My Healthy Chili + American Variations

I wrote a post on what I thought about American Cuisine and food created in the USA. Chili Con Carne (chilies with meat) is one of those American dishes that is part of the Tex-Mex tradition. But there are significant variations of chili across the USA and I am going to explain that, along with giving two of my favorite recipes that I cook over and over again. But know up front, that I am not a traditionalist, and do not have the emotional relationship with this dish that many from the South and Midwest seem to have.

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A Little About Chili

The dish “chili” has historically been all about the chili peppers, which Indigenous Peoples have farmed for 10k years or more. Chili as we now know it, calls for red chili peppers (ancho, guajillo, and cayenne) for its signature heat and of course its color.

• Wonderpolus writes: The modern dish we know as chili, also known as chili con carne (chili with meat), does appear to have roots in the American West, particularly the State of Texas. An old legend holds that immigrants from the Canary Islands brought a recipe for chili with them when they settled San Antonio in the early 1700s.

I think we can clearly call this an American dish, but it does have Canary Island foremothers for it was created, perhaps by one of them, after they immigrated to this country. It was reported by Mashed, that the women who settled in Texas already prepared dishes of stew made with meat, garlic, onions, cumin, and chili peppers — flavors similar to the Berber flavor profiles of Morocco.

During the time of cowboys, Mashed reports, trail cooks pounded dried beef, fat, pepper, salt, and chili peppers together into a brick, hence they called it brick chili. These bricks were easy to transport, and could be reconstituted with boiling water over a campfire. These cowboys were often Mexican, and no doubt this tasted just a bit like home (1). So we can say this food has been a camper’s staple for a long time, for it is a flavorful, textured, hearty, and one-pot feast sure to warm the toes and belly.

Later in the 1880s, there were chili stands where mainly women would sell bowls of chili; in San Antonio, these women were called Chili Queens. At the same time, this food was often given to prisoners in jail since it was cheap to make (Texas being a beef-oriented state) and as a stew can soften even tough cast-off meats.

In 1890, Texan Willie Gebhardt invented chili powder after he could not find the peppers he wanted year round. So he bought a lot of peppers, presumably dried, and ground them for year-round access. In 1894 he started to sell his chili powder invention.

In 1977, Texas chili manufacturers successfully lobbied the state legislature to name chili their state dish.

Sampling of Chili Variations

There is a whole community built around chili. Every region has its own style, every family seems to have their own secret ingredient or cooking technique. All in the attempt to be named the King of Chili. Here are some celebrated variations I could find on-line.

• Cajun Chili: The New Orleans version is chili, ground meat, pinto beans, tomatoes, Cajun seasoning and Louisiana hot sauce. I have not tasted this, but it sounds very pepper-hot to me. 
• Cincinnati Style Chili (1922) was created by a Macedonian immigrant consisting of layers of spaghetti, chili, cheddar cheese, + onion. The actual chili is made from ground beef, tomato paste, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, chili powder, cumin, and (sometimes) cacao powder.
• New Mexico Hatch Chili Verde: Features chunky pork pieces, roasted Hatch green chilis, onions, cilantro, and tomatillos (usually no cumin).
• Kansas City Chili: BBQ meats (pulled pork, chopped brisket, burnt ends) with kidney beans, tomatoes and a cumin-based seasoning blend. Some add their own BBQ sauce.
• Midwestern Chili: peppers, meat, spices, beans and additional fat.
• Rocky Mountain Chili: This is a beans, tomatoes, chilies, and spices dish featuring ground game meats like elk or venison.
• Springfield Chilli: (They spell chili with two ”l’s”.) Bacon, ground turkey, ground sirloin, tomatoes (optional), beer, pinto beans and only chili powder among the added spices.
• Texas Chili: Chili peppers, meat, and spices (absolutely no beans or tomatoes). Also called “Texas Red.”
• White Chili: Base of chilies (poblano, Hatch, jalapeños) but all white from shredded chicken, to white cannellini beans, and chicken stock. Can also make with shredded turkey.

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Veggie-Forward Chili Recipe

This is a Chili Stew which means it has texture, flavor, lots of protein (meat and beans) and can easily be vegan, vegetarian, or fully meat-enhanced. Just add or remove certain ingredients and it will always work. Not being a big meat eater, just 1/2# of ground meat was used and served over 6 helpings of a healthy bowlful.

Sauté 1/2# of hamburger meat in 1T avocado oil until no longer red, which takes a few minutes. Break the meat into small crumbles if you can. Then add 1 diced yellow onion, 1 small sliced leek (slice in half lengthwise, wash, then slice into half-moon shapes), 3 minced garlic, 3 chopped carrots, and let it cook for ~5 minutes on medium low, stirring occasionally.

Move the meat, veggies, and juice from the skillet into the soup pot. Then add the grilled chopped poblano pepper, grilled chopped red bell pepper, and 3 grilled tomatoes (with skins removed). Mix around so the food is well incorporated.

