Debo's Spicy Hide the Beans Chili

Chili con carne is a stew that consists of meat, hot chili peppers...

 

a liquid such as water or broth, and spices. It may or may not contain such ingredients as onions, tomatoes, or beans. Everything about chili con carne generates some sort of controversy,  the spelling of the name, the origin of the dish, the proper ingredients for a great recipe... although archaeological evidence indicates that chili peppers evolved in Mexico and South America, most writers on the subject state flatly that chili did not originated in Mexico. Even Mexico disclaims chili; one Mexican dictionary defines it as: "A detestable dish sold from Texas to New York City and erroneously described as Mexican." Despite such protestations, the combination of meat and chili peppers in stew like concoctions is not uncommon in Mexican cooking... mexican caldillos (thick soups or stews), moles (meaning "mixture"), and adobos (thick sauces) often resemble chili con carne in both appearance and taste because they all sometimes use similar ingredients: various types of chills combined with meat (usually beef), onions, garlic, cumin, and occasionally tomatoes. But chili con carne fanatics tell strange tales about the possible origin of chili. The story of the "lady in blue" tells of Sister Mary of Agreda, a Spanish nun in the early 1600s who never left her convent in Spain but nonetheless had out of body experiences during which her spirit would be transported across the Atlantic to preach Christianity to the Indians. After one of the return trips, her spirit wrote down the first recipe for chili con carne, which the Indians gage her: chili peppers, venison, onions, and tomatoes. An only slightly less fanciful account suggests that Canary Islanders, transplanted to San Antonio as early as 1723, used local peppers and wild onions combined with various meats to create early chili combinations. E. De Grolyer...believed that Texas chili con carne had its origins as the "pemmican of the Southwest" in the late 1840s.

The most likely explanation for the origin of chili con carne in Texas comes from the heritage of Mexican food combined with the rigors of life on the Texas frontier. Most historians agree that the earliest written description of chili came from J.C. Clopper, who lived near Houston. He wrote of visiting San Antonio in 1828: "When they, poor families of San Antonio have to lay for their meat in the market, a very little is made to suffice for the family; it is generally cut into a kind of hash with nearly as many peppers as there are pieces of meat this is all stewed together." Except for this one quite, which does not mention the dish by name, historians of heat can find no documented evidence of chili in Texas before 1880. Around that time in San Antonio, a municipal market, El Mercado, was operating in Military Plaza. Historian Charles Ramsdell noted that "the first rickety chili stands" was set up in this marketplace, with bowls o’red sold by women who were called "chili queens. A bowl o'red cost visitors like O. Henry and William Jennings Bryan a mere dime and was served with bread and a glass of water...The fame of chili con carne began to spread and the dish soon became a major tourist attraction...At the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893, a bowl o'red was available at the "San Antonio Chili Stand.”

Research Source: Food Time Line & The Chile Pepper Encyclopedia, 1999, p76-78

Don’t tell the children there are beans in the chili, they will never know. 

Debo’s Spicy Hide the Beans Chili

Copyrighted 2013, Debo, Christine’s Pantry. All rights reserved.

Ingredients:

1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste

1 (11.5 oz.) can V8 spicy hot vegetable juice

2 pounds lean ground beef

1 pound ground hot pork sausage

1 (16 oz.) can spicy refried beans

1 (4 oz.) can diced green chilies

1 (10 oz.) can diced tomatoes with green chilies

1 tablespoon dried cilantro

5 tablespoons chili powder

3 tablespoons minced onions

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 1/2 teaspoons paprika

1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic

1/2 cayenne pepper

1 1/2 cups beef broth

Directions:

Combine V8 spicy hot vegetable juice and tomato paste. Set aside.

In large pot over medium heat, add lean ground beef and ground pork sausage. Cook until no longer pink. Add refried beans, stir well. Then add, green chilies, diced tomatoes with green chilies, dried cilantro, chili powder, minced onions, salt, black pepper, cumin, paprika, minced garlic, cayenne pepper, V8 mixture and beef broth. Stir well, and simmer for 30 minutes. Enjoy!