew very much, but neither of them are chili.

None of what I've said here is mere opinion, it is objective fact.

I consider chili and chile to be two very different dishes. I lived in New Mexico for 9 years and would never call the tomato, beef, bean, etc dish chile.

This is chile. https://madeinnewmexico.com/blogs/recipes/new-mexico-green-chile-stew

This is the basic recipe I based my most recent batch of chili on. https://www.daringgourmet.com/spicy-chipotle-chili-with-hominy/

 

[chilehed]

In threads like this, and Tex's threads, posters should be required to include their BMI.

24.1

24.8

We can assume your authority given your username. But given your location of Michigan, some doubts may arise.

LOL! Yeah, I can see how that makes sense. But I'm from Florida, and my dad spent many years in Texas and taught me the deep and abiding love of a good bowl of red. One of my prized possessions is his hardcover copy of Frank Tolbert's A Bowl of Red, which is the definitive work on the subject.

And yes, that's exactly how I picked my handle.

 

[chilehed]

I consider chili and chile to be two very different dishes. I lived in New Mexico for 9 years and would never call the tomato, beef, bean, etc dish chile.

This is chile. https://madeinnewmexico.com/blogs/recipes/new-mexico-green-chile-stew

This is the basic recipe I based my most recent batch of chili on. https://www.daringgourmet.com/spicy-chipotle-chili-with-hominy/

Ah, definitions. I've always understood that chile indicates in Spanish the hot fruit of capsicums, and chile con carne the dish of chiles and meat that is rendered in English as chili.

I'm kind of on the fence about the status of things like that delicious sounding green chile stew. Green chiles are chiles, and pork meat is meat. Both of them would have been available to a Texas range cook, so yeah, it seems to me that you can make real chile con carne with them, and while Tolbert mentioned green chili only in passing he seemed to accept it as well. But I'm leaning towards potatoes being in the same category as beans. I might make that recipe this weekend, although I'll probably bump the chiles up a lot. Wish I could get some wild Texas pork for it.

 

[Tom K.]

In threads like this, and Tex's threads, posters should be required to include their BMI.

24.1

18.6

Kidding.

First liar in this group doesn't stand a chance!

 

[crgildart]

And just to trigger the purists... I will be serving Cincinnati Chili for the Super Bowl to honor my Bengals.

Truthfully, I don't even consider it "chili," but whatever it is, it is delicious!

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86 the spaghetti and replace with French fries..

 

[Tom K.]

86 the spaghetti and replace with French fries..

I will admit to enjoying chile over rice.

I'll show myself out.

 

[Marker]

I will admit to enjoying chile over rice.

I'll show myself out.

I've heard that Elvis liked his chili over rice.

 

[ZeeJM]

For me:
"Chile" comes in Red, Green, or Christmas. No beans in the Chile, but maybe in the item it might be smothering. Usually has pork or sometimes chicken, but not usually any other meat in the Chile proper.
"Chili" might have beans and come in a variety of colors. It might also have ground beef, bison, elk, or other carnivorous delights in the mix as well.

 

[Marker]

If you look at the poll, most folks put beans in their chili. That's because most people, even a lot of Texans, don't actually like a "bowl of red". I've made that many times, and you know what? I was the only one that would eat it. So to make my chili palatable for most folks, I add tomatoes and beans. But no other veggies as that is carne guisada, essentially Tex-Mex or Mexican beef stew including some chiles as seasoning. If you look in Mexican cookbooks, there are many different chiles, moles, tingas, etc. with a bewildering array of ingredients. This monolithic insistence on only chiles and beef is purely a Texas thing, but if that's your jam, care on...

 

[Bad Bob]

Where does some of the Indian or Middle Eastern Lentil dishes fit into this kerfuffle?
Lots of chili powder, tomato, and other spices; some with meat some not. Wouldn't these fit the descriptions on here pretty well?
Does Chile HAVE to come from Mexico, the Southwest, or even Texas?

 

[Marker]

Where does some of the Indian or Middle Eastern Lentil dishes fit into this kerfuffle?
Lots of chili powder, tomato, and other spices; some with meat some not. Wouldn't these fit the descriptions on here pretty well?
Does Chile HAVE to come from Mexico, the Southwest, or even Texas?

Interesting question. I got into a big argument with an Indian colleague at work when he wouldn't accept that all chilies originally came from the New World, the West Indies, Mexico, Central and South America. The Spanish and Portuguese traders spread them around the world in exchange for spices and other Asian goods. Also, tomatoes, corn, beans, squash, chocolate, vanilla, allspice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pineapple, etc. etc. But not lentils. So these recipes are a legacy of those early days after the colonization of the Americas.

 

[scott43]

Interesting question. I got into a big argument with an Indian colleague at work when he wouldn't accept that all chilies originally came from the New World, the West Indies, Mexico, Central and South America. The Spanish and Portuguese traders spread them around the world in exchange for spices and other Asian goods. Also, tomatoes, corn, beans, squash, chocolate, vanilla, allspice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pineapple, etc. etc. But not lentils. So these recipes are a legacy of those early days after the colonization of the Americas.

Yes we associate Italy with tomatoes and peppers..neither of which existed before the 1500s there. The Romans ate barley, olives, beans and lamb. With the asparagus thrown in. And some turnips...

 

[Tex]

You guys are fun, that's all got to say at the moment....

 

[Marker]

Yes we associate Italy with tomatoes and peppers..neither of which existed before the 1500s there. The Romans ate barley, olives, beans and lamb. With the asparagus thrown in. And some turnips...

To be fair Italians bred some pretty awesome tomatoes from what they received and every culture that eats chiles
or peppers bred special varieties to suit their tastes. But the large red chiles popular in Texas, Mexico, and New Mexico have a depth of complex flavors, especially after drying, that stands out.

 

[chilehed]

I will be serving Cincinnati Chili

Ugh. I've only been to Skyline once, got it on a hot dog and it was disgusting. No, it's not chili, it's more like a very simple Mediterranean tomato sauce, which might not have been too bad except for the horrible cheap dog that was under it.

 

[Jilly]

Dr. B's Chili....

 

[fatbob]

Of course beans. But what I've learnt over time is everyone makes their chilli slightly differently - me heaps of garlic and a slug of red wine - so there really is no harm no foul in it.

I've never really got the macho posturing over highest scoville chillis or hot sauces and increasingly find I don't want or need to eat food that makes me sweat. Clearly Prince Andrew wouldn't have the same concern