"Authentic" Texas Chili

Some goddam Texan wanta take this one?

Hi OP Texan here and I just finished making a FUCKING kickass pot of Texas red. Take your dried peppers and toast them in a skillet but do not burn. Turn them so both sides are done. This should take about 5-8 minutes. Once toasted put them in a bowl of very hot water and let soak for 15 minutes or longer. After this split and remove seeds and stems. Use the recipe below as a reference guide BUT instead of water use beer or even a splash or two of dark coffee.

Don't worry about what kind of chilis and go ahead and add a few chipotles in adobo and just taste your through the paste. You want it spicy but not so hot you can't eat it.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out

"Taste YOUR way" ----on my phone.

Also, corn bread is not hard if you can find white corn meal. Add some fresh diced jalapeno for extra kick. Yee haw!

I really don't care about chili authenticity. I don't live in Texas or know any Texans.

Then go to the damn store and get a can of Hormel Chili with Beans, brother!

I like New Jersey chili. It has tomatoes and beans. It was one of the few things my mom made well before she learned to cook.

Just FYI OP my guests raved about this pot of chili.

That's sacrilege R7.

Is authentic chili like authentic theater?

I like Cincinnati chili, it's more like soutzoukakia. Most of DL hates it though.

I will say that Texans don't hate it though as it lacks beans, and so more than one "award winning" Texas chili recipe has consisted of Cincinnati chili with extra peppers.

Don't forget the liquid smoke. They put that in everything.

No liquid smoke! Don't do it.

What's wrong with eating an American style version of chili, or American versions of Mexican food? Can't both be good?

R15 Texas is in America and that is where it was invented by a German cook for cowboys on the trail.

The only truly unacceptable thing non-Texans do to chili: do NOT use hamburger meat, ground up beef. You use small chunks of stewing beef.

OP, we all just go to Wendy's for chili cuz you get something a little extra.

Ask me if I care, R9. I'm making it tomorrow. If I eat it while reading DL, I'll make a point of laughing at your ass while I do so.

If that makes you happy r19. You have a sad life if you have to spend your time doing that.

No sadder than calling my food preferences "sacrilege" makes yours, R20.

The Macedonian bastard who passed off his Grecian Gunk as authentic chili should have been summarily bushwhacked and sent back the Thrace from whence he came.

He put all sorts of oddball spices in it and served to over fucking spaghetti noodles.

Dumbass Ohioans think this just fine. It may be tasty to their benumbed tastebuds, but for crying out loud, Cincinnatians, just don't call that infernal concoction "chili."

R21 you are a child as that was said mainly in jest. What next? "Neener neener"?

So no fresh chillies, Tex?

You can R24. Just purée in with the paste. The dried and toasted chilis give it a smoky flavor and some depth.

Cheers, r25. Also, I cannot find white cornmeal, only yellow marketed as polenta for the numerous local Italians.

Texas Chili Parlor in Austin which is probably the best and grungiest dive in town, serves chili with chopped jalapenos and onions on the side.

[quote] That's sacrilege [R7].

Get a life, Blanche.

A recipe for Texas Red:

It was said in jest R28.

Gebhardt chili powder is an absolute must for good chili.

Reminds me of an Italian coworker who nearly hyperventilated over an ad for a chicken Alfredo pizza.

Well, can you blame him, R32?

I just read up on Gebhardt's on the ChowHound site and I am not as impressed as I was at first.

Still, I'll try a small bottle if I ever run across it on the grocery shelf.

I use Penzey's ground ancho, cumin, a small amount of ground chipotle, cayenne, and oregano.

I use ground ancho for flavor and ground paquin for heat, cumin and Mexican oregano which has a different more floral flavor. If it needs thickening I sprinkle on yellow corn meal. Screw the hatters, I like it with pinto beams and I top mine with a good jack or jack/cheddar mix, sour cream and cilantro.

The mad hatters?

OP here.

So I basically used the epicurious recipe.

