Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Virgil's chili

I made some of the best chili that I ever flapped a lip over.
<br> 1 Tbsp black pepper
<br> 1 Tbsp chili powder
<br> 2 Tbsp brown sugar
<br> 4 Tbsp green tobasco
<br> 1 tsp cumin
<br> 1 tsp oregano
<br> 1 tsp cilantro
<br> 1 14 oz. can beef broth
<br> 1 can water
<br> 1 14 oz. can stewed tomatoes
<br> 1 can oretaga diced chilis
<br> 1 med. onion
<br> 2 strips bacon
<br> 1 - 2 lb. london broil or game meat
<br> Dice bacon. cook in bottom of pan for oil
<br> dice meat and add to pot
<br> cover with broth and water
<br> boil till the meat starts to shread ( about 2 hrs.)
<br> dice onion and add with the rest of ingredients.
<br> cook another hour
<br> stir in about 6 Tbsp corn flour to thicken
<br> cook about another hour
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<br> This chili is even better heated up the next day.
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<br> good shootin, vbshootinrange.

That will work. At least you didn't put bean sprouts in it.
<br>BCR

Boggy,
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<br>Suppose he did put bean sprouts in but called it something other than chili, would it still be edible?? lol!
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<br>rutnut

as this cooks down, you can add another can of stewed 'maters or a can of 'mater sauce.
<br> or if you are so inclined, add some bean sprouts!
<br> Might make it taste kinda ornamental! just kiddin, BOG!
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<br> good eaten, vbshootinrange.

Rut. I suppose you could put bean sprouts in your chili, you could put bean sprouts in your morning cup=o=joe too. That doesn't mean I'm gonna try it. To each his own. How about tofu in your chili along with some seaweed. The possibilities are endless, but are they chili?
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<br>Bullwnkl.

Bullwnkl,
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<br>I hope you know I was teasing the Bogster! That was pretty much the reason for the "Boggy's Chili Recipe" thread. You see, I've been making chili for a long time and I clip recipes to look for different ingredients and a new twist. I figured that all these chili cookoffs were simply for some ego gratification for a bunch of retired firefighters. But, I knew all along that all these souped up recipes were just mutations of the real thing. My take is this: While they all call their concoctions "chili" .
<br>They aren't authentic. And it really doesn't matter. Because, like you said, "To each his own" !
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<br>And please--No flames from the retired firefighters!! It's just a joke.
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<br>rutnut

Rutnut Honest I don't know where you draw the line as to what is chili and what isn't. It is more than just taste it invloves consistency and look and odor too. Take a good broiled steak. Basicly it is just beef and fire. Now if you add a Frechy sauce or smother it with pizza topping is it still broiled steak? Well, yeah, sort of. Right?
<br>Well, chili was invented or discovered as a way to make the tough cuts of a grass fed Texas Longhorn, which is pretty tough in its own right, more edible. It incorporated the spices which the Mexicans loved (Anglo's at the time in Texas didn't use much spice or pepper) and the simmering made the beef or lean, mostly tough, game meat tender enough to chew without breaking dentures. Could have done it in just plain salt water but that isn't too good tasting and as I said the Mexicans were used to and loved spices. Chili ain't Mexican though it is Tex-Mex. As the dish spread cooks tried to "improve" it by additions of things they were used to cooking with. So, is it still chili, well yeah, sort of. Like the steak smothered with pizza topping. Chili cook offs are more about showmanship than cihili.
<br>BCR

