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Entry from August 14, 2006
Chile con Carne

“Chile con carne” is now the official dish of Texas. “Chile con carne” was the title of an 1857 book by S. Compton Smith, and no earlier citation has yet been found.
 
 
Wikipedia: Chile con carne
Chili (full name, chili con carne) is a spicy stew-like dish, the essential ingredients of which are beef, pork, venison, or other mature meat, and chili peppers. Variations, either geographic or by personal preference may add tomatoes, onions, beans, and other ingredients (brown sugar is often a favorite condiment). There are also many versions of vegetarian chili, made without meat (sometimes with a meat substitute). The name “chili con carne” is a slight corruption of the Spanish chile con carne, which means “chili with meat”. Chili con carne is the official dish of the U.S. state of Texas    
     
Texas State Library - Texas State Symbols
dish CHILI
House Concurrent Resolution No. 18, 65th Legislature, Regular Session (1977)
   
(Oxford English Dictionary)
chilli
Comb., as chilli (usu. chile or chili) con carne (orig. U.S.), a stew of Mexican origin containing minced beef flavoured with chillies (in quot. 1907 contextually shortened to chile con as a nonce-use.); chilli (usu. chili) sauce (chiefly U.S.), a sauce made with tomatoes, peppers, and spices; chilli-vinegar, vinegar flavoured with chillies.
1818 BYRON Beppo viii, Soy, Chili-vinegar, and Harvey.
1857 S. COMPTON SMITH (title) Chile con carne, or the camp and the field.
1895 Outing (U.S.) XXXVI. 28/2, I went to a little Mexican restaurant..and, sitting there eating my frijoles and chile con carne [etc.].
     
The Portal to Texas History
The adventures of Big-Foot Wallace, the Texas ranger and hunter
Creator (Author): Duval, John C.
Publisher Name: J. W. Burke
Place of Publication: [Macon, Ga.]
Original Creation Date: 1870
Coverage:
(Place) Republic of Texas
(Place) United States - Texas
(Era) The Republic of Texas, 1836-1846
(Era) The Texas Frontier, 1846-1861
Description: Contains biographical information on Big-Foot Wallace.
Note: Includes an account of Wallace\‘s experiences in the Mier expedition of 1842 (p. 167-243). / \“With portrait and engravings.\”
Pp. 174-175:
Just as the fight ended, two or three of us had picked our way into a room, where we found a table well covered with various sorts of eatables—“chili con carne,” “tortillas,” etc., several bottles of “pulque,” and a box full of fine “puros,” or Spanish cigars.
 
Google Books
One Hundred & One Mexican Dishes
compiled by May E. Southworth
San Francisco, CA; Paul Elder and Company
1906
Pg. 13:
CHILE CON CARNE
CUT a pound of fresh pork into inch chunks and parboil. Soak five chiles in hot water, take out the seeds and veins, wash them well and put in a mortar (the Mexicans use the molcajete and tejolote). Pound to a pulp, adding a little garlic, black pepper, two cloves and a cooked tomato. Fry this in hot lard; then add the meat with some of the liquid in which it was boiled and a little salt. Cover and let it cook down until rather thick.

Posted by Barry Popik
Texas (Lone Star State Dictionary) • Monday, August 14, 2006 • Permalink


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