Chili with beans has a much better flavor if you use dried beans and cook them yourself rather than using canned beans. Simply soak the needed amount of red kidney or other beans in ample water overnight. Then simmer until tender. The beans are then drained and added to the chili. Cook the beans in the chili sauce and simmer for 1 to 1-1/2 more hours.

This old version does not call for dried meat as the original probably did, but it does call for good beef chuck, not fatty hamburger. No, real Texas chili need not have beans at all!

Place the cumin seeds in a pie pan and toast in a 375 ° oven for 10 minutes. Remove and set aside.

Heat a 6-quart kettle and saut, the bacon until clear. Add the diced meat and brown over high heat along with the onions, garlic, and jalape¤os.

When the meat is brown and the onions clear, add the remaining ingredients. Mash up the tomatoes with your hands, but add the juice as well. Simmer for 1 hour and correct the seasoning.

Cooked beans can be added to this, but they are strictly optional.

From <The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American>. Downloaded from Glen's Mm Recipe Archive, http://www. Erols. Com/hosey.