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Habanero Hellfire Chili

Chili con carne (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈtʃili kon ˈkaɾne]), meaning “chili with meat”), is a spicy stew containing chili-peppers, meat and beans. Other seasonings include garlic

, onions

, and cumin

The dish originated in northern Mexico

or southern Texas

Geographic and personal tastes involve different types of meat and other ingredients.

Recipes provoke disputes among aficionados, some of whom insist that the word chili applies only to the basic dish, without beans and tomatoes.

Chili con carne is a common dish for cook-offs, and may be used as a side, garnish, or ingredient in other dishes, such as soups or salsas.

Ingredients


      0.22kg pound bacon
      ½kg ground round
      ½kg ground pork
      1 diced green bell pepper
      1 diced yellow onion
      6 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
      6 habanero peppers, seeded and chopped
      8 Anaheim peppers, seeded and diced
      2 cloves garlic, minced
      1 ½ tblsp ground cumin
      1 tblsp crushed red pepper flakes
      3 tblsp chili powder
      2 tblsp beef bouillon granules
      793g crushed tomatoes
      453g whole peeled tomatoes, drained
      453g chili beans, drained
      354g can beer
      85g tomato paste
      793g chili paste
      473ml cups water

Step

Place bacon in a large soup pot.

●

Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown.

●

Drain excess grease, leaving enough to coat bottom of pot.

●

Remove bacon, drain on paper towels and chop.

Step

Brown the beef and pork in pot over medium high heat.

●

When meat is browned, stir in the bell pepper, onion, jalapeno peppers, habanero peppers, Anaheim peppers, garlic, cumin, red pepper flakes, chili powder, bouillon, crushed tomatoes, whole tomatoes, beer, tomato paste, chile paste and water.

Step

Reduce heat to low and simmer for 45 to 60 minutes, stirring occasionally.

●

Add beans and bacon and continue simmering for another 30 minutes.

History

According to an old Southwestern Native American legend and tale (several modern writer have documented – or maybe just passed along) it is said that the first recipe for chili con carne was put on paper in the 17th century by a beautiful nun, Sister Mary of Agreda of Spain. She was mysteriously known to the Natives of the Southwest United States as “La Dama de Azul,” the lady in blue.
Sister Mary would go into trances with her body lifeless for days. When she awoke from these trances, she said her spirit had been to a faraway land where she preached Christianity counseled others to seek out Spanish missionaries.
It is certain that Sister Mary never physically left Spain, yet Spanish missionaries and King Philip IV of Spain believed that she was the ghostly “La Dama de Azul” or “lady in blue” of Native American Legend.
It is said that sister Mary wrote down the recipe for chili which called for venison or antelope meat, onions, tomatoes, and chile peppers. No accounts of this were ever recorded, so who knows?
On March 9, 1731, a group of sixteen families (56 persons) arrived from the Canary Islands at Bexar, the villa of San Fernando de Bar (now know as the city of San Antonio). They had emigrated to Texas from the Spanish Canary Islands by order of King Philip V. of Spain. The King of Spain felt that colonization would help cement Spanish claims to the region and block France’s westward expansion from Louisiana. These families founded San Antonio’s first civil government which became the first municipality in the Spanish province of Texas.
According to historians, the women made a spicy “Spanish” stew that is similar to chili.

Some Spanish priests were said to be wary of the passion inspired by chile peppers, assuming they were aphrodisiacs.
A few preached sermons against indulgence in a food which they said was almost as “hot as hell’s brimstone” and “Soup of the Devil.”
The priest’s warning probably contributed to the dish’s popularity.
In Spanish, the term “chile con carne”, consisting of the word chile (from the Nahuatl chīlli) and carne, Spanish for ‘meat’, is first recorded in a book from 1857 about the Mexican-American War. A recipe dating back to the 1850s describes dried beef, suet, dried chili peppers and salt, which were pounded together, formed into bricks and left to dry, which could then be boiled in pots in an army encampment in Monterrey, of what is now Nuevo León, Mexico.
Chili became commonly prepared in northern Mexico and southern Texas. Unlike some other Texas foods, such as barbecued brisket, chili largely originated with working-class Tejana and Mexican women. The chili queens of San Antonio, Texas were particularly famous in previous decades for selling their inexpensive chili-flavored beef stew in their casual “chili joints”.
The San Antonio Chili Stand, in operation at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, helped popularize chili by giving many Americans their first taste of it. San Antonio was a tourist destination and helped Texas-style chili con carne spread throughout the South and West.
Chili con carne is the official dish of the U.S. state of Texas as designated by the House Concurrent Resolution Number 18 of the 65th Texas Legislature during its regular session in 1977.