Beans Or No Beans??? Early 1900s Chili Recipes - Old Cookbook Show
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- Опубликовано: 3 сен 2022
- Beans Or No Beans??? Early 1900s Chili Recipes - Glen And Friends Cooking
I get it - You're from Texas and you believe that Chili was invented in Texas, and can't have beans in it... well it most likely wasn't invented there, and lots of Texas cookbooks from pre-WW2 have chili recipes with beans.
With that out of the way, we can move on. Down through the history of cooking there are many recipes all called 'chili' for short or chili con carne in full - not to mention many variations called Mexican Stew. Probably Chili Colorado (literally Chili Red) is the starting point for the modern recipe, but the basic meat and dried chili stew goes back centuries and wasn't really 'invented'.
This article from Texas Monthly does a decent job of trying to tell an unbiased history of Chili: www.texasmonthly.com/food/blo... Stating that many of the dates and history that are passed around as truth - are probably false.
Today on the old cookbook show we take a look at a bunch of community cookbook recipes and try to tease out what a traditional chili recipe looks like.
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Welcome Everyone!
Now I know that this can be a divisive topic - Beans or no Beans, and there is plenty of historical evidence; newspaper clippings from the late 1800s early 1900s and cookbooks that show Texans were eating chili with beans... So keep your comments polite.
Beans add that extra protein as you said, I do it when feeding a crowd, a few cans of beans in a large size pot/meal, no one really notices 😁. Delish!
Pimento, is the whole seed that when ground is what people call allspice.
@@rachelhunting In English (a crazy language of borrowed words) pimento can refer to a sweet / hot chili pepper (Capsicum annuum) - or it could refer to Allspice (Pimenta dioica). In this context, the recipes are probably calling for the chili pepper.
@@itzel1735 I think that one would cure a lot of meats so one could store it and ate it as it was when it became cured. Or perhaps one soaked it before preparing it. Or perhaps kept it in a heavy salt brine, perhaps with some spice.
Chili with beans. I just questioned my family and all 6 say beans. Typically 1can of black beans and 1 can of red kidney beans, although variations are acceptable.
When I think about how Glen must prep for these episodes, it’s hard not to imagine a messy office with a crazy person conspiracy board. Bits of string connecting places and ingredients with Glen standing in front of it all with his hands in his hair. Talking about how it doesn’t make sense.
I’m really gonna need someone to Photoshop Glenn onto Charlie.. it’s Pepe Silvia!
Truly I think all he has to do is go through his amazing cookbook collection. That usually backs up what he's saying.
Glen’s right-there’s no way stewed meat as a concept wasn’t around long before. And really, even Texans can’t agree on what’s in proper chili. I say this as a native Texan. This recipe looks tasty!
I wouldn't be so sure. Stewed meat as we understand it require water and heat proof cooking vessels, which is pretty hard without iron or advanced ceramics. And there were other gaps in Native American cooking practices, like the use of fat, possibly because of no pigs and available animals being very lean (like Turkeys).
My family has taken to calling chili cowboy curry. A lot of the spices are very similar to spices that make up garam masala.
@@shangrilainxanadu people were stewing meat in clay pots for centuries before ceramics and iron and just because we brown meat now for flavor doesn't mean they did then so no need for fat when stewing
@@shangrilainxanadu there have been examples of pottery found from native Americans about 6,000 years ago so I'd say it's pretty likely
I think humans have been stewing since neolithic times.
My dad had chili on our menu for years. I remember ot back to early 70's, I also remember the old timer (an African American man from the deep south) who had taught my father how to make it in the 60's. It absolutely had beans and was the best chili I've ever had or made! My dad had it on our menu as "Chili ala Willie" for Willie, who taught it to him. You're correct, regional differences in cooking matter. With all due respect to traditions and the Great State of Texas, Chili ala Willie will always be my best, and my paradigm. Thanks Glenn 👍
Potatoes are big in a lot of Mexican dishes and the same with tomatoes. We live in the Rio Grande Valley TX and the chili is thick and served with tortillas and beans on the side. Sometimes rice and a cabbage salad are also served with it. The salad is never with dressing.
Lots of people forget that potatoes and tomatoes are new world crops, my South American ancestors were eating potatoes long before my Irish ancestors!
I made chili with a can of corned beef last week, because I needed not to waste some canned things that were a little out of date. Turned out pretty good!
i have always encountered "pure" chili as having no beans, but sometimes being served along side (with) beans. however, i have had a lot of chili that contained beans as well. for what it's worth, i'm an old, old school grandpa from Texas. in my family, we had something we called, _"Yankee Chili"_ that featured beans and had the spices and peppers cut back. so while i have long experienced (and have fond memories of) both, personally, i prefer my chili without.
2:19 you're absolutely correct in that natives of the americas have been cooking stewed meats with spices and chile peppers for thousands of years. i also happen to be Chikasha (Chickasaw) and there are a LOT of traditional recipes that run along this vein. we mustn't forget the culinary contributions of the First Nations (indigenous) people.
Thank you for reminding us that we need to value the heritage contributions of the native Americans. Native American cooking would be another topic for Glenn to cover. In the meantime, I'm going to do some research myself. I would love to learn more about Native American cooking. Thanks again!
I would love to see your familie's traditional cooking. Maybe a collaboration with Glen could make that happen in an accessible way.
