A couple of weeks ago we had guests for lunch. Claire served chili \u2014 I like chili and Claire makes really good chili. When I was growing up in Oklahoma, we ate \u201cTexas chili\u201d although we didn\u2019t call it Texas chili \u2014 we just called it chili. Texas chili was made with beef\u2026 just beef, no beans! If anyone even mentioned putting beans into chili, they\u2019d be run out of town. I also don\u2019t remember there being a lot of peppers, onions, etc, either \u2014 if there were, they were chopped very fine. I guess chili pepper was added as to taste, but I don\u2019t remember it ever being especially hot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just about every restaurant had chili on the menu, but if you tried to order it in say, July \u2014 people would look at you like you were an idiot, and of course even though it was on the menu, it wasn\u2019t available. You only ate chili during cold weather. Restaurants usually had it available from about October to February. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I mentioned that Claire makes really good chili \u2014 but she uses ground beef (like hamburger meat.) That would never have happened when I was living in Oklahoma. Chili was made from \u201cchili meat.\u201d Some purists made their chili using hand-cut cubed beef, but most everyone used \u201cChili grind.\u201d Chili meat or chili grind is, basically, beef ground like hamburger, but a coarser grind.\u2014 maybe a size a little larger than green peas, but the size could vary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My uncle was the butcher in my dad\u2019s grocery store and he always had hamburger meat and chili meat available. They were both made with the same machine or grinder. He just put in a larger die to grind the chili meat. I\u2019m not sure if I\u2019ve seen \u201cchili meat\u201d in the local stores around here, but I\u2019ve really never looked for it. Probably any butcher could make it for you, but I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s a \u201cstock\u201d item. Maybe I\u2019ll do some extensive research on it one day \u2014 in the meantime I\u2019ll just accept the fact that chili, like a lot of things, has changed and go with ground beef.
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A couple of weeks ago we had guests for lunch. Claire served chili \u2014 I like chili and Claire makes really good chili. When I was growing up in Oklahoma, we ate \u201cTexas chili\u201d although we didn\u2019t call it Texas … Continue reading