A History of Chili

Prime Rib chili, corn pudding with poblanos, and spicy sweet potato chips with blue cheese dip leftovers have overrun my fridge, so we had it again for dinner tonight...and it was just as good as the first time! I was pleasantly surprised to find that everything tasted just as delicious! It's so often that you make something amazing, look forward to leftovers for the next 24 hours and then are stunningly disappointed by the lack of taste and substance left over in your tupperware. I'm so glad this one worked out because I plan on it being lunches for the rest of the week as well! In honor of "chili week" here at my house, I thought I would give a little background on chili as a dish, and where it has come from, as well as what it once was.

In the epilogue to this chapter in Tyler Florence's cookbook, Dinner at My Place, he mentions that this Prime Rib Chili is a Texas-style chili, and Texas-style chili has no beans. He also goes on to explain that Texas-style chili got its start in prisons, where the cooks wanted to try serving something different than bread and water, and so took some cheap cuts of meat, cooked it down until tender with lots of spices, and chili was born. Inmates would rate jails on the quality of their chili, and freed prisoners would even write for the recipe, saying that what they missed most about prison was a great bowl of chili.

Obviously, that's not the first time chili was ever made, but it's where it got it's start in Texas, in the 1860's. Another form of chili that American frontier settlers used was a mixture of dried beef, suet, chili peppers and salt that was formed into large blocks left to dry, that could then be boiled in pots along the trail. I found some really interesting terms in the Wikipedia entry on chili. Apparently, there were women called "chili queens," during the 1880s. These brightly dressed Hispanic women operated around large gathering areas, appearing at dusk to light fires and reheat pre-cooked chili for sale by the bowl to passersby. The first version of a food truck? Maybe! Unfortunately, when the San Antonio health department imposed new sanitation laws that made the "chili queens" adhere to the same laws as indoor restaurants, they disappeared virtually overnight.

from Flickr - by *mewot*

Before World War II, you could find "chili parlors" all over the state, run by families who each claimed to have their own "secret recipe." Dating all the way back to 1904, "chili parlors" were opening outside of Texas, and in fact, as recently as 2005, one of these "chili parlors" is still known to exist on Pine Street in downtown St. Louis.

from Flickr - by armadilo60

The arguments about what ingredients do and don't belong in chili are long and drawn-out but whatever way you like it, it's a hearty meal that warms you on a cold day, fills you up when you are feeling hungry, and makes for great leftovers!

Game Day!

I decided to start this "menu of menus" theme with Tyler Florence's menu, entitled Guys' Game Night, from his cookbook full of menus, Dinner at my Place. It's fitting, since we're watching the Patriots game this afternoon, and then my husband will go play in his hockey league before he comes home to a much needed hearty meal. And hearty this meal will be, with Prime Rib Chili, Corn Pudding with Poblano, and Spicy Sweet Potato Chips with Blue Cheese and Chive Dip. It all sounds so delicous, as I sit here with my tangerine iced tea, contemplating the game plan for this menu, and watching Bill Belichick's game plan put into action on the television!

The key to making an entire menu full of recipes is timing...it's all about timing. It's not complicated, but it's important. Before starting anything in the kitchen, you'll want to sit down, read over all of your recipes and make, what I like to call, a gameplan. We'll talk about this a lot over the next few weeks as we work our way through the current menu posted on this blog. I'm pretty sure this chili is going to last us a few meals so I'm okay with the amount of time it's going to take, for sure (besides, it sounds amazingly delicious!). As I look at all the recipes, it looks as though the chili itself will take about 2.5 - 3 hours. There's a chili powder I need to make for both the chili and the potato chips, so that's something I should do first. The corn pudding looks like it will take about an hour, including prep time, and the potato chips will take 25 minutes. The dip can be made in advance so I'll do that at the beginning as well. I find it best to make the things you can put aside first, because the sense of accomplishment can catapult you into the next step of the process. Taking on a menu is a daunting task if you don't have a gameplan. While the chili cooks, I will work on the rest of the pieces and pull everything together in time for my husband's arrival back at home! Let's get to it, shall we!?

I started prepping for the chili since that was going to take the longest, and by the time I got into the kitchen, I realized I needed to get a move on! I removed the fat from the prime rib and cut it into cubes. After prepping all the other ingredients, I got a pot on the flame with some oil in it, and started searing the beef cubes. Once they were browned nicely, I added diced onion, halved garlic cloves, chopped chipotle, and minced jalapeno to the mix and mixed it all together before stirring in the chili powder mix that I made from a bunch of different spices. The tomato paste goes in next, along with a can of whole tomatoes in their juices. After crushing the tomatoes with the back of my wooden spoon, I added some grated unsweetened chocolate to the mix and the chili is set to cook for the next 2 hours! That leaves my hands, knife and counter space open for the next step - Corn Pudding with Poblano. After the 2 hours were up, it cooked for another 30 minutes after shredding the meat and seasoning with salt and pepper, as well as some corn meal to thicken the chili.

The corn pudding is a very interesting recipe, and after tasting all parts, my favorite part of this menu, actually. I removed the husks from all of the ears of corn and placed them in a pan with some smashed garlic cloves, thyme sprigs and a pint each of whole milk and heavy cream. After bringing it all to a simmer over a low flame, I shut off the heat and covered the mixture, allowing the corn to steep for 15 minutes. At that time, I removed the cobs and cut the kernels off, reserving them for the next step. The mixture gets strained and then placed over a high heat, and the cornmeal gets whisked in until a porridge consistency forms. Again, I removed it from the heat, and folded in the corn kernels, chives, chopped poblano peppers, salt and pepper. One blended, I mixed in 3 egg yolks, one at a time, until I had a batter consistency, and then folded in 3 egg whites that had been beaten until stiff peaks formed. I poured the batter into an 8x8 baking dish and put it in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. I put it in when the chili had 30 minute left to cook, and everything was ready together!

While the pudding cooked and the chili simmered, I sliced my sweet potatoes and began to fry them in small, single-layer batches. Once pulled from the hot oil, they drained on some paper towels and while they fried, I mixed up my blue cheese dip. My favorite part of the blue cheese dip was the tablespoon of honey that was added to the mayo, sour cream, blue cheese crumbles and chives. It added an amazing "something" to the taste of the dip, and set it miles apart from others I've tried in the past. Before serving, I dusted the chips with more of the chili powder that I made earlier, as well as some salt and pepper.

Everything in this menu went together so well, and it was a really hearty meal for Sunday Game Day. I have tons of leftovers for dinner tomorrow night, and then a few lunches throughout the week as well. I really enjoyed the corn pudding, and while not all of my sweet potato chips were as crisp as I would have liked, they paired so nicely with the blue cheese dip! The chili had the perfect amount of kick to it and the meat was so tender and rich. I'd say we're off to a good start with this "menu of menus," no? :)