OK Boggy!
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<br>I'll have to correct your spelling this time. Chili is not spelled CIHILI.....Jeez, I thought everybody knew that!!!!LOL. Boggy, although I don't know you I'll bet that you and I probably couldn't disgust each other with almost any dish we might serve to each other.(unless of course you pop one of those nutras out of the oven). I actually like my food kind of plain... a little spicy, but plain. I like my steaks plain, and rare to medium rare. No sauces, no spices, maybe a dash of salt & pepper. If you prepared a dish for me that had bean sprouts in it I wouldn't complain and I'd eat it right down. If you later told me that it was cihili, I'd probably tell you that it was very good!! I might even ask for the recipe... just to make you feel good, as my momma taught me always to be polite and mind my manners!! Honestly, I appreciate your insight on the chili. Now, since you asked where I draw the line. What follows is a list of items which, if included in a cihili recipe, would disqualify said recipe from the cihili cookoff!
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<br>raisins
<br>pecans
<br>brussel sprouts
<br>crawdads
<br>okrahoma
<br>peanut butter
<br>olives
<br>potatoes
<br>carrots
<br>water chesnuts
<br>noodles
<br>barley
<br>chocolate
<br>bean sprouts
<br> This is only a partial list!!!!
<br>Just thinkin' about some of those ingredients in my cihili just about makes me want to heave!!
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<br>On a more serious note, I do like fresh jalapenos and serranos, some fresh tomatoes, and some roasted Pueblo chilis in my cihili. I also like a variety of beans-dark kidney, light kidney, black beans, anasazi. Oh, and don't forget the fresh minced garlic--lots of it. I know it's not chili, but it is still pretty darned good eating. And I'll bet you wouldn't complain because your momma taught you manners too!!
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<br>rutnut
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I'd put lutefisk at the top of that list of disqualifiers. Almost as long would be the list of commonly used crap that keeps so much "pizza" from being authentic PIZZA.
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<br>My guess is that specifically mentioning that BEANS don't belong in true chili is a natural reaction to the nearly universal notion (outside real chili country) that chili is a bean dish with meat in it.
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<br>My old bear-trapping partner Earl Fleming often remarked on the illogic of labels lettered "chili con carne" ["with meat"] also having "with beans" appended.

<br>I have to laugh every time I see this ruckus break out about what is and isn't proper chili. Right now, I'm still grinning from the posts above about "true chili" as opposed to "something else."
<br>Since I like"whatever" with and without beans, with tomatoes, cilantro, and whatever my wife decides to dump in it-including beans of all types, I guess like most people that for lack of a better name to slap on what we're eating, we just call it Chili, since it kind of resembles it, sort of. Of course, up here in the Northwest, we don't know what real gumbo is and a whole lot of other southern or TexMex dishes, but we enjoy them just the same. Heck, I won't even begin to recite some of the names of the Phillipino dishes my wife concocts.
<br>You guys just come on up here and sit down to a meal with my family and I'll make you a deal- I won't care what the heck you call it as long as you leave enough for me and enjoy it. Heck, making up names for dinner is what beer is for, isn't it?- Sheister

Rut, I hope you see my reply as toung in cheek. Not even a wisp of smoke. I take no offence at any ones choise of food or the fixins there in. This from the guy who won't eat a raw tomato, but will eat fish raw any time. Go figgure. There are darn few foods that have a pedigree so as to trully be called authentic. After all you are what you eat...any one see a Moon Pie latley heading down the road hey wait it's you. Sorry Moon Pie.
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<br>Bullwnkl.

Rutnut, I keep telling you we need a speel chacker . On eating what is put before you, my grandpa slapped me off my chair when I was about eight years old. Grandma had made something or other for dinner and I don't even remember what it was now, and I said something like I don't like or I hate whatever it was. POW he back handed me. Picked my self up and crawled back in the chair. He pointed a fork at me and said "You can say you don't care for something and you don't have to eat it but don't you ever again say you don't like something somebody has gone to the trouble to fix for you." Yeah I know how to mind my manners at the dinner table.
<br>As to the way you like CHILI yours is basic New Mexico version. It is and always was supposed to be a poor folks dish. They used what they had. I believe that the trouble folks get into is thinking that chili is a stew. It isn't. In a stew you can put in any thing that will fit the pot and it is still stew. Can't do the same with chili.
<br>Beans as an additon to chili don't give me fits. Just add them when you go to eat it. Don't cook them into the chili, it isn't supposed to be vegetable soup.
<br>Winky, don't the Phillipino folks go heavy on coconut in their cooking? I've never tried much of that style but it sure doesn't put me off.
<br>Folks get a dish and try to "improve" it. Sometimes it works and most times it don't.
<br>Don't get me started on fahitas and blackened warf rat.
<br>Paul Prudohome ought to have his butt kicked for getting drunk and letting blackend redfish out of the kitchen. Thankfully that fad seems to be going away.
<br>BCR

Boggy, from what I can tell from my wife's cooking and that of her relatives, most of the Phillipine cooking relies on heavy doses of Soy Sauce, vinegar,bay leaf, pepper, and lots of marinating and cooking until things are tender. In fact, most of the authentic Phillipine food I've had, the liquid is boiled down until nothing is left except the spices. Good stuff, but pretty darned spicy for this poor German boy.
<br>I was once told by my wife's sister in law (a full blooded Phillipino) that the reason they don't serve dog to Americans when they are overseas is that we can't appreciate a delicacy like that?
<br>One of my favorites is a "sandwich" called Chopau (?)- it is a sweet roll baked with a fried egg and shredded barbecued pork inside. My inlaws bring them down as gifts, and they usually last just about long enough to remember what they look like for the next time. Almost like jerky around my place, it barely makes it to the freezer before it's gone.
<br> Never had any coconut in any Phillipine food, though. - Sheister