That was similar to my comment. My 4th grader is on the Texas natives portion of his social studies and we just did Cabeza de Vaca and his writings after spending years enslaved by and living and trading with the natives along the Rio Grande and into present day Mexico. I also follow a survivalist from my area in the Permian Basin who has really opened my eyes to the natives diets as much of what is readily available today in our Texas natives plants was available and consumed back then. Your basic Chili is simply that - pepper soup. Chiltepins, wild onion, false garlic all existed and still exist to this day. Then you catch a rattler, throw him in the pot and now you have chili con carne. Venison was also readily available. Leftover roasted deer from the night before still hanging over the fire and starting to dry out, shred and throw him in the pot to rehydrate the meat and add some variety of dishes. They also heavily relied on roots and I have it on good authority that some of them taste like soap. Specifically the ever abundant Yucca/agave family of plants. Some of these roots had to be baked in ground ovens for up to 2 days to make them edible and still they complained of the taste. Grind it and throw it in with a crapton of chiltepins and wild onions. Chili con soaproot. Maybe baking for days changed the saponins in the roots so less soapy, more bitter. The natives who knew have long since been eradicated or moved out. My husband is part Apache who were run out hy the comanche. I'm part Cherokee who were run off by the Europeans. I've been stocking books on native cooking and foraging for the last few years. To me it's fascinating and I have very little doubt that native pepper spiced soups didn't exist long before the Spaniards came, before Mexicans or Texians even existed to create the Tex-Mex version we have today.
I guess "Yankee Chili" kinda' makes sense, insofar as he mentioned that the further north you went the more likely one was to encounter beans in the Chili [hence probably "Yankee Chili" was the equivalent of "Northern Chili" or some such?], though even in Texas there were still preparations with beans in the mix.
But, as he says, it's no "one thing," and as long as it tastes good, make it how you like it, beans or bean-less... I've always had it with beans, and it seems like most of the store-bought stuff [Nalley, Stagg, and whatnot] features beans in it, unless it's specifically labeled as "con carne [without beans]," or some such... But, I welcome all recipes, including purist "con carne." I'm sure green chili and veggie chili and all manner of others [Cincinnati Chili, etc.] are all great, too... Hope to try them all some day.
I'm a Texan (first generation) and my entire family is from the Northern region of Mexico. This recipe seems very similar to what I've always known as Chile Colorado. As for the refried beans, we've always been a Pinto bean over Black bean family, even before everyone immigrated to the U.S.
Chile Colorado is amazing! Pinto beans all the way lol
Same here except Arizona via northern Sonora on my Dad's side.
Pinto beans all the way in our region. Black beans are favored further south but love them both.
I use black beans + "small red beans" (softer and less gritty than "kidney beans" [which I stopped using due to the grittiness]). Yum! Plus corn kernels. Which provides a little crunch and natural corn sweetness...
Chili is like Italian-American tomato sauce, ask ten different people how it's made and get thirteen different answers.
You are 💯 right. I really don’t know anybody who makes chili “the same,” unless it was because they follow a recipe they got from somebody else. Otherwise, it seems everybody follows their own directions. As Glenn has shown, recipe books are loaded with different methods, and as Glenn always says… “Make the recipe your own. Make it the way you like it.”
@@Ranman451
We don’t even make chili “the same” at our house from one iteration to the next! A written recipe for chili around here is unofficially forbidden. The dish is always made up as we go along.
@@mikezimmermann89 Right?
I always free-hand it with what I have on-hand, and eyeball the amounts. I always have a rough idea of what will go in it, but it varies from batch to batch, and varies with how much I end up making, whether a large or small batch, which kind of changes how much spices / herbs and such you'd need for it to be "the same" [it never is, like ... ever].
@@Ranman451 Quite right... My chili is an evolution from an old Lea & Perrin's recipe called something like "meat skillet," which is now fairly lost to the ages. But, basically it was ground meat and beans, maybe corn, with tomato paste or spaghetti sauce, a fair amount of steak sauce, a bay leaf [I pretty quickly dropped that requirement as unnecessary], and maybe some other stuff I forget.
I used to make this all the time as a teenager. But, as I grew up, I kept adding stuff to it, or subtracting stuff from it, and then noticed the similarity to a lot of chili recipes, and basically added chili powders and other stuff, and "evolved" it over time into my own chili recipe, which I think is pretty good. ^_^
As you say, everyone makes it their own way, whether by recipe, or by eyeballing it, and customizes it to their own taste. And as the OP says, ask 10 people, get 20 different recipes. ;) I myself have at least a few variants...
My mother was a child of the Depression and she always included beans and spaghetti in chili, with a minimum of spice. Thank you for helping me put her recipe in historical and geographical context, Glen.
It always seems that the way one ate chili as a kid is what one considers the "right" way. Ladies and gentlemen, eat what you like! But Imma gonna try this way, since my Puerto Rican mom never made chili so I have no preconceived notions!
I grew up with ground beef (browned, crumbled, and drained), kidney beans, tomato, chili powder, onion and garlic. Maybe started with a can of Campbell's chili soup (that I haven't seen in years. My mom made it loose, like a stew/soup, and we ate it with buttered saltines. But never added rice, potatos, or pasta.
What I make today is completely different in flavor and thickness.
You are a great historian & presentor. I grew up with kidney beans in chili. Pinto beans were used in ham & beans. Black beans weren't available. Refried beans = pinto beans. Thank you.
Yes! Ham & beans are pintos for us, too.
I used to use kidney beans, but honestly, I kinda' dislike their grittier texture, and have all but stopped using them in favor of "small red beans," which are very much the same, but IMO better texturally [none of what I perceive as the tougher "grittiness" of kidney beans]. Though, I'll still throw in kidney beans once in a while in addition to the other beans, and they're okay, I guess. But I still think I like the "small red" better...
I have always seen chili as one of those things that you just add in whatever you have available.
That's basically my approach.
Some sort of ground meat - might be beef, might be pork. Diced tomatoes. Might include chopped onions. Might include sliced chile peppers. Prolly some sort of beans - usually I go with blackeyed peas but I've used pintos and kidney beans too - sometimes all three. And yeah, I do use chili powder.
