Origins of chili con carne

[BlackRock52]

If I remember correctly - the original Chili had carne and spices (Therefore, Chili con carne is redundantly redundant). The beans are a come-lately addition, perhaps to extend a small supply of meat. Chili purists will argue that adding beans is an abomination and all who do so should be flayed, drawn and quartered....

Exactly...after all, it is "chili con carne" and not chili con carne y frijoles

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

I'm thinking the first reference is in the Bible, Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of the red, ' give me some of the red there or I shall surely die'. Later Jacob spice a bowl of goat meat up and gave it to his father.... musta been goat chili, right? :haha:

That was a soup made of red lentils, not chili peppers.

 

[tenngun]

That was a soup made of red lentils, not chili peppers.

Well yes, or just a red meat stew.
The reference was on a book from the 1970s on chili making, call ‘a bowl of the red’
One of the earliest recipes in the world is a Sumerian stew of goat and red beets

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Well yes, or just a red meat stew.
The reference was on a book from the 1970s on chili making, call ‘a bowl of the red’
One of the earliest recipes in the world is a Sumerian stew of goat and red beets

We had a sermon about it recently and my preacher said it was red lentils in the soup.

 

[Harry Marinakis]

Leave it to Texans to ruin good ol' Mexican chili

I won't eat that texas chili con carne crap. Mexican or New Mexican chili is much better.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Exactly...after all, it is "chili con carne" and not chili con carne y frijoles

So by that "logic" before it was Chili con Carne, it was just chili peppers and water, or with pureed tomatoes and the water? IF it was first made with chili's and meat without beans, no need to tell everybody it had meat.... and no need to tell everybody about the beans, since it was originally a bean dish.

LD

 

[tenngun]

So by that "logic" before it was Chili con Carne, it was just chili peppers and water, or with pureed tomatoes and the water? IF it was first made with chili's and meat without beans, no need to tell everybody it had meat.... and no need to tell everybody about the beans, since it was originally a bean dish.

View attachment 339700

LD

Well it’s name is chili con carne, earliest recipes don’t have tomatoes in it so it was literally chilis with meat

 

[Daveboone]

I think it is funny so much thought is put into the origins of .....things. Most often, and my belief, is like chili....it was simply a poor families "everlasting stew" made of whatever local ingredients made it palatable....over time, the tastiest and most practical ingredients survived. thus, for the southwest...chili.
In the northern climates....an "everlasting pot".....of settlers, immigrants...etc. invariably contained whatever they had. Likely potatoes, turnips, carrots, and whatever was dead...rabbit, venison, etc. Thus....stew.
In coastal areas...evolved into ....chowder. Kind of like saying....who invented the car? When in the late 1800s, a zillion different mechanics, inventors, all were dabbling with internal and external combusion engines, "steering...." to the same basic end result. A horseless carriage.
I live in upstate NY, where it is a constant debate of the origin of "Thousand Island Dressing". I know my grand ma mixed salad dressing with ketchup and chopped up pickles, as her ma did.....and countless other families did...before anyone ever commercially sold it, so labeled "Thousand Island Dressing".

 

[Jappo]

Capsicum in any form of chilies is added to any kind of carne. Chili con carne can be made any way you like it. Simply add chilies. My grandmother cooked carne and and anything else she had on hand. Potatoes, vegetables, beans. Whatever would make it go further to feed 6 children. She would add store bought chili powder because it wasn't as hot as homegrown chiles. And cumin, oregano, garlic, onion and bell pepper when available.
The carne was home raised chicken or hog. Sometimes cottontail or armadillo. Couldn't afford cow carne. That recipe was passed to my mother. Especially made with potatoes. She had to feed 9 kids. Mashed beans on the side and a tortilla.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Capsicum in any form of chilies is added to any kind of carne. Chili con carne can be made any way you like it. Simply add chilies. My grandmother cooked carne and and anything else she had on hand. Potatoes, vegetables, beans. Whatever would make it go further to feed 6 children. She would add store bought chili powder because it wasn't as hot as homegrown chiles. And cumin, oregano, garlic, onion and bell pepper when available.
The carne was home raised chicken or hog. Sometimes cottontail or armadillo. Couldn't afford cow carne. That recipe was passed to my mother. Especially made with potatoes. She had to feed 9 kids. Mashed beans on the side and a tortilla.

