As I was cooking the other night, I recognized that many purists would not consider what I was making chili, although that's what I call it.
There's a funny scene from the television sitcom The Big Bang Theory in an episode called "The Toast Derivation."
The socially inept, know-it-all Sheldon Cooper, sees himself as the social anchor of the group of friends. In this episode, they get fed up with his pedantic and narcissistic behaviour and push back by circling around Leonard Hofstadter and his new girlfriend, Priya Koothrappali.
Sheldon breaks off from the group to start a new group. When that fails, he comes grovelling back to the group. They are having a chili night, but despite his recent humbling, Sheldon, who is from Texas, where chili originated, cannot help his nature and questions whether there are beans in Priya's "chili." She says yes.
"Then it's not chili. Real chili has no beans in it, but you're from a foreign land, so your ignorance is forgiven," he says demonstrating the precise behaviour that put him on the outs with the group.
She shuts him down impatiently saying, "Do you want some or not?"
When he tries it, he mumbles, "Mmmm, this is good... whatever it is."
There is a lot of pretension around food in the restaurant industry. My personal pet peeve is seeing "prawns" on a menu, when it is clearly shrimp. The terms get used interchangeably even though shrimp and prawns come from distinct branches of the crustacean family tree.
Back to chili. People take this stuff seriously.
Sheldon would have a big beef with the International Chili Society, which allows a broad range of interpretations in its sanctioned cook-offs. Pretty much anything that is essentially a stew made with chili peppers qualifies as chili.
They do have categories, though.
Traditional red chili is meat with red chili peppers and spices, no beans, rice or pasta allowed. Chili verde is the same except with green chili peppers.
Homestyle chili is pretty much anything goes as long as it is meat, beans, vegetables and, of course, chili peppers. ICS also has a category for veggie chili that is essentially homestyle chili, but no meat or meat byproducts allowed.
When I was growing up, my mom made chili con carne — literally chili with meat, suggesting meat is not a necessary ingredient much to Sheldon's horror, I'm sure — a recipe from The Joy of Cooking with ground beef and kidney beans, which I never much cared for.
My own version of chili has evolved over the years. I use various types of meat (depending on what I have), salt, black pepper, chili powder, peppers, onions, black beans, lime zest, lime juice, cilantro (depending on who I am cooking for), corn, diced (or crushed) tomatoes and a touch of sugar.
It's really good... whatever it is.
