# Chili-size and Chili-mac a thing where you live? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 25, 2018, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255 "2018-08-25T15:30:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255/61 "2018-08-26T21:43:45Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Chili-size, no. I know of it because of the Dope. I think we had a poll years back on chili size. Actually, looks like there’s a couple of threads, [but here one from 2010](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=555566) with a poll, and about 80% of people had no idea what it was (including apparently me, at the time, so I guess that’s when I learned the term. ETA: Well, no; apparently I said exactly that in the 2010 thread, but then later on, it is found that I participated in a 2005 thread about it, so that’s the first time I heard the term, but it didn’t stick until 2010.) > > As for chili mac. Yeah, I thought everyone knew that term. I mean, Hamburger Helper even has a Chili Macaroni, and there are also canned versions of it. I was one of the 80% in that poll who had no idea. Then I forgot about that thread and still had no idea today. Nor chili mac. Hamburger Helper? Not seen that since I was a kid, but I’ve been back in the US only two years now. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255/62 "2018-08-26T21:55:05Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > Chili Mac, the connoisseur’s choice in MREs. It was the most appealing/semi-digestible option in the original issue of the 16 serving MRE box. You whippersnappers and your fancy 16 item MRE menu. In the mid-late 1980’s we had such treasures as the dreaded “Dehydrated Pork Pattie” (meant to be rehydrated in your canteen cup with warm to hot water, bone chips were a free extra bonus), Chicken ala King (super disgusting) and “Ham and Chicken Loaf”. Blech. If it hadn’t been for peanut butter and crackers, and sometimes squeezy cheese, I would have starved in the field. The chief indicator of just how bad MRE’s were back in the day was the clamoring in the line around the steam table for B-Rations. Nothing made me happier than canned western omelet with bacon. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255/63 "2018-08-27T00:15:05Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > You whippersnappers and your fancy 16 item MRE menu. In the mid-late 1980’s we had such treasures as the dreaded “Dehydrated Pork Pattie” (meant to be rehydrated in your canteen cup with warm to hot water, bone chips were a free extra bonus), Chicken ala King (super disgusting) and “Ham and Chicken Loaf”. Blech. > > If it hadn’t been for peanut butter and crackers, and sometimes squeezy cheese, I would have starved in the field. The chief indicator of just how bad MRE’s were back in the day was the clamoring in the line around the steam table for B-Rations. Nothing made me happier than canned western omelet with bacon. I bow sir. My effete culinary options were clearly superior to your gruel and bones.😃 Our ham and egg omelet squeezed from a sealed packet may have been worse than your western omelet with bacon in a can though. It looked like the fecal matter scrapped from Elvis’s colon at autopsy. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255/64 "2018-08-27T00:21:55Z")
My Boy Scout troops had a lot of C-rats. Some weren’t bad at all. Some- well… ---
**Author:** ![Mumberthax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea5d25/32.png) [@Mumberthax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mumberthax)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255/65 "2018-08-28T16:37:44Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I just noticed that you linked a restaurant (for the chili size) that is all of 4 blocks from my house. I never knew they had a size on the menu, as I usually eat there for breakfast. Time for a lunch stop. I’ll report back on the chili. So…how was it? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255/66 "2018-08-28T16:48:17Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Not quite. I mean I have had both. On a chili cheeseburger you have chili as a condiment, you can eat that with your hands, altho it may be messy. > > A chili-size OTOH, has so much chili you eat it with knife and fork. > > Cheap fast recipe for chili-mac: Make Kraft Mac & Chez. Add can of Hormel no bean chile. Add shredded cheese as a garnish. Yeah, I’m just saying that a lot of places will list a ‘open-faced chili cheese burger’ when what they really mean is a chili size. ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255/67 "2018-08-28T18:04:32Z")
I’ve heard of chili mac. I’ve seen recipes in magazines. Never had it. Pasta and chili seems weird to me. Frito pie, baby! That’s how we roll. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255/68 "2018-08-28T18:33:45Z")
> [@Mumberthax](#): > > So…how was it? Not bad for non-Texans. About the same as the one I get at Bob’s Big Boy. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255/69 "2018-08-28T19:47:28Z")
Crap. After reading this thread I have a huge craving for Tommy’s. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255/70 "2018-08-28T20:33:18Z")
