Texas chili is meat and spices and that's it. The legendary Wick Fowler added a little tomato sauce to his to thicken it, but actual tomatoes and onions do not appear, nor do beans. If you must have beans, you cook them in a separate pot and people can serve them with the chili as much as they like.

"real" chili also uses suet, but for my tastes it produces a very greasy product so I leave it out.

Frank X Tolbert's Original Bowl of Red (Tolbert founded the World Chili Cookoff in Terlingua, Texas and owned a chain of chili parlors in Dallas.)

sear beef in a 4qt+ dutch oven or skillet. You may need a little oil to prevent the meat from sticking. When the meat is all gray, add suet and chile peppers and about two inches of liquid (you can use water, I use beer). Simmer for 30 min.

Add spices and garlic, bring to boil, lower heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Add more liquid only to keep the mix from burning.

Skim off as much grease as you can, and add masa harina. Simmer for another 30 minutes. Taste and adjust spices if necessary. Warning: this is spicy chili, so leave out some of the spicy stuff in the beginning if you have a tender tongue.

At this point, I refrigerate the chili overnight which allows the chili to mellow and you can skim off all the grease.

Enjoy with beer and some tortillas.

Liz <Rliz@msg. Ti. Com (Liz)>

From the Chile-Heads recipe list. Downloaded from Glen's Mm Recipe Archive, http://www. Erols. Com/hosey.