Except broccoli. I like broccoli but in chili it is horrendous.
Indeed... I have my basic recipe in the back of my head, but it varies with what's in the cupboard, rarely exactly the same twice... Just 'cause my cupboard contents tend to vary. But, regardless, it's truly hard to "screw up" chili, 'cause it's very forgiving and almost always edible barring completing burning it or not putting in any salt / spices / chilies or powder.
I love this channel and Glen, how you present your material with rich history and an open mind to just about any recipe. If there were golden globes or emmy's given I'd say you would have a lovely shelf up in the kitchen displaying your numerous awards.
Man, do I greatly enjoy the time spent when you peruse through those old cookbooks..the history within those volumes is facinating to me..this brought me to search for some interesting cookbooks, and I came upon "The Taste of Longing: Ethel Mulvany and her Starving Prisoners of War Cookbook." This book will be my first read...
That sounds like a fascinating but tragic book.
When the episode opens with 10 cookbooks on the counter, you know it's going to be an informative one. Also, my chili experience always happens in a bowl.
Would love a whole Cincinnati chili episode. I have struggled with trying to perfect that for a long time
I personally make a version of “Texas Red” with beans and have won a few chili cook offs with it. Make it how you like and enjoy!
You definitely didn’t win any sanctioned ICS or CASI competition’s! No filler’s like beans are allowed.
I take tongue-in-cheek "personal offense" at dismissing beans as "filler." IMO, they are an integral part of a good bean-chili or meat-bean-chili dish. As much as tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, garlic, or any other ingredient.
It's like some trolling asshole excluding pineapple from a pizza cook-off, 'cause they don't like it and are feeling salty... 🙃🤣
I’m originally from SE Texas and prefer beans in my chili, though no bean “Texas Red” is always good too.
Growing up, my dad’s was made with tomatoes (puréed, maybe sauce), pinto beans, and grounded beef and spices.
My current recipe uses crushed roasted tomatoes, diced onion, chipotle peppers, spices, pinto beans, beef sausage (Central Tx style if I can get it), and either cubed or ground pork.
It’s based off of the Black Bean, Beef, and Sausage Chili from the Texas Chili Parlor in Austin, TX.
I just recently moved a bit east of college station. Do you have any examples of where to get what you think is a good example of Texas style beef sausage?
Also I'll have to make a trip to Austin to try that!
@@alecwallisch9045 I prefer Southside Market or Meyers Sausage, both from Elgin near Austin. There's also Chappell Hill Sausage Co. near Brenham. All three might be available in some HEBs around Central TX.
@@alecwallisch9045 I'd also recommend Giddings Meat Market for fresh made sausage, and for some amazing BBQ, Snow's in Lexington (only open on Saturday mornings).
Hi Glenn.. 😁 NE Ohio here. We always had chili with red kidney beans. Daddy was Texan, Mama was from WVA. Refried beans were pinto beans. My friends Alfredo and Fernando who were born and raised in Mexico loved my moms cooking...so I guess it had the Mexican stamp of approval. As for the chili con carne, Mama made chili with elbow macaroni added. However Cincinnati Ohio is famous for their version of chili served over spaghetti. Its named for the diner that started it all, Skyline Chili. The diner is still there, still serving the chili. And for you people not lucky enough to live in Ohio its sold frozen in super markets.
Actually, Empress Chili was first. It started out as a food cart outside the Empress burlesque theater in the 20's. One of their employees went on to start Skyline in the 40's.
Chili could be seen as a wonderful example of recipe adaption of a basic "process". Thanks for posting today.
15 minutes of excellent historical info presented by Glen.
Glen: Ok, so what have we learned?
Me: Everything?
Julie: Make it the way you like it?
I love this show.
I get up at 06:00 (Calgary,time ) to watch what you guys “serve “us.
I really enjoy the history
Love your show. I rewatched this episode and learned more from it. I grew up in New England in the 1950’s without ever tasting chili before college. My son always calls the chili I make - New England chili. Fairly mild with ground beef, several varieties of beans, tomatoes, onions, red sweet peppers and a whisper of cinnamon. My son grew up in Texas and the New England is to acknowledge the wide variety of vegetables in this dish. There is always hot sauce on the table and visiting Texans aren’t disappointed.
A home cooked meal is a gift of love. Everyone kisses different. Thank you.
Minnesota, USA here. For re-fried beans I use pinto beans. I also use them for a bean and cheese dip. I just made a pot of chili last week. For meat, I use a bottom round roast that I put in the smoker. Sometimes I use beans, sometimes not. Re-fried beans on the side is something I've never thought of but sounds great!
Wow! Thank you for what must have been hours and hours of research! Did it seem like "I'll just look this up" and it turned into a very deep rabbit hole? That's what happens to me, lol.
Love your show!
Native Texan here. Never put beans in my chili, ever, but I get that people should make food the way they wish to eat it. Loved this video!
I have a degree in Ethnic Studies. Thank You Glen for not erasing indigenous peoples contributions.
What kind of dishes and cooking styles and cooking implements were common in the new world before europeans arrived? I'm wondering, what animal they got fat from for frying and what did they make larger cooking pots from(no ironworking) for soups and stuff?
@@lasskinn474 bison was usrd for lits of things. They used the entire bison for fats, they made soaps, meats, used the hides for clothing, shelter, and warmth. Over 100 different products and uses. They made tools. Nothing was wasted. Look it up sometime. It's a good read. Unlike the white Europeans who killed the bison and took out a hunk of meat and left the rest to rot.
They also used the bladders to store water in
I love these deep-dives into the history of recipes, and how they evolve depending on where, geographically, they are being made. Great video!