Then add one each of Pomi’s Finely Chopped Tomatoes, and Chopped Tomatoes into the pot. Add 2 cans beans (I used black and pinto), 2t salt and 1t freshly ground pepper, 1/4t ground cinnamon, 2t crushed cumin seed, 2t dried oregano,1/2T Spanish smoked paprika, 1t dried red pepper flakes, 1t Sriracha sauce, 1/2t cayenne, and 2t dried chili powder. Move heat down on the very low side and simmer for ~2 hours, stirring occasionally so nothing burns. If more liquid is needed I add up to 1C homemade chicken or veggie broth.

After 1 hour of cooking I added one peeled and cubed Beauregard Sweet potato, and 1/4C red wine. Cooked another hour and the sweet potato was soft. At this time I started to make cast-iron sweet cornbread as the side and then made chili toppings: chopped up scallions, grated sharp cheddar cheese, sour cream, fresh Persian lime from our tree, and hot sauce.

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Vegetarian + Vegan Chili Recipe

Following my usual order for a recipe, here is one version of a vegetarian or vegan chili that originally came from the Moosewood Cookbook (1992). The main changes I made to their recipe was to:

• Use V8 juice (either the hot or regular version) to up the veggies in the recipe and make the sauce thicker.
• Add bulgar to take the place of the chewiness of ground meat, or sometimes I use the end-bits of various grains if I have them.
• Add the spices and tomato paste to the heated pan before mixing everything together, so that the oils are released into the kitchen and the food and a deeper complex spice permeates the dish.
• Vary the spices by adding some, changing the amounts, etc.
• Since green pepper is an immature red pepper, I prefer to use red to bring out the fuller flavor from the ripe fruit.

Equipment

• Can opener
• Sieve
• Big soup pot with lid
• Quart pot with lid (to cook bulgar)
• Spatula

Ingredients

• 2 cans beans
• 1C V8 juice (hot version if you want heat, or the regular)
• 1C uncooked bulgar
• 1 box container of Pomi chopped tomatoes
• 2T olive oil
• 2C diced yellow onion
• 6 minced garlic (split in half)
• 1-2 diced carrots
• 1-2 diced celery stalks
• 2t freshly ground cumin
• 2t dried basil
• 1-2T dried chili powder
• 2t paprika (sometimes I use smoky if I am in the mood, otherwise regular)
• 1.5t kosher salt
• 1t freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8t cayenne (personal preference)
• 3T tomato paste
• 1 chopped red bell pepper
• Toppings: celery leaves, parsley, cheese, sour cream

Directions

Open bean cans, drain and rinse under running water. Usually, I would only use 1 can pinto beans and 1 can black, since I do not like the texture of kidney beans. Set aside.

Place the V8 tomato-veggie juice in a small 1qt pot to boil, be sure the lid is on as it will plop bubbles. As soon as it is plopping, take the pot off the heat, mix in the bulgar, cover, and let stand ~15 minutes. Do not worry if the bulgar is not fully cooked, it will also be cooking in the chili for a while yet.

Meanwhile, in a soup pot, add oil and heat. Then add the spices to heat up. Once you can smell them, add diced onion, half the minced garlic, carrot, and celery bits, and seasonings. Cook until fully integrated and aromatic. Then add the chopped red bell pepper, and cook until carrots are tender. At this point add the tomato paste to the skillet and make sure everything in the skillet gets coated.

Using a spatula, scrape the bulgar and remaining sauce into the soup pot, add the Pomi chopped tomatoes, turn the heat on to medium high and put the lid back on. Be sure to stir periodically, careful that the bulgar does not sit on the heat and burn, while cooking for ~30-45 minutes.

At the 15 minute, or halfway mark, add the remaining garlic and beans, and mix well.

At the 10 minutes-to -go mark, taste and adjust seasoning. If you want to add fresh herbs to the pot do it now, otherwise use them as toppings.

Cornbread Option

Traditionally, I have always served cast-iron skillet cornbread, or cornbread cupcakes with chili. Just like you see in the top photo above. There is something about that combination that is just perfect as comfort food.

But I recently was making my Veggie Forward Chili, and made the cornbread batter like usual, but decided to do something different with it. At the halfway mark for cooking the chili, I dumped the chili into a 3” roasting pan and spread it out so there was a layer of chili, and then poured the cornbread batter over the top of the chili. I spread it out as best I could, knowing it would spread as it baked. Then baked the whole dish in the oven until the cornbread was done.

Then I took the dish out, and spread fresh butter on top to melt into the cornbread. I managed to wait ~5 minutes so it could cool down a bit, and dished out healthy heaping bowls to those gathered. OMG, this was so good tasting, especially that the chili was pepper-hot and the cornbread butter-sweet.

— Patty

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