Chili Wars

I suspect that Chili is something over which wars have been fought. In fact, a couple of minutes on google will turn up a cornucopia of chili trivia - the 1983 Chili-Chile debate in the US Senate included. It seems that Senator Pete Dominici of New Mexico stated in the Congressional Record that despite the fact that the dictionary preferred the spelling "chili," the correct spelling was "chile" for the dish of meat and chile pods. This followed on the heals of a 1974 challenge between Arizona's Barry Goldwater and the Texan Senator John Tower who, in response to Goldwater's claim that Texan's didn't know "chili from shit", said that comparing Texas chili to Arizona chili was like comparing Sophia Loren to Phyllis Diller.

Now, I'll be gravely disappointed if I don't get some sort of a rise here from my friends down in Texas, but I'm pretty convinced that I make one of the meanest Chile's around (note the spelling guys!) . I'm not going to bore you with the details of my recipe because I fear that chili recipes on the internet are second only to the spark that gave the internet its fuel.

But just to tease you a little, here's a list of some of the ingredients I use:

• 1 1/4 lbs pork loin
• 1 1/4 lbs sirloin steak
• 3 poblano peppers (2 blackened, 1 chopped)
• 2 red peppers (1 blackened, 1 chopped)
• 2 green pepper (1 blackened, 1 chopped)
• 1 red onion
• 2 Cascabel Pods
• 2 dried Chipotle's
• 2 dried Pasilla Chile's
• epazote
• New Mexico Hot Chile powder
• Ancho Chile Powder
• 3 yellow finger hot Chile's
• Tomatoes
• Chicken stock
• Chocolate Stout

... sprinkle with chopped green onions, chopped avocado, and roughly ground pepitas and that, my friends, is a Chile!

Now, on to other hot matters. The other day I discovered the greatest little stocking stuffer - Cowgirl Habanero Caramels. Some of you may have heard of them before - and for some malicious self-centred reason, have been keeping them a secret from me - but I finally encountered them in the Chile Store in the market (although I've subsequently found them on the Internet at Cow Girl Chocolates). Expensive but phenomenally good. The soothing caramel sweetness melds wonderfully with the throat tickling sting of the Habanero Chile.

Here's a tip, if you ever find yourself at the wrong end of a six-shooter because you dissed some Texan's chile, offer 'em one of these little babies and he'll be your pardner for life!