My late grandmother made what she called Pennsylvania Dutch Chili without any hot pepper or chili powder, but with a little bit of sugar in the sauce. I turned the recipe into a four alarm chili that included three kinds of beans and four different spicy ingredients. Both of us usually used ground beef in our chili, although when money was tight I would either stretch the meat with some ground turkey or just use a pound of ground turkey and skip the hamburger.
The only chili I’ve had that didn’t include beans is a Texas hot dog sauce that is served on top of a plain hot dog in the bun and makes it very messy to eat. This recipe looks delicious!
By the way, my four alarm chili was served in a bowl over lightly crushed tortilla or corn chips and a slice of American cheese.
You know it's gonna be a good episode when Glen has a library laid out in the kitchen.
Outstanding episode! Lots of fun. Incidentally, Cincinnati Chili is really based on a Greek meat sauce.
I seem to remember that it is called Kema in Greece. Also most of Detroit's Coney Chile sauces are of Greek influence as well.
@@howardbartlett3026 I believe you are totally correct. It goes to show how radically different two chilies can be, even with a similar origin. They are individually very tasty, but have little similarity in look, consistency or flavor. Rather than focus on the differences, let’s celebrate that both Detroit and Cincinnati chilies have coney restaurants with loyal followers who will debate forever which is better. If we are being honest, though, they are both wonderful!
@@howardbartlett3026 Interesting. Indian ground beef curry is called "keema". I wonder if it travelled with Alexander.
I’m
Soooo
Ready
For chili season!
There's no season for Chili. I make it all year, my family always has.
@@trirycheman we always have chili around deer season and through the winter ☺️.
You mean to say there's a non-chili season?? Heresy! :P
What a GREAT episode! I love the research you always do, but you went above and beyond this time. Somewhere (perhaps in one of my "Mexican" cookbooks (in quotes because they are all in English, though some are written by chefs from Mexico) I think it was noted that "refried" doesn't actually mean "fried twice." Rather, it is an Anglicization of "refrito" (I'm not sure of the spelling), which simply means "fried." Am I remembering that correctly? I'm partial to pinto beans, but love all beans, and I definitely put them in my chilli. Well done! Now, I've got to go buy some meat to chop and dried chilies to soak. I just got done boiling the pinto beans.
no, it also means fried twice, but can also mean something like well-fried, although I don't believe that's the meaning
You're correct. Refrito means fried, plain and simple. However, that meaning for refrito nowadays is only used in Spain, and, to an extent, Europe. What Glen served would be called frijoles fritos in most of Latin America. Frijoles refritos are cooked with oil in a pan to the point where they are forming a sort of dough, to call it someway, and separating from the bottom and the sides of the pan. In that case, refrito would mean something like "very fried".
@@CalebCalixFernandez thank you to both repliers very good information.
The “no beans in Texas Chili” started in 1967 with the first Chili Cook Off in Terlingua Texas. What started as a publicity stunt has evolved into a very serious yearly competition over seen by the “Chili Appreciation Society International-CASI.” Rule #3 “No Fillers in Chili - beans, macaroni, hominy, rice, or other similar ingredients are not permitted for judging.” Many home cooks have taken that to heart. Only in completion are beans not allowed. Home cooks can add as much beans as they like. The argument will always continue. Love your historical spin on recipes. Keep posting those videos. Dale Clark. San Antonio TX.
Personally, I don't consider beans to be "filler," I consider them to be an essential part of the chili, as much as the meat.
It's called "chili," not "meat stew," and it should be the chilies that take center stage [flavoring whatever other ingredients are added to the dish, whether beans, onions, bell peppers, meat, zucchini, or something else], not an argument over meat vs. beans as the protein source.
IMO, the source of protein is quite irrelevant. Heck, make a purely vegetarian "chili" that's all beans, or no beans at all and just uses other vegetables like zucchini, tomatoes, etc., ... with chilies / chili powder. Why the hate specifically for beans? Are you allowed to use tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, and other vegetables? If so, one should damn well be able to use beans...
The whole "it has to be meat and nothing else" thing seems like little more than a hand-out to the cattleman's association.
If nothing else, they should maybe have a "con carne" competition [for those purists who thing chili should **only** have meat (and nothing else other than chilies; even tomatoes, onions, bell peppers?)] and an "everything else" competition (where things **other than meat** are allowed).
Thank you Glen! I so thoroughly enjoyed learning the cookbook history of this type of recipe. I appreciate all the work you put into this! I'm going to try this for sure. Now can you show us how to make refried beans?
I've never had chili con carne, as I'm Mexican-American and my family always made "asado de boda" and less often mole. Either way, it's always served with either mexican style spaghetti or mexican rice and these special refried beans that are slightly red because a guajillo sauce is mixed in. So when you said some people mix in beans and some mix in spaghetti it seems like they turned the stew with the sides into just one big bowl of everything. I personally like to keep things separated.
My family made refried beans with peruvian beans, they're not from Peru but that's the name they got for them. I do remember my family used to use pinto beans before peruvian beans were widely available. I think they say "flor de mayo" beans are the best but they're super expensive and not widely available in the US. But yeah, southern Mexico uses black beans more often and northern Mexico doesn't really - my family is from central north region.
I have found reference earlier this week thanks to my 4th graders social studies lessons to Castillo in the 1500's and a type of mole the aztecs made with peppers and tomato assumed to be like a chili base. I tend to think like you said - the chili soup base with whatever you added to it. As far as others have mentioned Texas Natives had access to chiltepin peppers, wild onion, false garlic, etc so there's nothing unreasonable about assuming they'd have a chili soup base and throw in whatever venison, bison, rabbit, etc they happened to have leftover to stretch the meat and flavor it. I tend to think of chili as potentially a thousands of years old dish that has been tweaked by the addition of the Spaniards and the hogs and spices they brought with them and later by European Texians after the natives had been bred out or ran off for the most part into the Tex-Mex version we have today.
