Wolfgang wrote:

"Conan the Librarian" wrote in message
m...

Uh ... meatloaf?


Hm......meatloaf......well, yeah, meatloaf does come in for its share
of favorite variants. However, I think it lacks the million or so one
and only authentic recipes, each one with its own loyal cadre of
adherents willing to die....or, preferably, to kill.... to protect its
sanctity, that chili enjoys.

Of course you're right. I used to live near a fellow who was a
regular participant in one of the (thousand-or-so) chili cookoffs, so I
learned the "proper" way to make it from him. It's roughly as follows:

*cubed* beef, not ground
New Mexican chiles, dried and ground
ancho chiles, dried and ground
serrano chiles, fresh, to taste
onions
oregano (Mexican, not Mediterranean)
cumin seeds, freshly ground
water (may substitute Lone Star beer for some or all)

"Real" chili *never* has tomatoes, beans, olives, mushrooms,
sprouts, spaghetti or any of that other sissy sh*t that damyankees and
them other faggots put in it.

At least that's what he told me.

I'm somewhat surprised to suddenly see these references to chocolate
in chili. I'm going to have to give this a try sometime soon.

I'm guessing that my mom got it from a Diana Kennedy cookbook, and I
expect that she stole it from the Aztecs. Well, not firsthand or
anything (she's not *quite* that old), but they used chocolate in
cooking/sauces long before the Spaniards arrived.


Chuck Vance