Never heard the term “chili size” here. It would just be called a chili burger, served with toasted bottom, patty, smothered in tons of chili and cheddar, with the toasted top of the roll placed alongside on the plate. Knife-and-fork food, definitely- I wouldn’t dream of trying to eat one like a sandwich. Instead of standard chili though, restaurants here almost universally have a pork and green chili option, which I find superior in every way 😛 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255/71 "2018-08-28T20:47:18Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Crap. After reading this thread I have a huge craving for Tommy’s. There’s one within 15 minutes of where I live… I don’t eat there as much as you would think… ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255/72 "2018-08-28T21:06:21Z")
> [@Kron](#): > > Instead of standard chili though, restaurants here almost universally have a pork and green chili option, which I find superior in every way 😛 With white beans? In the official ICS chili cookbook, this is called “Missouri Muleskinner Chili.” Very tasty! :o ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2018, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255/73 "2018-08-29T20:37:13Z")
Speaking of Chili, I found a can of Caroline’s Vegetarian Five bean chili in the larder. I was prepared to hate it, but it was actually pretty good.:eek:😛 It was a 20oz can however, rather than the Hormel 15oz can- Hormel calls that “two servings” but we know it ain’t. However, 20 oz is too much for one. Yes, of course I prefer Chili without beans, but after every colonoscopy my proctologist still insists I eat my fiber, and beans are a excellent source. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255/74 "2018-08-30T00:27:55Z")
Didn’t know about chili size. Good to have my horizons expanded. My youngest son (in his thirties - thinks he’s old) claims to have introduced Kamiah, Idaho to the concept of chili cheese fries. I know there was a food booth that he introduced the idea to. They had all the ingredients, they just needed to mix them and set a price. I don’t know that no one else in town had it on their menu or that it spread. But he was there more often than I was, so I’m not going to argue with him. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255/75 "2018-08-30T01:43:30Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > I bow sir. My effete culinary options were clearly superior to your gruel and bones.😃 > > Our ham and egg omelet squeezed from a sealed packet may have been worse than your western omelet with bacon in a can though. It looked like the fecal matter scrapped from Elvis’s colon at autopsy. Bwahahaha, I [just watched someone eat a vomlet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0ciBudwIV0) the other day. He wasn’t a fan. After the adding the salsa, he comments “It was good for like two bites, now it’s just getting weird again.” on-topic: I hadn’t heard of chili-size, but I was aware of chili mac. To be honest, what my mom referred to as spaghetti was most people’s idea of chili mac. When I was first served what most people think of as spaghetti with meat sauce, I didn’t really know what to think. Ok, now to see if steve1898mreinfo has eaten some canned western omelet with bacon! ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255/76 "2018-08-30T02:22:40Z")
[QUOTE] [My youngest son (in his thirties - thinks he’s old) claims to have introduced Kamiah, Idaho to the concept of chili cheese fries. I know there was a food booth that he introduced the idea to. They had all the ingredients, they just needed to mix them and set a price. I don’t know that no one else in town had it on their menu or that it spread. But he was there more often than I was, so I’m not going to argue with him. /QUOTE] actually I didn’t know chili cheese fires existed until 1988 or 9 when mom made them when I moved back here inb CA …. in the Midwest they were pretty much unheard of at the time ………. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255/77 "2018-08-30T02:58:32Z")
[quote=“nightshadea, post:76, topic:820255”] > [@](#): > > [My youngest son (in his thirties - thinks he’s old) claims to have introduced Kamiah, Idaho to the concept of chili cheese fries. I know there was a food booth that he introduced the idea to. They had all the ingredients, they just needed to mix them and set a price. I don’t know that no one else in town had it on their menu or that it spread. But he was there more often than I was, so I’m not going to argue with him. > /QUOTE] > > actually I didn’t know chili cheese fires existed until 1988 or 9 when mom made them when I moved back here inb CA …. in the Midwest they were pretty much unheard of at the time ………. First time i saw them was at a place called Arlene’s in Santa Monica, around 1972 or so. They made donuts and also burgers. But no other place had them. They might have been one of the first. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255/78 "2018-08-30T03:37:22Z")
Those aren’t chili cheese fires. [These](https://imgur.com/gallery/aHt3ClE/comment/516810613) are chili cheese fries. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255/79 "2018-08-30T06:32:15Z")
I’ve only seen the term “chili size” in use once, at a Claim Jumper restaurant in San Diego many years ago. It appears to not be on the menu anymore. Here in Olympia, there’s a venerable old drive-up burger place called Big Tom that serves a textbook example of a chili size, but they just call it a chili burger. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255/80 "2018-08-30T16:52:30Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Those aren’t chili cheese fires. [These](https://imgur.com/gallery/aHt3ClE/comment/516810613) are chili cheese fries. 😃 I had small arteries harden up just looking at that picture. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size-and-chili-mac-a-thing-where-you-live/820255.md?page=5)