I just smile every time Glenn takes off his glasses to read, because I do the same thing and people tease me when I do it.
Same here.
I used to take script glasses off, then after having cataract surgery, I went for distance vision...so I could drive & use readers for the obvious.
I think some of the ones mentioning potato are crossing over into carne guisada territory, as opposed to chili. Given the second-hand nature of some recipes early on I could see things getting mixed up.
To me, beans in chili were always a poverty thing. We certainly did this growing up. As an adult with a good income these days I aim for chili made with decent cuts of meat and I mostly start with whole dried peppers. But if I needed to stretch it at some point? Sure, beans it is.
Here in Southern California refried pintos are the norm in most restaurants (with the occasional exception) but refried black beans in the can are readily available in most grocery stores.
I have literally just finished making a massive pot of vegetable & bean chilli. My Hubby just devoured a big bowl of it, lol. We don't really eat meat much, so I just made the veggie option. But we had tonnes of mixed beans, butter beans, chillis, carrots, suede, green beans, turnip, pearl onions, white onions, sweetcorn, cubed spuds (potatoes) peppers and basically anything else I could find in my fridge and freezer, lol. Then I add my spice mix to make it tasty and hot. I have to make it a bit spicier than most would prefer, as my Husband has Anosmia (no sense of smell) which affects his taste buds too....so I have to pack it with spices just so he can taste it.....it would blow your head off, teehee. Great dish for cold Northern Ireland Winters. Lee :)
I moved to Wisconsin in ~2001 from Arkansas, but my parents were from Northern California and Montana, with parents who migrated across the US (and one from Mexico). Not a lot of “food roots” planted in my family. But, my dad always made smoky, spicy chili with cubed steak, kidney beans, and masa to thicken. I remember walking into the cafeteria at school on “chili day” to find what I consider meat sauce, which had ground beef and noodles in it. Totally rocked my world! I still don’t care for that style of chili, but thanks for helping me understand it ☺️
Chili Mac was a regular in the school menu when I was growing up. Served to be eaten with a spoon and not as spicy as what was made at home, but good.
My Sunday lunches are not complete without the old cookbook show.
Chili is so varied, and lends itself to improvisation very well. I have several versions that I make, with my current favorite being chorizo and black bean, with lots of fresh peppers. I also love Cincinnati "three way", with the pasta, cheese, and chopped fresh onion. Great for hard times, since it stretches to feed more folks.
I live in OR, transplant from TX and I love all refried beans. This reminded me of when I was young and my dad perfecting his chili recipe. Every Sunday it was a new iteration. The best was when he screwed up and it was too hot. We got sandwiches instead while he ate his bowl with a bright red face and beads of sweat. Adult me wishes I could try that one now!
I thoroughly enjoy the history part of these Old Cookbook shows. I mean, yeah, the food is great, but the history is just a treat.
Growing up, my mom who was from Southern Indiana made two types of chili. The first was on the sweet side. It was a chili soup with hamburger, pinto beans, onions, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, tomato juice, spaghetti noodles and a good amount of sugar. The second, I’m guessing she learned in Texas. It was ground beef browned, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper and garlic added. Then flour was added and browned slightly in the meat drippings and some water added. It was pretty thick, no tomatoes or beans at all. This is a similar recipe to what my Mexican American coworker used to make. This chili was served over rice.
I prefer it with beans, at least when I cook it. But if I get served chili without beans it's not the end of the world. Beans don't make the chili, only adds or detracts depending on the recipe and/or method.
Edited to add: the make or break thing for me with chili is the heat level. I like mild. Quite mild. If making for me I leave out chilis and use chili powder for flavoring. LOL I don't like spicy foods... and I am married to an Indonesian, and travel from time to time to Indonesia - Manado area in North Sulawesi - where spicy food is a way of life.
To me Chili always had beans. In elementary school in the ‘70s - 80’s when they served Chili it had beans. As a kid, I noticed a new type of canned Chili called “ Chili con Carne without Beans”.
I feel like I am in a transitional zone. First, it’s now a compliment to call someone “ Dope”. Last week I find out Dump Cake is not what I thought it was. Today, I find out there’s a big debate whether Chili has beans or not.
I love your channel and find it enlightening and informative. I am amused by the comments of some people who think their way of thinking is the only way. Regional differences and availability are the key factors in old recipes, and recipes evolve over time as different ingredients become available. I guess I have lived long enough to know that the ingredients my mother cooked with were seasonal and not available year-round like today. Keep up the good work, my friend, I will keep viewing and will certainly let you know when you are wrong!😜
8:54 Having pasta in the chili is what we were served in the military on numerous occasions as chili-mac
Gulf Coast Texan here. Pinto's are the common bean in my experience. Lots of parents used rice as an extender for larger Cajun families.
My favorite Mexican food restaurant has a chili gravy that is fantastic. Secret recipe unchanged in their restaurant since 1960. Sooo good.
Love all your research. This show deserves an award for excellent, informative, and fun content! Thanks!
I believe if it tastes good who cares if it’s “authentic”… I’ve had many, many dishes called “chili” some with beans, some without… many different kinds of meat or no meat at all…
This video reminds me of the saying “would a rose by any other name smell as sweet…”
Great recipe and video!!!!
