If It’s Chili, It’s Personal

New York Times ^ | FEB. 10, 2014 | JENNIFER STEINHAUER

[nickcarraway]

Chili tastes are highly personal, often inflexible and loaded with preconceptions — the political party of culinary offerings.

For some people raised in Texas, the notion of beans is akin to cat food, dismissed with derision as filler. Some chili cooks believe flavor rises and falls on cumin levels; others say the story begins and ends with dried chiles. Some like a rich beefy stock, and there are those who extol the entanglement of bacon.

Poultry and venison have their place (beef purists blanch), and vegetarian chili is met largely with guffaws except by the people who smilingly bring it to potlucks, an act that seems to stem from their childhood issues often associated with snack cake deprivation.

Serving rituals vary.

Oyster crackers on the side? Some have never heard of it, but maybe. Rice? Often! My Texan mother-in-law always served chili over spaghetti, a bit of Cincinnati craziness that confused and unnerved me, but I am perfectly at peace with chili dumped over a bag of corn chips, known as Frito pie. (Some regions refer to this as a “walking taco,” but I would prefer you do not.)

Yet just as much of our nation craves bipartisanship on the major policy debate of the day, so, too, do many chili lovers wish to end the crazy decades of rivalries. They believe it is time for us to embrace every form of this warming bowl of red soul food, be it venison-laced, processed cheese-topped, bean-adorned, beer laced, spicy or mild. My husband has even learned to live with beans. He just does not discuss it.

“I don’t disagree with anyone’s chili,” said Robb Walsh, a Texas food historian, the author of “The Tex-Mex Cookbook” and a restaurateur.

[Mears]

“Blasphemy.”

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:-)

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[Deek]

Well my wife and I tried with some chili grind venison. Sous vide the meet 24 hours with chili powder and cumin. After cooling the broth below 130 we added the meat. It was good, but different. Medium rare chili is not the norm: the meat was very tender and took the chili powder well, but resulted in an unusual texture for the finished product.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Interesting. I hadn’t considered that overcooked meat texture would be better in chili.

But this makes me wonder how Chinese velvet beef would perform. Typically used for old and/or tough cuts, the meat is thin sliced, then soaked for just 1 hour in 1 tsp baking soda in water to cover (no more or less of time or soda), before being thoroughly rinsed (I start with vinegar water rinses before rinsing with clean water).

But when cooked, after some initial foaming, the meat is extra tender with a velvety texture and cooks normally, and works well with more flavorful sauces.

A good question whether it would be better in chili.

[Deek]

I wouldn’t say it was bad. The wife and I both thought it was good. But it was different in both flavor and texture. The meat was very tender, and we could taste the medium rare flavor of the meat. It is challenging to describe, but I would say it tasted like medium rare steak covered in chili.