After I soaked the dried toasted chillies, I accidentally blended them into paste in the water they soaked in. Oops. Luckily the paste didn't taste burnt, or at least not too much. There was a range of flavours that tasted superb and changed the longer I left it on my tongue.

As per instructions, I browned the meat in a scant amount of rendered beef fat from the offcuts I trimmed away. I didn't end up adding any thickeners.

After cooking, I planned to serve it the next day to let the flavours mature. But I was surprised by how little liquid was left. And what there was had a substantial oil slick, so I drained the liquid off the beef and let it cool in the fridge so I could skim it off easily. The fat turned out to be 1/4 of the volume! No matter. I put the liquid back into the meat which soaked it up beautifully the next day, but there were still multiple (minuscule) specks of white fat covering the visible bits of meat.

I guess it's flavour and it wasn't enough to be a problem - it really wasn't much at all - but as it's my first time cooking with beef dripping it was an experience.

As for the chili itself, it was a hit. Didn't have corn bread but served with Fritos. I've never experienced a range of flavour in chillies before. And it was barely mild! The flavours of the paste intensified but the heat diminished. I kind of regret forgetting to add the sugar. Will buy more chillies next for sure - and add more liquid!

So is Cincinnati chilli is basically spaghetti bolognese with Greek spices and grated cheese?

I love Cincinnati chili. But then I'm half-Greek, so the flavor profile is familiar.

For those commenting on Cincinnati chili, the link below is for a recipe that's pretty close to my Mom's recipe, which she supposedly got from some newspaper recipe years ago. It's supposed to be closest to the recipe from the original chili parlor in Cincinnati (Empress Chili). If you're looking for traditional Texas chili, don't even bother. I grew up eating it, and when we'd get home from school and the whole house smelled of Cincinnati chili, we couldn't wait to sit down for supper. It's often called 'Greek', but in reality, it would be more accurate to call it 'Ottoman'. It's one of those original American 'hybrids' between an Ottoman meat sauce (fragrant with cinnamon and allspice) served over spaghetti with American cheese. The mix of 'sweet' spices and 'savory' spices is off putting to those who aren't accustomed to the flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean. Now that my folks are gone, when I make a pot of it, I freeze some and give it to my brother when he stops by, so he can also remember our Mom's cooking.

Chili on spaghetti?! What the hell is that about?

R42, I know many people who eat at a Cincinnati chili parlor at least once a week: there are several different chains, the most popular now being Skyline Chili. And Yes, it's definitely not Texas Chili.

In a shocking new statement, President Obama picked Cincinnati’s famous chili as the most American food to ever exist. While it was a close match up between Philadelphia’s cheese steaks and our beloved chili, the president claimed that the complex spices and Greek heritage were important in his decision.

“Now this is a 3-Way that I think Michelle would approve of,” he said, followed by a toothy grin.

I know I should probably start a separate thread.....

ust look what they did for Cincinnati chili. "Bearing no resemblance to any Southwestern-style ‘bowl of red,' this chili is called five-way because there are five separate layers in its full configuration," the Sterns write in their now out-of-print book, Chili Nation, published in 1999. "A base is created from a heap of glistening limp spaghetti noodles; they in turn are topped by a deliriously spiced sauce of finely ground beef, then beans, then raw onions, and finally a fluffy crown of cheddar cheese."

In the wake of the Sterns' recognition, the Greek-inspired, southwestern-Ohio-beloved stuff rose to meteoric fame, both locally and across the country. Specifically, the duo championed Camp Washington Chili, a diner — boasting a giant, vertical, block-lettered "CHILI" sign — that has been slinging the city-specific style since 1940. "It's the same configuration as all genuine Cincinnati chilies," the pair wrote in their 1983 book Goodfood, "but no other version is as poised as this: an archetectonic stratification of texture and wildly diverse tastes." Two years later, in 1985, CBS Morning News dubbed Camp Washington, "the best chili in the nation." In 2000, the restaurant was honored with a James Beard Foundation "America's Classics" award.

