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Real Texas Chili--According to Sam Pendergrast

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    Real Texas Chili--According to Sam Pendergrast

    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.
    • 1 pound fatty bacon
    • 2 pounds coarse beef, extra large grind
    • ½ cup whole cominos (cumin seed--yes, one-half cup!)
    • ½ cup pure ground New Mexican red chile
    • Water
    • 1 teaspoon cayenne
    • Salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste
    Instructions



    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.
    Servings
    4
    Last edited by Willy; December 4, 2020, 01:24 PM.

    #2
    That does sound tasty.

    Comment


      #3
      There are a lot of takes on "real Texas chili" out there, but the story is told with some journalistic authority by Frank X. Tolbert, in A Bowl of Red, and Robb Walsh, in the Tex-Mex Cookbook. Starting with bacon would have seemed a strange innovation to the early chili cooks. Clearly the dish invites innovation, but my taste runs more toward the originals.

      Comment


      • Bkhuna
        Bkhuna commented
        Editing a comment
        Same here. I dont use chili powder though. I use dried red chilis and mix different ones for variety. My favorites are ancho, guajillo, and cascabells.

        I'll eat others with beans or tomato product if someone else makes it (gotta be cordial you know) but I wouldn't make it that way.

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