Chili represents your three stages of matter...

Chili Con Carne is Texas through and through. There are no (horrid) beans to contend with, just lost of great tomatoy taste and a lot of well seasoned meat.

While I claim this as a Texas delight (which in the modern day, I believe it is) I found an interesting excerpt pertaining to the 17th century:

According to an old Southwestern American Indian 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 Indians 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 to savages and counseled them 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 Indian 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? 

- From History of Chili, Chili Con Carne

Work had a bit taco cookout on Friday. Me being me, took as much of the delicious meat that was left over home to refashion into other dishes. This is the only one I had in mind when I called dibs on a try of meat.

Chili Con Carne

Ingredients
Left over Carne Asada from Work...about 4 cups

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 head of garlic (about 10 cloves), peeled, chopped

1 can Anaheim chiles

1 tablespoons ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1 12-ounce bottle dark beer

28-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice

1 teaspoons dried oregano

1 teaspoons coarse kosher salt

1 tablespoons tomato paste

Method

Put leftover beef into large bowl.

Heat pan to medium. Add 1/2 tablespoon oil and onion.

Sauté until soft, 8 to 10 minutes.

Add garlic; stir 2 minutes.

Add chilies, cumin, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves; stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Put into Crockpot and put on high

Add beer into saute pan; stir 1 minute, scraping up browned bits, pour into crockpot. 

Add tomatoes with juice, oregano, and 2 teaspoons coarse salt.

Allow chili to cook on High for 3 hours.

Reduce heat to low, Stir in tomato paste. 

Allow to cook on low for another 45 minutes 

Serve in bowls and garnish with any of the following:

Coarsely grated sharp cheddar cheese

Chopped green and/or red onion

Diced fresh tomatoes

Sour cream

Husband loved this dish.

Until the next meal...


**Today's title is super sciencey/pop culturey! From the mouth of Dan Conner (John Goodman) in 'Roseanne' TV series: Chili represents your three stages of matter: solid, liquid and eventually gas.**