I’d be an awful judge… I’d be like “oh, that’s really good” “so is that” “that’s different, but delicious “… lol
I live in South Texas, San Antonio, not native, but been here since 1976. For me "refries" are always pinto beans. I used to make them from scratch years ago, but now let Gebhardt do the work for me, then I add enhancements (Pace picante sauce usually). Black beans seem to becoming more popular, but I just don't fine them tasty to me. I prefer beans in my chili, as opposed to what I think of as chili gravy, which is good over enchiladas and such. Now, I just have to ask... What kind of work does Jules do for her day job? Every time I see her I think she must be a Physical Therapist. She has the look and vibe of so many Physical Therapists I've known. Do love her addition to the tastings and assessments. Another great show today. Thanks for doing all the research and providing the backstories. Most fascinating.
ok because you asked me. I am from San Antonio, the home of the Chili Queens!! Beans are refried pinto, and chili has no beans and no tomatoes. Chili also has mexican oregano and lots of molcajete ground garlic and cumin seeds. It can be thickened at the finish with a corn meal slurry if needed. Also the processing of the chilis would have been done in a molcajete and then run through a sieve to remove the bigger skins and bits. A side sauce of charred then molcajete ground peppers, either jalapeno or serrano, and onion and garlic. This is all straight from the mexican moms of the 50's who taught me to make it, along with tortillas etc.. I would also just add that if the meat stew has potatoes it is then a picadillo. Keep up the works you are wonderful!
I'm a Texan born and raised, I always make my chili with beans. If you go to a supermarket here and look at the canned chili isle, the chili with beans is always sold out and the chili without beans is always fully stocked. Also, when I was younger I worked in the kitchen of a Mexican restaurant, we always made our borracho beans with pinto beans and used the borracho's to make our refried beans.
To me “Stew” my friend has a prerequisite of potatoes! So I def agree with that Mexican stew. Very cool, thank you for doing all the historical research! I love that aspect of your videos, and you passion for food and the story behind each dish! Thank you again for all you do my friend, keep up the great work. It’s def pinto for refried beans in my neighborhood.
I so enjoy your videos and the back ground of the recipe. Oh I can't get out of my mind, the recipe you talk about a recipe for chili and it has a whie sauce. I'd love to get it. I love old cookbooks , love reading through cookbooks. Thank you for all you do,
Great episode! I am an avid Mexican Food fan and grew up along the Mexican Border in Southern California. I worked with Mexican agricultural and construction laborers for many years and spent time in the agricultural labor camps learning how to cook simple working-class style food. I know you travel to Mexico from time to time and my hunch is you visit the popular destinations of central and southern Mexico? The black bean rules in this part of Mexico, all the way to South America where the Brazilians use it in their famous "feijoada".
however, if you spend time in Northern Mexico closer to the U.S. border, or in Baja California, the pinto bean is the more widely used bean. So, you are quite correct in stating recipes and preferences change from region to region.
My family always made "chili" with potatoes, hamburger, onion, green pepper (if we had it), and kidney beans in a red sauce with no spice. No one else in our area prepared chili with potatoes, so I thought it was something weird my family did because I come from a long line of picky eaters. It is interesting to hear it was a thing.
Great recipe. Growing up in California I had many Hispanic friends. I ate refried beans of almost all type of beans; pinto, black, small red bean and kidney depending on family and whatever bean was on hand. The most unusual refried beans I've ever had were made from chickpeas! No, not hummus actual frijoles refitos with lard and all the right spices. Absolutely delicious!! I still make them that way every now and again myself. Try it!
I can trace my Texas roots to one of the original families who founded San Antonio, and my Mom was born and raised in Mexico. I was born and raised in Alberta 🇨🇦. I have only ever had refried beans made with pinto beans. If given a choice between all the beans, my preference is pintos but I would still happily eat other beans 👍
For the record, my mom never made anything that resembled chili. But we frequently ate beans (only pintos) with meals. I only started making chili based on a community cookbook recipe called chili con carne which I have adapted using the spices, beans and flavours I grew up on.
Make what you like is perfect! I consider recipes a suggestion and will adapt based on our resources and needs and tastes.
Love these deep-dives!
My mother (who grew up in northeastern PA) made chili multiple ways. She used a tomato-based sauce with cumin, onion, garlic, and a few other spices. She'd split some of it off and add beans (my father liked it that way), and the rest went on top of pasta. Both were good.
Hi Glen and Jules and friends... I've been living in Oaxaca for more than 30 years now. I am an amateur cook who does most of my own cooking. In Oaxaca they use black beans in almost everything, including refried beans. In the North & Texas Pinto beans are the bean of choice. However since I cook dishes from all over the world I like to experiment and have used almost any bean I can get my hands on to make refried beans and other bean dishes. I would systematically buy different beans at the dry goods store. I particularly remember a fat dark purple coloured bean which I enjoyed. So as you often say, do what you want. Goya beans from the US has tons of different beans on offer. Jim Oaxaca
As a native Texan (fourth generation), I re-fry all kinda beans: pintos, negros, mayocobas, cranberries ... the list goes on. Just about any _frijol_ can be boiled and then fried. My go-to, however, is the venerable _frijole pinto._
I don't like cooking beans in the same pot as my chile con carne, for the reason that the beans and the meat don't cook at the same rate so if the meat is done, the beans are mush and if the beans are done, the meat's still half-raw. Better to do each in its own pot, serve each in its own bowl, and let the guests combine them at table if they like. (Personally, I like serving chile with _frijoles borrachos_ anyway.)
Good on yer for digging up an original Gebhardt's Chili Powder pamphlet as a resource. Wilhelm Friedrich Gebhardt invented modern chili powder as we know it in Texas in 1896, marketed as Eagle Brand (in tribute to the eagle in Aztec mythology, as it appears on the Mexican flag). Although it's not as easy to obtain as it once was, Gebhardt's chili powder is still made and available to this day.
I’m originally from Louisiana. My mother always made chili with ground beef and red beans (kidney), and served it over rice. It’s still my favorite way to eat chili, though I now live in Fort Worth, TX. And here, there are folks who fight about beef vs pork in chili.
