| The answer could depend on how you define "chili". | | | | chili pepper combined with certain spices and herbs |
| For this article, I am defining chili as "any stew made | | | | worked wonders with these poor cuts of meat. The |
| with significant amounts of chiles". The Americanized | | | | meat was cut into very small pieces and then boiled |
| recipe consisted of dried beef, suet, dried chile | | | | with the chiles and spices. |
| peppers, and salt, which were pounded together and | | | | In these Southwest jailhouses, chili became such a |
| left to dry into bricks. Through research, I have found | | | | popular dish that former inmates, from time to time, |
| three possible origins of chili. | | | | wrote to prison systems requesting the recipe, claiming |
| Back in the early 1840's, many Texan cowboys | | | | that they could not find a chili as good on the outside. |
| headed west for the California gold fields or out for a | | | | One of the most believable original chili recipes came in |
| big cattle round-ups. These cowboys pounded beef | | | | 1828 when J.C. Clopper observed what poor people in |
| fat and dried beef with chili peppers and salt to make | | | | San Antonio were doing. They would cut what little |
| a sort of a paste. This paste was easy to carry, and it | | | | meat they could afford into very small pieces and |
| made a food that wouldn't spoil quickly. They would | | | | stew it together with as many pieces of peppers. |
| boil this concoction with water while they were on the | | | | Now, a few questions about you . . . |
| trail to make a hearty, hot meal. | | | | Do you know the origin of your favorite chili recipes? |
| Others claim that these cowboys would plant oregano, | | | | When you make chili, do your friends always rave |
| chiles, and onions along their well heavily traveled trails | | | | about it or ask you for your recipe? Have you ever |
| in patches of mesquite. This kept the foraging cattle | | | | thought of creating a book of your favorite chili |
| from eating them. As they moved along the trails, they | | | | recipes? |
| would harvest the spices, onions, and chiles that they | | | | It's a lot simpler than you think, especially when you use |
| planted and combine them with beef to make a dish | | | | the Internet. I'm talking about you creating and selling |
| called "Trail Drive Chili". | | | | your own products. Like a collection of your favorite |
| Another version of the origin of chili says that the first | | | | chili recipes or a newsletter announcing upcoming |
| chili recipe was made in the Texas prison systems, | | | | cook-offs. I'm talking about a real business, with real |
| since only the cheapest meats were served in prison. | | | | products that you can be proud of. And a real potential |
| Prison cooks of the Southwest discovered that the | | | | for significant long-term income. |