R41, I love the flavour profile of middle eastern and Mediterranean fruits and spices, and I'm sure I would love the meat sauce.

But serving on spaghetti with a mountain of grated American cheese with optional onion and beans sounds stomach churning.

This thread is totally triggering my Morgellon's.

Authentic Texas chili is hella boring. Meat and hot peppers. I think it started with Cookie on the chuck wagon trying to cover up off tasting meat or the fresh steer they just slaughtered on the trail. This is one dish that has improved over the years. I like many variations. The Cincinnati chili recipe I've followed starts with the ground beef not browned, but boiled in water. You refrigerate it and scoop off the congealed fat the next day. Weird, but the end product was fine.

Always tomatoes in my chili and sometimes a few beans. Wouldn't make it any other way. I do tolerate and sometimes even enjoy other people's chili if done well. Doesn't have to be Texas or New Jersey or Cincinnati.

Also, corn bread is not hard if you can find white corn meal. Add some fresh diced jalapeno for extra kick. Yee haw!

You can't get corn bread in Australia. Or white corn meal.

I make a vegan chili that's based on a Whole Foods recipe--it has a lentil and tomato base. The spice palate is pure Texas, though. The one advantage that Texas chili has over other Tex-Mex dishes is that it isn't filled with lard.

Chili without beans is like an orgasm without an ejaculation. Just a major let down.

"Cincinnati Greek Gunk" is a better name than what they erroneously call that spaghetti-based abomination.

It's a shame they don't have the internet in Australia so the OP could stop bothering us with her bullshit.

However, one word to add is that any brown snake can be used as a substitute for rattlesnake in the "authentic" recipes.

[quote]“Now this is a 3-Way that I think Michelle would approve of,” he said, followed by a toothy grin.

Oh, Barack!

Chili without beans should be illegal.

I like chili that lights my ass on fire. I want to feel the burn!!!

R46 - even your own link has shredded cheddar cheese, not American.

What is the problem with pasta?

Is cornbread made from masa harina or from the grainy cornmeal used to make polenta?

We don't have box mixes here.

OP, if you can't find chili powder, you can make your own by fine-grinding dried ancho peppers and mix with some cumin and coriander. You can add a dash of cayenne if you like. I do this because I like the flavor better than store-bought ones that sit on the shelf and lose flavor.

I usually use cornmeal my r59 although purists may scoff. But then they taste it without me mentioning what I use and love it. My granny used to make the nest fried corn pone.

Dear Ozzie OP:

You actually made the dish MORE authentic by using Fritos!

I used a box of "vegan, gluten-free" cornbread mix from the grocery store but used tasty whole milk and a fresh egg. It didn't taste like cornbread, but was still good.

Cornbread should be made with yellow corn meal, stone ground, and do not add sugar. That's only for muffins. Prepare the pan before baking by putting a tablespoon of oil in the pan, and spread a spoon or two on the pan bottom of corn meal. Put the pan on the burner on medium till the meal starts to brown and the fragrance comes up. . Then pour your batter in and bake. This gives you the crunchy edges on your bread.

Surely if you can't find corn meal in a store you can order from Amazon?

I use the recipe on the back of the Indian Head bag.

Tomatoes - yay or nay?

NOOOOOOOO!

You're doing it wrong! BTW Whole Foods was started in Austin Texas, so what is even Texas Chili? If you want to be an extra 100 lbs overweight and look like the overfed Hill Country biscuit people by all means, indulge.

Or you could be healthy.

Why did you bump a dead thread?

I can stand the Cincy chili but that mushy overcooked pasta they serve it on is vomit.

I don't like my chili made with ground beef (won't eat it) and I barely tolerate beans.

I prefer this recipe:

I made some with finely chopped beef, onions and chillies and in the last hour added half a chopped red capsicum, half a can of black beans and some frozen corn. Absolutely divine.