A history. Note that it mentions “a plate of chili and beans, with a tortilla on the side.” Beans are not part of the chili.
*From the research library of the Institute of Texan Cultures comes this link with the past - a Chili Queen recipe (slightly updated for shopping convenience):
Original San Antonio Chili
2 pounds beef shoulder, cut into ½-inch cubes
1 pound pork shoulder, cut into ½-inch cubes
¼ cup suet
¼ cup pork fat
3 medium-sized onions, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 quart water
4 ancho chiles
1 serrano chile
6 dried red chiles
1 tablespoon comino seeds, freshly ground
2 tablespoons Mexican oregano
Salt to taste
Place lightly floured beef and pork cubes in with suet and pork fat in heavy chili pot and cook quickly, stirring often. Add onions and garlic and cook until they are tender and limp. Add water to mixture and simmer slowly while preparing chiles. Remove stems and seeds from chiles and chop very finely. Grind chiles in molcajete and add oregano with salt to mixture. Simmer another 2 hours. Remove suet casing and skim off some fat. Never cook frijoles with chiles and meat. Serve as separate dish. *
3 pounds boneless beef chuck roast, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 (14 oz.) cans beef broth, divided
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Directions
In a large skillet, heat up the olive oil over medium high heat. Add in the beef cubes and sauté them for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the garlic.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the chili powder, cumin and the flour. Sprinkle the spices over the meat and stir until all of the beef is evenly coated with spices. Crumble the oregano over the meat and pour in 1 1/2 cans of the beef broth.
Add in the salt and the black pepper. Stir the chili mixture thoroughly and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover partially, and let chili simmer for 90 minutes.
Pour in remaining beef broth and simmer for another 30 minutes, until meat is fork tender and falls apart easily.
Remove from heat and let cool. Cover and refrigerate to allow the flavors to blend.
I looked around today and couldn’t find anything labled “chili powder” which didn’t already have cumin and oregan mixed in. Anyone know of a chain that carries such a thing (or a locale in Indianapolis if not a chain) and what it would be called?
Sometimes I get in these moods where I’d rather put together my own mix of spices even though premixed mixes are readily available at the grocery store. Feels more accomplish-y.
When an American recipe calls for “chili powder” that means we want the mix of spices that includes the cumin and oregano (and typically onion and garlic powder) mixed in.
If you want plain old powdered chiles, look for them by name, like “ground ancho chile pepper” or “ground chile de arbol,” “ground cayenne,” (you might also see a generic “chile molido” in a Mexican grocery), etc. The recipes above that call for chilli powder mean the stuff with the cumin and other herb/spices already in it.
I make my own. Just buy whatever dried chilis you think look good (I use 1/2 ancho, 1/2 guajillo, and maybe toss in a few dried cayennes just for heat), remove the seeds, roast them for a bit on a dry skillet, and then grind them all up together. I mix mine with cumin but there’s no reason you’d have to.
I’d be careful using just red chilies though, you might end up with something closer to cayenne powder than chili powder.
The chili in “chili con carne” refers (I always thought) to the spice, not the dish.
I always thought the dish was called “chili con carne” first and later shortened to “chili”.
I’ve never read anything to indicate that beans were in the original dish, and I’ve read many claims that the original had only meat and no beans. Do you have some sources supporting the idea that beans were in the original?
*The entire chili exercise, at that point in history, was undoubtedly out of necessity. If you have ever tasted fresh-killed beef, you know how much a lot of spices would help the flavor. The range cooks, too knew this. They also knew the cowpokes would have strung them up right on the spot for serving plain beef in that unaged state. There also is no question that the spices helped preserve the meat and often masked the flavor of meat that was near spoiling; so the trail cook frequently brewed up **chile con carne, which is simply the Spanish way of saying " peppers and meat." *The name, incidentally, is as close as any self-respecting Mexican cares to get in claiming the dish’s place of origin.
By that logic, why is usually labeled “chili with beans” if chili always has beans in it?
“Chili” is the shortened American name for “chili con carne.” We’ve shown a number of cites that say the original chili was beef and peppers. If you want to insist otherwise, you’ll have to show us some evidence, because from everything I know about chili, what you claim is not the case. There were certainly poorer communities that eventually started substituting beans for some or all of the meat, but that, as far as I know, is not a standard part of the earliest Tex-Mex chili recipes. Beans on the side, if they are to be served with chili.
You forgot about 3.5: Sleep overnight.
Seriously though… there are multiple styles of chili out there, strangely, all are equally valid. (you’ll never get me to agree about barbecue though; any BBQ that has to rely on sauce is substandard by definition)
I’ve had chili that’s straight-up meat, chili powder, cumin and liquid, and I’ve had some with tomatoes, served over rice. All are pretty good! Haven’t had Cincinnati chili yet; some of the spices in it sound bizarre.
Don’t know exactly what fresh-killed beef tastes like, although I’d suspect “flavorless” would be the closest thing, since aging beef concentrates flavors.
Much of the beef consumed here in Mexico is fresh. The flavor is fine, perhaps not as tender as aged beef. It is usually butchered in thinner pieces than beef in the US. But is very palatable.
Is the beef in American supermarkets aged? If I go to fancy butchers or supermarkets I can buy dry aged beef for about 2 to 3 times the price for regular beef.