May I have two?
Thank you.
http://members.shaw.ca/hallensmith/The Recipe-from "The Great Chili Confrontation"- H. Allen Smith
"Make sure you have good meat, three pounds of lean chuck, or round, or tenderloin tips. Be sure the meat is trimmed down to where there is not a shred of gristle in it. Texans are great gristle eaters and I find most of their chili inferior for that and other reasons. The poor creatures just know any better. Out, then, with all gristle!
Have the meat course ground. Sear it in an iron kettle. If you don't have an iron kettle you are not civilized; go out and get one. Don't break up the chunks of beef. It is good to have lumpy meat in your chili. When you've got it seared, add one or two small cans of tomato paste or tomato sauce or if you want to use fresh or canned tomatoes put them through a colander. Now chop one or two onions and, if you hanker for it, half a bell pepper. Add these ingredients to the pot with a quart of water. Crush a couple or ore cloves of garlic and then add about half a teaspoon or oregano, maybe a couple of pinches of sweet basil, and a quarter teaspoon of cumin seed or cumin powder.
A lady in San Diego has written me that she buys the cumin seed whole, roasts it in an iron skillet, then uses a rolling pin to convert it into a powder - she says store bought cumin powder can become stale. A perfectionist. Now put in some salt and for a starter, two tablespoons of chili powder. If you can get the Chimayo ground chilies, packaged in Albuquerque, do so by all means. I will speak of it later, for I think it is the best I've ever used. Sometimes when they are available I use chili pods but don't be skittish about using a good brand of chili powder.
Simmer your chili for an hour and a half or longer, adding some Ac'cent to sharpen the flavor, and then about ten minutes from conclusion, add your beans. Use pinto beans if you can get them; if they are not available, canned kidney beans will do. Simmer a bit longer, doing some tasting and as the Gourmet Cookbook has it, "correct seasoning." When you've got it right, to suit your personal taste, let it set a while. It will taste better the second day, still better the third, and absolutely superb the fourth.
Texans consider it a bloody sacrilege to cook beans with chili. I say they're all daft. They also scream bloody murder at the idea of any sweet pepper being included. You'll have to make up your own mind - just don't let their raucous way of talking overpower you. On a personal note: I cannot eat chili without a large glass of cold milk at my elbow. No beer, no water, no wine - just cold milk."
http://www.mencken.org/"By an inferior man I mean one who knows nothing that is not known to every adult, who can do nothing that could not be learned by anyone in a few weeks, and who meanly admires mean things.“If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl.” —“Epitaph”
- H. L. Mencken