Spurred on by Mosca 's recent post on "long distance chili", I offer the following, which I first ran across in the winter 1989 edition of The Whole Chile Pepper Magazine, a copy of which I still own. The article, entitled Requiem for Texas Chili, from which the following recipe is a part, is a classic of Texan bombast and humor. It's important to note here that Mr. Pendergrast felt beans were OK in a chili recipe. Given that the WCPM article is thirty years old, perhaps copyright issues can be ignored? I'll ponder that and maybe post the whole article later. Meantime, from this link: http://www.fieryfoodscentral.com/rec...nal-zen-chili/ , I give you Sam Pendergrast's Original Zen Chili recipe. Enjoy!
Sam Pendergrast's Original Zen Chili Ingredients The recipe is in Sam’s words, unedited.
Render grease from the bacon; eat a bacon sandwich while the chili cooks. (Good chili takes time.) Saute the ground beef in bacon grease over medium heat. Add the cominos and then begin adding the red chile until what you are cooking smells like chili. (This is the critical point. If you add all the spices at once, there is no leeway for personal tastes.) Let the mixture cook a bit between additions and don't feel compelled to use all of the red chile. Add water in small batches to avoid sticking, and more later for a soupier chili. Slowly add the cayenne powder until smoke curls your eyelashes. Palefaces may find that the red chile alone has enough heat. Simmer the mixture until the cook can't resist ladling a bowlful for sampling. Skim the excess fat for dietetic chili, or mix the grease with a small amount of cornmeal for a thicker chili. Finish with salt, pepper, and garlic powder to individual taste, paprika to darken. Continue simmering until served; continue re-heating until gone. (As with wine, time enobles good chili and exposes bad.) The result should be something like old time Texas café chili: a rich, red, heavily cominesque concoction with enough liquid to welcome crackers, some chewy chunks of meat thoroughly permeated by the distinctive spices, and an aroma calculated to lure strangers to the kitchen door. Variation: For cook-off contest chili, drink bad tequila two days before starting the chili; burn mixture frequently; sprinkle occasionally with sand and blood; serve cold to a dozen other drunks and call them "judges"; and keep telling yourself you're having a great time.
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