Bullwnkl,
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<br>I didn't smell any smoke, and I didn't see any flames!!
<br>It's kind of hard sometimes when we don't know the people we are spoofin' on, and we can't gauge their reactions since we can't see the expressions on their faces. Seems to me there are a lot of smart folks and a few smarta$$es on this BB. I have to include myself in the latter group!! I view this BB and others like it in one of three ways: 1) a place to learn 2) a place to teach 3) pure entertainment. Most of the learnin' and teachin' goes on at other locations, although I have learned a lot from Mr. Boggy and others right here at the ol' cook tent!! Whatever went on up above, in my mind was pure entertainment, although, once again I learned something.
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<br> I suppose after being here at the campfire for awhile a guy starts feelin' a little comfortable and maybe he lets his lips flap a little bit to some people he doesn't know, or perhaps another guy might take something the wrong way, or simply because I haven't taken the time to learn how to put those little smilie faces in my "prose", that some folks may not understand my sense of dry, twisted humor. Either way, I can't take food or cooking or cihili (sp) too seriously. In the broad scope of things, this forum(food) does not rank high on the important issue list. I come down here to learn something and have some fun. I don't think that many of us would argue with that. And, if they did, I'd have to tell 'em to "lighten up already"!
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<br>rutnut

Rut ole bud, life is supposed to be fun, if one takes things like this place to heart he better get to a shrink fast.
<br>I reread my last post there were a lot of spelling errors there must have been past my bed time.
<br> I like the food zone because food is fun, it is a passion of mine to try and cook every thing and any thing. I really am not a huge fan of chili mainly due to the canned nature of my past dealing with the stuff. Tried The Bog Mans recipie and WOW what a difference, I like chili, the real deal.
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<br>Boggy, I don't know squat about Phillipino food I believe you were thinking of that other Northwesterner Schiester. Although a guy at work has a Phillipino girl friend who makes a stuffed bread thing called a HumBow, fantastic. and I know nothing of red beans and rice except I think they are used in Jambalia, one of the best resturant foods I have tried to date.
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<br>Here is a seafood classic I got while in Canada a couple years ago.
<br>Cioppino: All you need is lots of shell fish any kind works you can sub lobster for crab or crab for lobster or use both shrimp or crawdads mussels and or steamer clams just about any seafood you can eat if it don't eat you first.
<br>Use a big stock pot add a bit of olive oil say a good tablespoon full and the drippings, ah use a little more olive oil is good for you, chop up a small to med onion and a glove of garlic, more if you please but never less. Two cups of cheap dry white wine, not so cheap as you won't finish off the bottle...no not the box type you'll never finish the soup. Now squish up a couple ripe tomatos or use canned stewed type if you have to. Also 1/2 cup or more tomato paste depends on the volume of soup you are making. Measuring just fouls up the mix so play it by ear and looks. Basil lots of FRESH basil, nothing like the real deal the dried stuff gets stuck between your teeth and you have greenies when you smile. Salt and pepper I like little salt and lots of pepper, to each his own. Now cook this up till it smells good and is really done s l o w cook low and S L O W.
<br>Dice up a pound or so of white fish, Halibut is the first choise but you dry landers gotta use what you can get.
<br>shrimp an absoulut must use a good pound of pealed shrimp, scallops if ya got em same amout as shrimp, Crab claws and legs in shell clams in shell, make certain you have only good live clams no duds, clams shells that are full of sand really ruins the soup unless of course you dont mind eating sand and mud. Mussels are good just make sure you pull all the filliments off the shells and scrub well. Also if you can collect mussels stay away from the ones growing on creasoted pilings, trust me on this one.
<br>Now the soup is plenty hot toss in the sea food cook a good while the clams should open up as well as any other clam like creatures you are using, about 10 -20 minutes. toss out clams that didn't open they could be a bad suprise, more sand or dead rotten clams, just toss em out don't argue.
<br>Pour the rest of wine in a glass or two, here is where the box wine comes in handy. Ladle out the soup sprinkle some fresh parcley on top, celantro would do , slice up some fresh sour dough bread and a lemon or two and pig out. Food for the nothern sea gods.
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<br>Bullwnkl.
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Shies, my apologies, somehow I typed in Winky's name when I knew it was you talking about Phillipeno cooking. Glad you were able to figure out my idiocy.
<br>I have never eaten, knowingly, any of the food they fix. I don't even know why I thought it used a lot of coconut. Some asian cooking does. Wonder which one it is? Is the Phillipeno style based on more Spanish or Orental? I know the islands were under Spain for a long long time.
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<br>Winky that stew sounds almost like a good Jambalaya. We are not talking about the same kind of mussel that I know are we?
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<br>BCR

