A Hunger for Frito Pie, From the Artery-Clogged Heart of Texas

The New York Times ^ | February 21, 2003 | JOHN SCHWARTZ

[aculeus]

NOT too long ago, I was seized by a craving.

I was in the mood to return to the kind of food that's bad for you but so good, that tugs at memory but sounds disgusting to the uninitiated.

Because I grew up in Texas, I am speaking, of course, of Frito pie, a dish only a Southwesterner could really love. If I had grown up in Pennsylvania, I might be talking about scrapple; Minnesota, lutefish. And other Texans might crave chicken-fried steak or the spicy Mexican beef tripe soup called menudo. I am struck by yearnings for those things from time to time, but this craving was for Frito pie, the high point of elementary school lunches and high school football games and political rallies.

I asked my mom to send me the fixings, and she sent six cans of Wolf Brand Chili. The Wolf Brand is essential. I make a pretty good bowl of chili myself, but Frito pie doesn't taste right to me without the can of red from Corsicana, Tex., with its 108-year-old recipe and folksy advertisements that were part of my TV upbringing.

I can always tell a Texan — not by the accent, or by the attitude, or even by whether they wear a cowboy hat or boots (oh, grow up). All I have to do is ask the question from the Wolf Brand commercial, with the proper over-excited growl-like drawl: "Neighbor?! How long has it been since you've had a Big! Thick! Steamin' bowl o' Wolf Brand Chili?"

Texans will immediately deliver the tag line: "Well, that's too long!"

Frito pie is not unknown in the North — the Cowgirl Hall of Fame restaurant in Greenwich Village serves a decent version of the dish. But I wanted to make it myself, since it is one of the few recipes that is fully within my set of kitchen skills:

1) Take bag of Fritos. Slice lengthwise. 2) Pour in a cup of hot chili. 3) Add cheese. Velveeta is fine. And onions and jalapeños, if you like. 4) Eat it before it congeals.

I tried to share the love with my children. Two, Elizabeth and Joe, are a little finicky, and Elizabeth has been calling herself a vegetarian lately. But Sam, my enthusiastic gourmand, loved it. We decided that the chili might taste really good on top of one of Elizabeth's Boca Burgers. We were right. It seems to add some kind of missing ingredient.

I realized that other Texpatriates might be feeling the same nostalgia, and packed up a few cans, with bags of Fritos, and sent them off to my wife's Cousin Jim, who is in Kuwait with the troops. "Aw gee! You shouldn't have!" he wrote back in an e-mail message. "Why bless your little white trash hearts, this is a present I will cherish for a long, long time (thank God for Tums)."

But satisfying a long-suppressed desire has a price. You don't want to read the Wolf Brand nutrition label, which told me that after finishing off the can, I had ingested two days' worth of sodium. We just aren't going to talk about the fat and cholesterol. And that doesn't count the sodium, fat and cholesterol in the Fritos. Or the, um, cheese.

A day or so later, I sent my latest blood pressure reading to my doctor via e-mail — part of our attempt to wean me from blood-pressure medications. It's been going well, but that night I reported a definite spike.

"Numbers seem to be creeping back up," he wrote to me the next day. "Have you been doing anything different lately?"

I said in response that I had not been getting as much exercise and sleep as I should have, and added, "I don't know if it makes a difference, but I went on a salty food binge a few days ago." I described the chili orgy. "I've been eating more normally since them," I wrote.

Within a few days, in fact, my numbers were looking good again. I sat down to write about the nostalgic ritual of making just the right food, even if it is, in many ways, wrong.

I sit here writing, and looking up Wolf Brand on the Web. (Hey, Mom — I can order it directly from www.wolfbrandchili.com!) It is getting toward midnight. The craving is back. I push the cat off my lap and go to the kitchen and open one of the cans. There is half a bag of Fritos on top of the fridge, left over from my last spree. I put half of the can's chili in the microwave and then dump it on the Fritos in a bowl, and top it all with cheese. No time to chop onions in this hour of urgent need. The nuked chili blasts the top of my mouth; no matter. I eat lustily, the rich greasiness of the Wolf Brand and the crunch of corn chips blend against all odds, against all sense, into something wonderful.

I return to my easy chair. There are chili spatters on my shirt among the cat hair. I am happy. Sorry, Dr. Pelzman. I'll be good tomorrow.

