AHHH, I see...Yes I need to try both directions, Maybe the kidney beans is what I didn't like or maybe it was the chilli! I need to try the pintos with a can of chilli & then the pintos with kidneys to make sure it just wasn't the mixture of beans that I didn't like!
Although I like kidney beans just fine and don't mind them as chili, I sure don't recommend then as frijoles refritos!
I'm glad you liked my suggestion regarding the V-8. I have used significant quantities and it still works well.
ONe of my "SECRET INGREDIENTS" is ground New Mexico Chilis. Great coloring agent and nice flavor enhancement but little or no heat usually.
Pat
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
In New Mexico restaurants, they ask you, "Red or green?" They are referring to hot sauce.
As there seems to be no rhyme or reason to which is the hotter, we would reply, "Christmas", which gave you a little of both to taste.
YEAH that V8 is great But remember the pecan pie! WoW I don't get no bad recipes or ingedients off this site! [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
I never ate the right thing in New Mexico to get asked "red or green", but I remember my mother talking about the first time she ordered a bowl of chili in a restaurant in New Mexico and it suprised her when she was asked that question. She said she figured red would be hotter, so she requested green and said she learned her lesson; said it was the hottest chili she ever tried to eat. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]
Well the V-8 was at least an independent discovery of my wife and I if not the first discovery of its employ in chili.
We can't take any credit for the "alternative" pecan pie except liking it and passing along the recipe as we got it from a local friend/neighbor.
About those Ground New Mexico chili peppers... I like to add a little to lots of things. It is a great sprinkle on popcorn, is good in soups and gravies, and even when used sparingly it adds good color. You can rub a little on chicken to get good cooked color and flavor.
Good old fashioned southern gravy (made now with hamburger or sausage instead of bacon or pork drippings, AKA FAT) takes on a rich cream color with the addition od just a little of the NM chili ( I don't stop at just a little.)
Hard to find that stuff around here so I got a CARE package from SOCAL, i.e. Smart and Final wholesale grocery) of a few BIG containers of it. Previously I found it at Wally World as dried whole New Mexico chili peppers. Their, so called, dried peppers are way too high in moisture content (they sell by weight) to be able to powder them in a blender. I desiccate them a while on a cookie sheet in the oven at a really low temp till they powder nicely. Thanks to my SIL I have a terrific supply of the powdered ones now.
I shop for spices at Spices, tea, and STUFF at Spices of India a shop in Oklahoma City. They have some ground peppers that are virtually thermonuclear.
Pat
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
It's not canned, but wally world and sam's both carry a brand of frozen that is almost as good as homemade. It's Chili Bowl made in Tulsa.
REAL chili does NOT have beans ever. Eat what you want but call it what it is BEANS. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]
OK, I'll definitely look for that Chili Bowl chili. I guess you know all Walmarts do not necessarily stock the same brands, so I don't know whether ours have that or not. We have two Walmarts close enough that we shop in both of them. They both have Delimex tamales and they're a sorry excuse for a tamale, in my opinion. However, one, and only one, of them also stocks Pedro's Fiesta tamales from Lubbock, TX. Pedro's are not the best tamales I ever ate, but they're the best I've found in a grocery store in a long time, and they're cheaper than the Delimex.
As for beans in chili, I don't want beans in the chili I put on the tamales or in a bun with hot dogs, but when we make homemade chili to just eat bowls of chili, we dump in a can of Ranch Style beans. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]
I might have known my wife would think of something she wanted from the store, so I went to both Walmarts this evening; Hickory Creek and Denton, talked to employees of both, and neither one has Chili Bowl chili. One of them does have Owens brick chili, the other didn't even have that.
...and the argument rages on... does chili have beans in it? Well, maybe.
Chili con carne is as the name translates is chili with meat so meat sounds like an optional ingredient. (OK, not totally serious...)
I like chili. Chili con carne, chili beans (meatless), chili con carne WITH beans. I tend to favor chili (con carne) with beans, not because of flavor, texture, stubborn clinging to an ideal or whatever, but because I like beans AND lower calories in the same quantity consumed. (Don't laugh at the calorie conscious comment. I have lost nearly 50 lbs in the last few months and am 10 lbs less than when I graduated from HS.)
My wife's SIL and her hubby arrived from SOCAL in time for supper yesterday and enjoyed a salad and a big bowl of crock pot "stuff." It was black beans and pork sausage with carrots, tomatos, celery, bell pepper, onions, a little BBQ sauce (tomato based KC brand), and copious quantities of ground New Mexico Chili Peppers. In theory I suppose it was chili of a sort.
Ground New Mexico chili peppers are hard to come by here in south central Oklahoma so these nice folks mailed me several LARGE shaker jars of the ground NM chilies, half were labeled hot and the other half not commenting on heat. Ordinarily they are mild but flavorful and add great color.
A college friend told me that chili was invented as a way to use meat that was beyond its "best if used by" date. I think brick chili was a way to preserve food without refrigeration.
...uh pass the minced onions and the shredded cheese please!
Pat
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
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