Debo's Spicy Hide the Beans Chili Recipe
Chili con carne is a
stew that consists of meat, hot chili peppers...
a
liquid such as water or broth, and spices. It may or may not contain such
ingredients as onions, tomatoes, or beans. Everything about chili con carne generates
some sort of controversy, the spelling
of the name, the origin of the dish, the proper ingredients for a great
recipe... although archaeological evidence indicates that chili peppers evolved
in Mexico and South America, most writers on the subject state flatly that
chili did not originated in Mexico. Even Mexico disclaims chili; one Mexican
dictionary defines it as: "A detestable dish sold from Texas to New York
City and erroneously described as Mexican." Despite such protestations,
the combination of meat and chili peppers in stew like concoctions is not
uncommon in Mexican cooking... mexican caldillos (thick soups or stews), moles
(meaning "mixture"), and adobos (thick sauces) often resemble chili
con carne in both appearance and taste because they all sometimes use similar
ingredients: various types of chills combined with meat (usually beef), onions,
garlic, cumin, and occasionally tomatoes. But chili con carne fanatics tell
strange tales about the possible origin of chili. The story of the "lady in
blue" tells of Sister Mary of Agreda, a Spanish nun in the early 1600s who
never left her convent in Spain but nonetheless had out of body experiences
during which her spirit would be transported across the Atlantic to preach
Christianity to the Indians. After one of the return trips, her spirit wrote
down the first recipe for chili con carne, which the Indians gage her: chili
peppers, venison, onions, and tomatoes. An only slightly less fanciful account
suggests that Canary Islanders, transplanted to San Antonio as early as 1723,
used local peppers and wild onions combined with various meats to create early
chili combinations. E. De Grolyer...believed that Texas chili con carne had its
origins as the "pemmican of the Southwest" in the late 1840s.
The
most likely explanation for the origin of chili con carne in Texas comes from
the heritage of Mexican food combined with the rigors of life on the Texas
frontier. Most historians agree that the earliest written description of chili
came from J.C. Clopper, who lived near Houston. He wrote of visiting San
Antonio in 1828: "When they, poor families of San Antonio have to lay for
their meat in the market, a very little is made to suffice for the family; it
is generally cut into a kind of hash with nearly as many peppers as there are
pieces of meat this is all stewed together." Except for this one quite,
which does not mention the dish by name, historians of heat can find no
documented evidence of chili in Texas before 1880. Around that time in San
Antonio, a municipal market, El Mercado, was operating in Military Plaza.
Historian Charles Ramsdell noted that "the first rickety chili
stands" was set up in this marketplace, with bowls o’red sold by women who
were called "chili queens. A bowl o'red cost visitors like O. Henry and
William Jennings Bryan a mere dime and was served with bread and a glass of
water...The fame of chili con carne began to spread and the dish soon became a
major tourist attraction...At the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893, a bowl o'red
was available at the "San Antonio Chili Stand.”
Research
Source: Food Time Line & The Chile Pepper Encyclopedia, 1999, p76-78
Don’t
tell the children there are beans in the chili, they will never know.
Debo’s
Spicy Hide the Beans Chili
Copyrighted
2013, Debo, Christine’s Pantry. All rights reserved.
Ingredients:
1
- (6 oz.) can tomato paste
- 1
- (11.5 oz.) can V8 spicy hot vegetable juice
- 2
- pounds lean ground beef
- 1
- pound ground hot pork sausage
- 1
- (16 oz.) can spicy refried beans
- 1
- (4 oz.) can diced green chilies
- 1
- (10 oz.) can diced tomatoes with green chilies
- 1
- tablespoon dried cilantro
- 5
- tablespoons chili powder
- 3
- tablespoons minced onions
- 1
- teaspoon salt
- 1
- teaspoon black pepper
- 1
- teaspoon ground cumin
- 1
- 1/2 teaspoons paprika
- 1
- 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1/2
- cayenne pepper
- 1
- 1/2 cups beef broth
Directions:
Combine
V8 spicy hot vegetable juice and tomato paste. Set aside.
In
large pot over medium heat, add lean ground beef and ground pork sausage. Cook
until no longer pink. Add refried beans, stir well. Then add, green chilies,
diced tomatoes with green chilies, dried cilantro, chili powder, minced onions,
salt, black pepper, cumin, paprika, minced garlic, cayenne pepper, V8 mixture
and beef broth. Stir well, and simmer for 30 minutes. Enjoy!