Comments on: Prize-winning Texas chili

By: ellaella

ellaella — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:36:50 +0000

Oh, my, Marsha. A big day! What a considerate question; recipe provenance is always welcome in the food world but unfortunately, doesn’t always happen. I’ve thought it through and came up with something along the lines of “From a recipe at From Scratch blog based upon a Texas prizewinner.” Anyone who sees it here will see the full credit and the link.

If he wins, don’t tell the folks at the golf club that I am quite possibly the worst golfer in my time zone. If you want divots, I’m your woman.

Fingers crossed for both of you!

By: Marsha

Marsha — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:29:47 +0000

So today is my husband’s chili cook-off…and (because I just sneaked a taste!) if he wins….how does he/can he attribute the recipe?

The local golf club restaurant has promised to feature the winner as a special on their menu for a day.

It’s not his, it’s yours and the newspapers….and he would never want to take credit for it.

Thanks.

By: ellaella

ellaella — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:14:49 +0000

Go ahead and use your favorite pepper, Marsha. White pepper, usually used in gravies, white sauces, on fish and in other applications where black specks are unwelcome, is a slightly different taste and doesn’t have quite the bite of regular supermarket ground black pepper. But it won’t make a big difference and there are so many peppercorn blends these days that if you’re using a grinder, you might have a blend that’s not as bitey (for want of a better term) than traditional black.

Glad to get another vote for the low-sodium broth. We ingest far too much salt in this country so it’s good to meet people whose palates haven’t been trained to expect it in excess. Bon appetit!

By: Marsha

Marsha — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:19:07 +0000

I just noticed that the original recipe uses white pepper – will that do anything to the flavor? I did use the low sodium beef broth and agree that another version might have been too much. Although you taste the salt initially it dissipates pretty quickly as the chili flavor “flares” up.

By: ellaella

ellaella — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:47:30 +0000

Hi, Marsha. Thanks for your question. To keep the great flavor but not the Tex aspect, you could serve it over rice. I often do that with other chilis (not this one though) and I wish I could remember where in my travels I picked up the rice thing. You could also try Cincinnati-style serving, by putting it over spaghetti. Both ways have the added bonus of extending the recipe, which isn’t a bad thing since it’s sooo easy to eat too much beef when this chili is served as presented here.

I’m glad you and your husband liked the flavor. That’s the real star here.