My folks grew up during the Great Depression, their chili recipes both had kidney beans as a meat extender. Father leaned to cook in the Army and Mom cooked in lumber camps. They started a pretty good restaurant in the 50's. The no beans push back came from the Internation Chili Cookoffs during the 70's and the Carol Shelby Texas Mafia. I got a fourth place in a local contest at that time and the guy that won our local went on to take first place in the International. I love chili with beans but my wife has a sensitive digestion so I now make it without beans and serve beans for me on the side.
Louisiana bred, but lived in south Texas for 24-25 years. Beans for me…. And not a kidney bean.. I use black beans, great Northern’s (or cannellini ), and pinto beans. I also, over the years, started putting in corn kernels. My husband, also Louisiana bred, always had no beans, but rice with his chili (before we married…LOL)…
I think that spaghetti noodles in chili is called fideo. I know that fideo has a tomato-based sauce, not as thick of a sauce as actual (Americanized) spaghetti, and a bit spicier than American spaghetti.
Being from Ohio, I really love Cincinnati Chili. However, I'm also a big fan of more "traditional" chilis. I've often ladled "traditional" chili over spaghetti or rice, or even made a lasagna of sorts.
One of my favorite recipes is actually a vegetarian chili recipe that I found online that uses 3 kinds of beans, corn, bell peppers and spices that include Chili powder, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cocoa, paprika and smoked paprika.
I could probably anger people all over the US in a discussion about chili, lol.
Thanks for all of the videos, recipes, tips and food history, Glenn.
As an old book lover you kept me on the edge while you cooked.. Old books in a kitchen!!😖.. nice end result of cooking by the way!!
My mother (origin: Maritime Canada) made what she called Chili Con Carne. Her chili had ground beef, red kidney beans, tomato sauce, onions and a it of chili powder, but not much else. . . maybe salt and pepper. Later, I made chili with the addition of chunked bell pepper, garlic and Cayenne pepper. My friends quipped "The peppers are the cool bits?" and "Ozonol for desert?". . . .and a Texan of my acquaintance said (tactfully) "It's naaaice, but it ain't chili."
I hate Sundays for a very peculiar reason, but the Old Cookbook Show is something that definitely helps take the salt out of the wound. Looked amazing Glen and Jules!
Growing up in Pennsylvania, we always had chili made with ground beef, and usually ladled over some cooked elbow macaroni. An uncle of mine who had a farm once served chili with green peas thrown in. This is actually pretty good and I sometimes will add some peas when I make chili.
North Alabama here, I use black beans for my refried but I'm not sure if that's a local favorite...it's just me. But you brought up something that intrigued me...potatoes in a chili. I immediately saw O'brien potatoes from Ore-Ida in my chili! Easy and filling.
What I learned from the English cook Rick Stein was that when they called it Chili Con Carne it was made with ground beef. But if they called it Carne Con Chili it was made with cubed beef. Either way, both are very tasty. And yes I think you should ad beans to it.
This was a fantastic breakdown of chili traditions and styles, thank you for putting in so much work!
Thank you so much for the history lessons you always offer! It is very hard to see past our own notions of what a food should be. You are the voice of reality we all need to hear.
Good chili either with or without beans is amazing. Thank you for an amazing history lesson yet again! Now to the important thing 😎. Always, always black beans ( turtle beans) for refried. Fry up a small amount of onion in a generous amount of lard or strained bacon fat until almost black on the sauté function in instant pot or any pressure cooker.. Throw in the washed, drained beans, water, salt, cumin, garlic ( whatever strikes the fancy that day) and epazote or Mexican oregano. Cook on high pressure until really soft, usually at least an hour. Turn the pot back to sauté and mash and stir until liquid cooks out and the whole bean to mash ratio is the texture you want. Garnish with Queso and chopped cilantro. Tastes like Mexico!
Apparently these are the ingredients from Mrs. Owen's 1880 Cookbook.
ground coriander
ground cumin
onions
dried oregano
dried chiles
lean beef
Espagnole sauce
Found them online at Eat Your Books. The recipe was included in a book: Serious Pig: An American Cook in Search of His Roots By John & Matt Lewis Thorne. Doesn't give the amounts or recipe.... have to buy their book for that. Go to your library and see if they offer Interlibrary Loan Services. When I was a librarian, we borrowed from all over the world. One of our partons was writing a book on the history of kerosene lanterns (like Coleman camping lanterns) and the gauze mantles that are used with them. They're apparently a German invention. Most of those books were very old, early 1900s, and we could only find them in Germany. Facinating!
With a dad who grew up 50 miles north of NM, retried beans are always pintos. This is a really traditional sounding stew for the era. I always put beans in my chili, but I’d leave them out if I was making a beef stew with chili gravy.
Born and raised in Texas, i was shocked to discover Cincinnati Chili. I never add tomatoes and also blend the onions, garlic, chilis until smooth. Use cumin, cinnamon and cloves.
Glen, here in Texas, my experience with Tex-Mex and northern Mexican dishes has been that refried beans use pinto beans. Pinto beans are also typically served with bar-b-que here, but they are not refried. If you order a seafood dish from the Mexican coast or a dish from southern Mexico, you will probably be served refried black beans. Both are very delicious. It is also common to be served pinto or black beans that are not refried. Love the channel!
My great-grandfather had a butcher shop in central Oklahoma in the 1930s and '40s. As far as we can tell it contained ground chuck, some kind of purple peppers we haven't yet identified, and oatmeal...to soak up the grease because he sold it by the pound. No onions, no tomato. The recipe has come down through the family, and in my branch of the family it's a pretty standard mild chili with ground beef, tomatoes, onions, spices, and beans. My grandmother's older sister passed down a completely different version to her children, which I think might be closer to Grandpa Marshall's version.
