A Bowl of Red

“Chili concocted outside of Texas is usually a weak, apologetic imitation of the real thing. One of the first things I do when I get home to Texas is to have a bowl of red. There is simply nothing better.”
Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States 

In Texas, people are serious…VERY serious about their  chili!  There are probably as many theories about where and how the dish we know as chili came about, as there are bowls of it served on any given day in Texas.  Here is a brief timeline* to give you some idea of the history of this beloved food:

1850 –  Records were found indicating that the first chili mix was concocted around 1850 by Texan adventurers and cowboys as a staple for hard times when traveling to and in the California gold fields and around Texas. Needing hot grub, the trail cooks came up with a sort of stew. They pounded dried beef, fat, pepper, salt, and the chile peppers together into stackable rectangles which could be easily rehydrated with boiling water. This amounted to “brick chili” or “chili bricks” that could be boiled in pots along the trail.

1860 – Residents of the Texas prisons in the mid to late 1800s also lay claim to the creation of chili. They say that the Texas version of bread and water (or gruel) was a stew of the cheapest available ingredients (tough beef that was hacked fine and chiles and spices that were boiled in water to an edible consistency). The “prisoner’s plight” became a status symbol of the Texas prisons and the inmates used to rate jails on the quality of their chili. The Texas prison system made such good chili that freed inmates often wrote for the recipe, saying what they missed most after leaving was a really good bowl of chili.

1880’s – San Antonio was a wide-open town (a cattle town, a railroad town, and an army town), by day a municipal food market and by night a wild and open place. An authoritative early account is provided in an article published in the July 1927 issue of Frontier Times. In this article, Frank H. Bushick, San Antonio Commissioner  of Taxation, reminisces about the Chili Queens and their origin at Military Plaza before they were moved to Market Square in 1887. According to Bushick:

“The chili stand and chili queens are peculiarities, or unique institutions, of the Alamo City. They started away back there when the Spanish army camped on the plaza. They were started to feed the soldiers. Every class of people in every station of life patronized them in the old days. Some were attracted by the novelty of it, some by the cheapness. A big plate of chili and beans, with a tortilla on the side, cost a dime. A Mexican bootblack and a silk-hatted tourist would line up and eat side by side, [each] unconscious or oblivious of the other.”

Latino women nicknamed “Chili Queens” sold stew they called “chili” made with dried red chiles and beef from open-air stalls at the Military Plaza Mercado. They made their chili at home, loaded it onto colorful chili wagons, and transported the wagons and chili to the plaza. They built mesquite fires on the square to keep the chili warm, lighted their wagons with colored lanterns, and squatted on the ground beside the cart, dishing out chili to customers who sat on wooden stools to eat their fiery stew.

1893 – The Texas chili went national when Texas set up a San Antonio Chili Stand at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago

Luckily for us, chili finally made it’s way out of Texas and into homes and restaurants coast to coast.  It is traditional in Texas to make chili without beans, though some people add pinto beans cooked separately after the chili is finished.  This version is simple and classic without tomatoes.  Just meat, spices and liquid.  Of course there are many ways to serve chili.  You can serve it over a hot dog, to top a good burger, over french fries, or my favorite way of all, in a bowl with a large spoon 🙂

As the novelist Margaret Collins has noted, “Chili is not so much food as a state of mind. Addictions to it are formed early in life and the victims never recover. On blue days in October, I get this passionate yearning for a bowl of chili, and I nearly lose my mind.”

You don’t have to lose your mind, just grab a big pot and get to work.  A delicious “bowl of red” awaits you…..enjoy!

Chili – A Texas Bowl of Red

4 lbs. of ground beef – regular or coarsely ground, your choice
(if you don’t eat beef you can substitute ground turkey but the flavor will not be as rich)
olive oil
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 cup good quality chili powder
3 tablespoons oregano leaves
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 bottle of beer
3 cups beef broth
3-4 tablespoons masa harina (this is the corn flour used to make tortillas and is sold at most grocery stores) or fine corn meal or, if neither is available, you can use corn starch

Put a small amount of olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan and saute minced garlic until it is soft.

Add meat and brown with garlic.

Combine chili powder, oregano and cumin.

Add beer to spices.  It releases their flavor and aroma.  Allow to sit for a minute then stir.

Add beef broth to meat.

Then add spices and beer mixture.

Simmer on a low flame for 6 hours or longer.

After simmering the chili, add masa harina (corn flour), corn meal or cornstarch, to  enough water to make a mixture the consistency of cream.  Stir this into the chili to thicken it.  It is ready to be enjoyed with or without beans….with grated cheese, chopped onions and maybe a dollop if sour cream…however you enjoy it most 🙂

*Timeline adapted from http://whatscookingamerica.net