I didn’t love chili until we first went to Hard Times Cafe in Alexandria. At Hard Times you could get different varieties of chili — who would have thought that there was more than one type of chili — not this Midwestern-born-and-bred girl.
Apparently the chili I was used to was Cincinnati — but without the cinnamon. My mom (and later I) would saute the onions, brown the ground beef, add spices and tomatoes and a can or two of red kidney beans and call it chili. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything I looked forward to. Mom used to serve it with saltines. And maybe Velveeta. And far too much salt.
So chili just wasn’t on my list of favorite foods. I hated kidney beans. They reminded me of large beetles that squished when I bit them.
Then I became a vegetarian and discovered Hard Times Vegetarian chili. It was delicious — and included peanuts. And was served with sour cream, chopped onions and shredded cheese. Who would have thought to add those toppings to chili?
But this isn’t about Vegetarian Chili. I’ll write another post about that.
Hard Times also served Texas and Cincinnati Chili– and the beans came on the side. After my vegetarian stage, I tried the other versions and declared Texas to be the winner.
We tried to make it, but it never tasted like Hard Times’ chili. Then my brother gave me a copy of Jeff Smith’s “The Frugal Gourmet cooks American” cookbook for Christmas. Jeff Smith, if you don’t know. was The Frugal Gourmet. I used to love his cooking show. He was down to earth and a bit of snob at the same time.
Now-a-days, if you open the cookbook, it automatically falls open to the Texas Chili recipe page, crinkled from getting wet and splattered with tomato sauce. Of course we’ve altered it a bit — mostly to make it easier.
Ingredients:
- 4 strips of bacon, diced
- 1 pound beef chuck roast, trimmed of fat, cut into 1/8-inch dice
- 1 yellow onions, peeled and chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, diced fine
- 1 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
- 1 teaspoons salt
- 4 tablespoons chile powder, or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano leaves
- 1 can diced tomatoes (28 oz)
- Cooked beans (any kind will work, but I like black beans or pinto beans best)
Saute the bacon until clear. Add the diced meat and brown over high heat along with the onions, garlic, and jalapeno.
When the meat is brown and the onions clear, add the remaining ingredients. Make sure to add the tomato juice.
Simmer for 1 hour and correct the seasoning. Cooked beans can be added to this, but they are optional.
Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream and chopped onions. Guacamole is also good as a topping.