Try carne guisada con papas (Mexican beef stew with potatoes). Awesome dish and extremely flavorful. Thanks for the video. Refried pinto beans from Galveston Texas .
My wife’s extended family is from and lives in Green Bay and the first time we visited I was surprised to see spaghetti in chili, I thought it was just a Cincinnati thing!
From and live in Wisconsin: depending where you are, certain communities put noodles into chili. I grew up with macaroni, some places do spaghetti but then you can't easily eat it with a spoon.
Certain restaurants and chili competitions will give your the chili and then a cup of noodles to put in if you want.
I prefer beans in my chili
Well I prefer chili in my beans how about that
@@CharlesLumia to each their own my friend lolol.
Just a quick note to say thank you for the time and work you put into these Sunday gatherings. On the chili front.... I have had great chili, good chili, so so chili and bad chili. And I have made the same...lol The only common ingredient in any of them was meat. After that all bets are off.
Glen your knowledge of cooking and your collection of historical cooking books is a beautiful thing to witness
Its amazing to me how even the most hardline authenticity arguments are often completely baseless. This was such an eye opener on a lot of levels, even for me! My grandfather likes potatoes in his chili and I always balked at the suggestion, but clearly there is not only a historical basis for this but it likely comes from Mexico even!
Pimiento is a sweet pepper. I haven't found any reference to those wildly occuring in Texas but I have only become interested in foraging native plants or cultivating them in the last 2 yrs so I'm still very much learning.
Chiltepin is a native Texas wild hot pepper that natives would have known of centuries ago as well as wild onion which is abundant. There is also false garlic wildly occuring in Texas. There's a paper written about the translations of the journal of Cabeza de Vaca who spent years living with the natives. Where he was, water was much more limited so stews don't seem to be as abundant for the natives he traveled with but further north and further south into Mexico where water wasn't as scarce, it is absolutely likely there was a pepper soup/stew as a base that individual families wld have made with whatever they could find - venison, buffalo, rabbit, etc etc etc. I follow a YT survivalist that specializes in the area from the Davis mountains east to San Antonio. The majority of what would have been available to people before Europeans came is still available today. If you take what was here and what was available in Mexico and the records of Castillo who encountered the Aztecs in the same century and mentions tomato (long before Americans got over thinking it was poisonous) in a mole type dish with meat and plenty of peppers also, it's likely in my mind that they had a need to so highly season some of the gamey animals they were eating, the sometimes flavorless or badly flavored roots they were reliant on, etc, and adding a stew of the hot wild native peppers and wild onions would have accomplished this. JMO of course, and Idk what the actual origin stories are beyond "from Mexico" chili is a pepper soup. Con carne adds meat to the equation, masa made from nixtimalized and ground maize (which you'd need the molcajete to grind along with the dried peppers after deveining and deseeding them) is used to thicken it if desired, and possibly ground mesquite bean pods as a thickener since it made up somewhere around 20% of the natives meager diets but it has a slightly sweet flavor to it. That may be why tomatoes or even tomatillos with their sweetish hints have been added where mesquite isn't available but that is all speculation on my part..... and stew has beans and tomatoes. As a Texan, that's what I know/believe about the origins. There's enough abundance of native available plants to support it being a thousands of years old dish brought forward into modern times.
As for today, Tex-Mex chili has no beans. 😉😊😄😄👍🏻
This is a great episode and just shows how complex food history is. I am a firm believer of people using the least amount of cooking pots and utensils especially when you are looking at recipes way back, especially before plumbed water and waste water.
As a native of Southeastern Arizona I can say that 'Chile con Carne' is just that, meat in a red pepper (Chile Colorado) based gravy. It almost always includes onion/garlic/oregano/cumin and is thickened with either corn flour (masa) or a flour based roux. No beans, that is a side dish along with rice and warm tortillas.
Try "Las Palmas" brand Chile Colorado canned sauce as a base and go from there if you don't want to steep dried chiles from scratch.
Everything else is just 'chili beans' to us. Or frijoles con carne, Charro beans, Ranchero beans etc.
The good news is they all are yummy!
Glenn, I love your exploration of old cookbooks. I like to use my Mom's and Grandmom's old recipes and cookbooks and update them a bit to modern tastes. They lived during the depression and definitely looked for a way to "stretch" ingredients. My Mom made Chile (with beans). It was probably mild by today's standards. But I remember at as being pretty good.
Hi there 😄 you've a gorgeous picture on your profile! Just decided to stop by and say hi!! I hope my compliment is appreciated.
4th generation, at least as far back as I've traced, Texan here. At least on Dad's side. Mom's side goes back to southwestern native American. While I usually don't put beans in my chili when I make it I certainly don't push a bowl away if I get them served to me. I think that Chili, like most other food terms, is far more generic and all encompassing rather than a stringent list of parts and procedures. And being so simple in its broad strokes makes it impossible to track the origins of. Thank you, Glen, for exploring this. Max Miller also has a great video over on his channel which also mentions Gabhardt.
As is the common theme in these videos, all printed recipes are a guide, a snapshot in time of how someone likes to make something, every family has their version that's handed down and changes happen as people make do with what they find, I don't think I ever make the same recipe twice!😂 Always adding this or that, changing ratios depending on what's in the cupboard 😜
My university days, lazy supper was Kraft dinner with a can of chili mixed in. Absolutely amazing everyone to try it right now
raised in cali, always made our own refried pinto beans from scratch with the oil/onions/tomatoes we used to cook pork chops, carne asada, etc
You're 1 of my fave cooks a fellow Canadian, If I may I would like to suggest another chef for you to follow if your not already he is French and Italian and an accomplished chef trained in both countries, had a successful restaurant for years in florida and is an instructor he is hilarious and informative [chef jean pierre[ I know you'll enjoy his recipes and watching him as well.