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The Real Chili Con Carne Debate beef, chili, info 1 text The question of what goes into an authentic chili con carne is hotly debated in America, akin to French arguments about what constitutes a proper bouillabaisse. Whether cubed meat or ground should be used, whether onions or tomatoes should be included, whether prepared chili powder or fresh chilies or both should spice the meat, whether fresh cilantro is a proper addition - every ingredient has its avid proponents and those who would argue just as strenuously against it. Even in the Thirties there was strong opinion on the subject. Marguerite Clark, in a November 18, 1939, article for Collier's, commented favorably on the "simple, old-fashioned all-American dishes" she was served from the Home Kitchen at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. She found there, she said, instead of fancified souffl‚s, "Real Texas chili con carne, a blending of medium-sized cubes of succulent beef of the best cut, with small, hard, red native, Mexican beans, onions, garlic, chili powder and cumin seed, not to be confused witht he peppery stew of cheap ground meat and large, soft kidney beans that some misguided folk call chili." But what about those beans? Texas purists consider the addition of beans anathema, and most recipes before the 1930s did NOT include them. But by mid-decade, beans - usually pinto or kidney beans - were a common ingredient in chili, at least outside of Texas; Fannie Farmer's cookbook even suggested lima beans. Beside beans there are other additions to chili that would make a Texan feel faint. Cincinnati five-way chili consists of highly spiced ground meat with not only beans, onions, and tomatoes, but also spaghetti and grated cheese. A Columbus, Georgia specialty is made with chili - with beans, of course - and a chopped up hot dog, complete with bun, relish, and mustard stirred in just before serving. Pure, unbeaned chili con carne has lately become very fashionable in this country as part of the back-to-American-roots and Tex-Mex movements in food (although beans may be served on the side.) Along with those outcast beans, hamburger is now OUT and cubed beef (or venison or buffalo) is IN, chili powder is OUT and fresh or freshly ground dried chiles are IN, tomatoes are OUT and water is IN. To many raised on beany, tomatoey chili like Mom (or Hormel) used to make, this revisionist style may be authentic, it may be good...but it's not chili con carne. Sylvia Lovegren, "Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads", ISBN 0-02-575705-9 From: Dave Sacerdote Date: 08 Jan 97 National Cooking Echo Ä Yield: 1 info file Chinese Recipes - Indian Recipes - Italian Recipes - German Recipes MENU
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