Let Proust have his dainty little madeleine. This is real eating. You can hardly move after you've had a serving, and how more real does it get than that?

[Sally'sConcerns]

Beans ruin any self respecting chili!

Home made frito pie has been a staple this winter because it's so easy to fix and tastes wonderful.

Since I'm a displaced Texan, I was disheartened when I first saw a native Oklahoman put hot dog relish on their chili pie.....blech!

[holyscroller]

Gotta admit it does sound good, but my mouth still waters for scrapple, Tasty Kakes, sticky buns, hoagies, crab cakes and other Pennsylvania fare.

[fella]

Texicans barbeque beef.

[CheneyChick]

OK - this CA couldn't resist reading the thread. What can I say - culture fascinates me... I'd even go so far as to try out this Frito Pie phenomena. What could it hurt? (Don't answer that.)

Cheers, CC :)

[annyokie]

He or she must have been from Norman (just kidding, fellow Okies)

[Aracelis]

Cholesterol-laden ping!

[TaqueriaFanatic]

I am sure the local deer then ran to the nearest stream!!LOL

[knak]

Yummy, fried ice cream. I'd forgotten about that.

[fella]

"deep fried dill pickles"

MMmmmmmmmm ....... I'll have to stop by Alma ArKansas the next time I go to visit my sweety up in the Boston Mountains.

[Space Wrangler]

Just one question. How do you slice a frito lengthwise?? Or even across for that matter.

[TaqueriaFanatic]

What exactly is scrapple?

[Sally'sConcerns]

Nope, he's from a small town about 65 miles due south of OKC. He also requires red onion instead of the traditional white onion. Go figure!

[COBOL2Java]

I've fallen in love with the Frito Pie! We have a delicious version up here in Northern Virginia, served up by the Hard Times Cafe chili parlor. Currently four kinds of chili served:

Texas Chili

The Original. Coarse ground beef in its own juice, using an authentic turn-of-the-century family recipe. Click for descriptions and prices.

Cincinnati Chili

Introduced in 1922 by Greek Immigrants, it is a fine grind of beef with a tomato base and sweeter spices, including cinnamon.

Terlingua Red Chili

A tribute to the Texas ghost town that hosted the first chili cook off. A redder color and spicy kick of championship chilies.

Vegetarian Chili

Textured soy protein flakes cooked in a tomato base with fresh mushrooms, onions, green peppers, jalapenos, and peanuts.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

I used to be surprised when I would meet people that thought that tortilla chips smothered in psuedo-cheese was what "nachos" were. I have since realized that growing up in Texas till I was 11 has given me a different perspective on what real food is.

One day about 8 years ago, I decided that I had just about had it with my best friend always having Taco Hell, er Bell, wrappers in his kitchen garbage when I went over and told him that I would cook a real tex-mex meal for him and his wife. So the next week I went over and cooked tacos, nachos, chalupas, pinto beans and enchiladas.

It was 2 years before they could bring themselves to eat at Taco Bell again.

That being said, I'm not a fan of Wolf Brand Chili or any other canned chili to be honest. But if I need some chili for Frito Pie or chili-dogs, canned chili is acceptable I guess.

[knak]

A sausage and cornmeal stuff that's fried after it sets up.

[annyokie]

He must have Yankees in his bloodlines. Probably has a hankering for cheesesteaks instead of a respectable chickenfried steak, too.

[JavaTheHutt]

Now, everyone knows the only real BarBQ in existenxe is produced in a narrow band between Memphis, Tennessee and Macon, Georgia bounded on the north by Decatur, Alabama and and on the south by Birmingham.

hahaha That's like saying Arkansas understands what BarBQ is all about. When I first moved to Arkansas (job transfer), I was shocked, I say shocked, to discover that most of the BarBQ joints in this town don't even offer BarBQ brisket. Here, it's all about that nasty ol' pig meat.

Can't wait to get back to Texas, where BarBQ is a religion, and BarBQ means beef.

[TaqueriaFanatic]

Good story!!

[aculeus]

Just one question. How do you slice a frito lengthwise?? Or even across for that matter.

Assuming you're serious I think he means you slice the bag and pour the chili into the bag.

But what do I know?

[TaqueriaFanatic]

Thanks for the reply.