Bog Man we be talkin salt water mussels, none of them fresh water kinds. And a good white wine for the drinkin.
<br>This soup is what we call fishermans stew. I would trade prime beef for good fishermans stew any time.
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<br>Now I know you are dying to know the story of lutefisk.
<br>here goes, I got this from a book my mother passed on to me several years ago, This is a translation from Swedish to modern english, there may be some minor discrepencies as I do not speak or read Swedish.
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<br>Many years ago long before Lief Ericson discovered what is now mistakenly referd to as North America the Swedes fished for cod and pike. During the dry season the fish were dried into slabs. The Swedes didn't know they could eat the dried fish rather they used them as building material, much as we in modern Vinland, now America, use wood for shingles. The story goes that old Ole was late getting home from a herring pickling party . His wife had been in a very foul mood for some unknown reason and decided poor old Ole could just eat some shingles. So Inga old Ole's angry wife grabbed a couple dried slabs of cod off the roof and tried to cut them into bite sized hunks. Nothin doin the fish was so hard she had to use old Ole's broad ax to chunk it up. Being mad as could be Inga thought she would really make a meal for the old boy. Now as we all know nights are long and so are days in the northern reaches of the planet. So Inga goes to the local supplier of all things bad and gets a bag full of lye, the stuff we use to unglog our drain pipes with, the same stuff that was once used to degrease entire car engines, the EPA thinks this stuff is a toxic waste. Any way Inga takes her Lye on back to the hovel. Being a smart gal she thinks "JA DEM FISH DEY SVIM UN DA VASSER SO I BEST PUTDEM IN DA VASSER JA YA BETCHA" But having a bit of larceny in her heart she decided to make a potion of lye and wood ash first. Inga gets the potion going soaking wood and lye then draing off the clear liquid, she didn't want Ole to see was poisining him. With the clear liguid she soaks the dried fish for a week. To day we call this rehydrating. The fish become soft and pliable but smell worse than Oles BVD's. Inga decides to get rid of some of the smell so she soakes the fish in clear cold water for a day or so. Inga is convinced she has to get the smell out so she keeps changing the water. About this time the cod looks kinda transparent and has the cosistancy of grape jelly. Never confuse lutefisk for grape jelly, this would not be a good thing. Well having gone this far Inga is not about to give up so she cooks the blob adds some spuds and cream and feeds it to Ole. Well in a land of plenty of fish and darn little else a new quisine was born, Unfortunatly Ole survived and now we have Lutefisk and Sweden no longer has houses made of dried fish. The translatin may be a bit off but that is what the pictures look like.
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<br>Bullwnkl.

Yumpin yiminy, now ve know. Thanks for the translation.

The late Dave LeGate hadn't a clue about lutefisk and wasn't a hundred percent sure how to make limburger cheese -- he told me two ways to make limburger but couldn't remember which one was the right way: "Hang either a bucket of milk in the s--- house or a bucket of s--- in the milk house."
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<br>I still can't swallow anything, but even in this *&^%$#@! condition, I'd rather think, read, and dream about chili -- the Texas style or even the "Boston" style ("con frijoles") -- than either lutefisk or limburger. This dratted belly tube that I have to "eat" through does have one thing to commend it -- if I ever HAVE to eat lutefisk again, this tube is THE way. I've eaten limburger (and liked it!), but a good solid sinus clog is enough for that. The only problem is getting close enough to it to get your teeth on it.

Pie Golly, Bullvinkle, I vas allvays vunder how dey discover dat!
<br>Other than the obvious uses for lye the only other use in food preparation I know is making homminy.
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<br>Some time I got to tell the story of Olga and Ole imigrating to Wisconsin.
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<br>Ken, I keep telling you that you need a balling gun.
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<br>BCR