Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Actually, back when I was shacked up with a vegetarian, I often made a no-meat, all-bean chili with a layer of cornbread batter baked on top like a pot-pie.

Paul,

Aren’t you also from a foreign land??

Mmmmm...side dishes!

Pass the onions please...

Viva la history!

Chili beans...no?

I don't know if you've watched the show, but in addition to his superior intellect and sense of history, the character Sheldon is from TX...I love when he refers to his grandmother as Me-Maw

Black and pinto. I'm not sure what a "chili bean" even is. If I don't see them dried, I don't trust them canned.

When it comes to chili (and a lot of other things), I'm pretty polyamorous. I like every kind I've tried. I solve the nomenclature problem by always mentioning ingredients and/or region of origin. So, no beans = Texas Chili. On top of spaghetti = Cincinnati Chili. Black beans and ham = Black Bean Chili. When I make the chili I grew up with, (ground beef, dark red kidney beans, a little sweet, medium spicy) I call it "Midwestern Chili".

I do this out of deference for the sensitive feelings of Frank and the rest of Texas, but that's as far as I'm willing to compromise.

Awwww...I'm touched...at least you recognize my "sensitive" side Chili beans would mean beans seasoned with chili powder etc, not bean type. I think the confusion in regards to chili comes at least partially from folks thinking if you add chili powder to something it makes it chile.

I did not know that...clearly he lost the accent...

If you catch one of the episodes with Sheldon's mother (played by Laurie Metcalf of Roseanne fame), you'll hear the accent. Well, an accent anyway. I don't know enough people from Texas to know if it's accurate.

I watch very little tv, seems that with work, and little ones there is always something significantly more important to do...

... or whole chili peppers, for that matter. The common-use American definition of "chili" is "any thick stew with significant quantities of chili peppers and/or chili powder combined with meat of any kind and/or beans."

This is probably because, despite the pedigree of San Antonio's Chile Con Carne, the chili which the greatest number of Americans first became familiar with in the 1940's was Cincinnati Chili ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_chili ), brought to the big cities of the East with the tide of Greek diner openings in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia, and even Los Angeles. Add to this that meat was in short supply both during the Depression and WWII. So millions of Americans were first introduced to chili as a rather mild stew of ground meat, tomatoes, onions, beans, and spices ... despite William Gephardt's best efforts.