Someone asked me not too long ago why I liked Chili Con Carne so much. To be honest, I'd not given it any real thought beyond the fact that I just happen to like how it tastes. However, I've been giving it some more inspection, and it really is far more complex than that, I think.
I am very much a Pacific Rim girl. Starting there, I was born in California, spent my early life in Hawai`i, have lived in California, Hawai`i, Tennessee, Texas, spent time in Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. I've spent extensive time in Baja, Mexico. All of this before I even hit 25. It is only in recent years that I've moved to the midwest, so you can easily say, without a doubt, that I have the Southwest and Pacific Rim in my blood. I have chile peppers burned into me as part of my native cuisine, and so it comes natural to me to crave foods that not only serve up the heat, but that also bring a lot of the flavours together of the region to make wonderfully savoury dishes. Enter Chili Con Carne.
No, its not Molé, which is more authentically Mexican, and its more than Salsa Mexicana. Its also more than just biting into a Jalapeño or Habañero. It is certainly not entering a "Death By Capsaicin" challenge. Its about flavour combined with a bit of a kick. Chile Con Carne, despite all the mystery around its origin, is a great fit for this craving. There is so much variety in making the dish, so much control a person has over the profiles going into it, that it is easy to make the dish a thousand times and never have an identical experience. Chili (Con Carne) is a wonderful melting pot of flavours, is a great food to eat in any season, and for me personally, is a wonderful comfort food.
I know that my partner thinks I'm obsessed, but really, isn't anyone who really has a passion and love for something obsessed to a certain degree? I've been making Chili since I was 12, and have recently started to compete in cookoffs sanctioned by The International Chili Society, learning even more about the varieties and types of Chili that are out there. I never knew there were people who competed on a national level in the preparation of Chili, and when I found these others, I felt like I'd found a new family. The more I got to know them, the more I realized that many of them have the same passions outside of "Competition Chili", and make amazing Chili for the sake of making a great pot of "red".
Let me say something to clarify my position with my partner:
I love my partner to death, but she has a very midwestern palate, and does not tend to get involved in my more fiery adventures when it comes to Southwestern, Mexican, and spicy food in general. I'd never force her to, naturally, because she's got her own tastes, and we have a wonderful time being foodies and adventurers with the rest of the cuisines out there, especially Middle-Eastern and Indian foods. I'm also introducing her to Pacific fish, which she's never had very much of. She's really loving it. She puts up with my Chili hobby, but its just not her thing. No harm done.
For the rest of you, my adventures in Chili have led me to a whole new world (don't you dare sing it aloud!) of rediscovery of Latin American cuisine, from South America to Mexico and Spain. Having been raised with a green thumb (thanks, grandpa!), I want to start raising my own herbs and spices (when possible) to make some of my own blends, once we live in a place that will sustain a garden. I want to learn to make my own Molé, and thanks to some inspiration from Rick Bayless, try my hand at some Yucatán cuisine.
I'm a cook, have always been, and am really thrilled to be able to have this kind of cuisine at home to share with my partner and with my friends. Chili is a great way to do that, because it is such a versatile dish, and can be made so many different ways. Even as a sauce for, dare I say it, seafood. I've found some great ways to make a Chili Con Carne applicable to so many dishes, and there are so many chile peppers out there, that I am likely never going to run out of things to try. I hope to share more of them with you as I do.
