Okay, in reference to the previous chili recipe, Sgt Hook is cranking up the contest. This ought to be interesting.

Like many foods, chili comes in a wide range of recipes. You can look “chili” up in a search engine and see thousands of references. Texas is the traditional home of chili, although the dish is prepared nationwide, and like barbecue, there are a lot of different people who claim to have the real, authentic version as their recipe. Me, I take the realistic view. Chili was meant as a cheap way to turn cheap meat and common ingredients into something interestingly edible.

One version of the history of the dish attributes it to having been prepared by San Antonio washerwomen. Further history has it developing as a dish cooked by trail cooks on cattle drives. You just have to know that these people did not have a wide selection of exotic herbs and spices. They didn’t have the best cuts of meat. And they didn’t have time to waste putting together some fru-fru dish, garnished with a sprig of mint. So that’s why I think **MY** chili is authentic. And it darned sure tastes good.

On a side note, Texas has the wrap on both chili and barbecue. The rest of ya’ll can forget it. If you got one that tastes as good as Texas, you heisted the recipe somewhere along the line. Louisiana has some good cooking, and nobody olds a candle to us Cajuns, but I gotta give Texas their due on their strong suits.