What is Chili?

[Rebel]

My chili uses:

Meat (Beef, chorizo, venison, whatever)
Onion
Garlic
Oil
Tomatoes
Beans (pinquito or black)
Bell Peppers
Water
Hot sauce
Worcestershire
Vinegar
Chili Powder
Cocoa
Bay Leaves
Cinnamon
Cumin
Allspice
Salt
Pepper
Oregano
Cardamon

Prep time is about an hour. Cook time is overnight or all day, whichever is initially going to be shorter.

 

[shortround]

Chili is an original San Antonio dish.

It was introduced to Yankee soldiers after the Civil War.

When Union troops occupied Texas and San Antonio, they were often young troops with no girl friends or wives.

Prostitution flourished around all the military camps. In the winter months, where the brothels were not heated, the local San Antonio madams discovered that some warm "soup" would keep the clients at their whore houses instead of at rival bordellos.

Hence, an inexpensive mix of beef, beans, salt, flour, water, and chili was thrown together to feed the troops while they waited for a f*ck.

That is the truth, and I will stick to it!

Be well.

 

[Davetex]

There may not be an answer. There are, however, certain facts that one cannot overlook. The mixture of meat, beans, peppers, and herbs was known to the Incas, Aztecs, and Mayan Indians long before Columbus and the conquistadores.

Fact: Chile peppers were used in Cervantes's Spain and show up in great ancient cuisines of China, India, Indonesia, Italy, the Caribbean, France, and the Arab states.

Fact: Don Juan de Onate entered what is now New Mexico in 1598 and brought with him the green chile pepper. It has grown there for the nearly four hundred years since.

Fact: Canary Islanders, transplanted in San Antonio as early as 1723, used local peppers, wild onions, garlic, and other spices to concoct pungent meat dishes - improvising upon ones they had cooked for generations in their native land, where the chile pepper also grew.

I thought this was interesting.