Well.... he does live IN Texas

LD

 

[tenngun]

I think it is funny so much thought is put into the origins of .....things. Most often, and my belief, is like chili....it was simply a poor families "everlasting stew" made of whatever local ingredients made it palatable....over time, the tastiest and most practical ingredients survived. thus, for the southwest...chili.
In the northern climates....an "everlasting pot".....of settlers, immigrants...etc. invariably contained whatever they had. Likely potatoes, turnips, carrots, and whatever was dead...rabbit, venison, etc. Thus....stew.
In coastal areas...evolved into ....chowder. Kind of like saying....who invented the car? When in the late 1800s, a zillion different mechanics, inventors, all were dabbling with internal and external combusion engines, "steering...." to the same basic end result. A horseless carriage.
I live in upstate NY, where it is a constant debate of the origin of "Thousand Island Dressing". I know my grand ma mixed salad dressing with ketchup and chopped up pickles, as her ma did.....and countless other families did...before anyone ever commercially sold it, so labeled "Thousand Island Dressing".

My dad used to cook up a dish he called Spanish rice. Told me how his uncle owned a restaurant and invented the dish.
Rice bacon green pepper and onion and backed about an hour.
I grew up thinking it was a family invention.
Of course Spain was doing it for about five centuries before my great uncle was born

 

[BillinOregon]

Respectfully, y'all mustn't mess with Texans or really anyone who has been squeezed in the real wringer of life -- of years of growing up in a family barely getting by. That suffering and want is just as real against your backbone as a sharecropper chopping a poor cotton crop in Mississippi, or a coal miner's family in West Virginia when daddy can't work because of the black lung, or an Oregon log faller laid off because spotted owl restrictions closed off the flow of merchantable timber. Might not add armadillo meat to the chili out west, but maybe nutria, possum or raccoon. Just sayin'.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

Beans are cheaper than meat and I didn't draw a deer tag this year. Javelina works fine but I'm out of it. I add a lot of beans to the meat when I cook up a big batch of chili. Call me a heretic if you want but I'll enjoy every bite of my afterburner chili. If it turns out really good I call it volcanic chili.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

I have had vegan chili.

It put me in such a state of diarrhea I was likened to the bowel habits of a goose for many hours.

Never again.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

Many years ago there was a family from Texas living nearby. The mom want to to know where she could buy some "chili meat". Now to us ignorant Northerners, chili con carni always included ground beef. We were puzzled why the lady was having trouble finding ground beef. Turns out the chili she was familiar with contained chunks of beef, rather than ground. Who knew.....

 

[Captndan]

You can play with history an conjecture all you want. But the real reason was, chili made with peppers and anything else you had on hand was simply a soup like dish. Popular in the Southwest and Mexico. Beans a staple in Mexico and on the cattle drives were every day present. Not wanting to waste anything beans and chili were dumped into the same pot after the meal. Chili con carne was born. The ingredients were always just what one could find. Simple, ‘chili’ by what other name was simply a way to conserve what you had.

 

[Harry Marinakis]

You can play with history an conjecture all you want. But the real reason was, chili made with peppers and anything else you had on hand was simply a soup like dish. Popular in the Southwest and Mexico. Beans a staple in Mexico and on the cattle drives were every day present. Not wanting to waste anything beans and chili were dumped into the same pot after the meal. Chili con carne was born. The ingredients were always just what one could find. Simple, ‘chili’ by what other name was simply a way to conserve what you had.

Do you have historical evidence for this (please provide a link, if easy and convenient for you), or is this your own logical conjecture?

 

[Captndan]

Do you have historical evidence for this (please provide a link, if easy and convenient for you), or is this your own logical conjecture?

I rely on memory. Much more accurate than the internet.

 

[tenngun]

Our earliest recipes for chille is meat and chilies only