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Believe it or not

I have been a chili eater all my life but not one time have I had chili without kidney beans, but I have decided that I will attempt to make a bowl or two of genuine Texas red, I have read some of the other threads here and need a good recipe or two preferably with no brand names as we dont have he same brands in Germany, I also saw where someone used masa harena
 
I have had it both ways and I prefer beans. I use cranberry beans.

I sometimes wonder,"what could be more texas than beans?" but maybe that is the problem, beans are everywhere.
 
You know if you think about it, back in the old cattle driving days, the only sure supply you had was beef. Beans were almost a staple but when you ran out of beans, you still had beef.

Each to his/her liking but like the old saying goes....

"This is Real Texas Chili, so there Ain't no beans" LOL
 
beans really mess up my stomach so not including them in a good chili only makes it better for me.
I like the no bean recipe and find a good no bean chili works well for chili cheese dog night and also chili hamburger night.
then again for chili on cornbread lunch and chili in soft taco afterenoon.
 
I like my chili without a lot of grease and definitely with a couple of beers in it. The milder mexican peppers are perfect for chili, and add some habs if you need extra heat. I prefer beans but like shayne said, the no-bean version is better for chili-dogs/burgers and chili-cheese nachos
 
When I was growing up in the 50's, my family never had much money. Beans were in *lots* of things in one form or another. I never ate chili without beans, ever, so Pepper Belly, I can relate to that.

With all the health issues I have now, lots of meat is what I want, but can't have. I've learned to go back to the beans in everything. It's weird, but after awhile, they stop messing with you. Being forced to eat healthy has opened new doors for me. I'm finding foods that are pretty damn good that I've always made fun of before.

This ought to gag a few.....I make chili now with *soy* meat. It looks like burger and when I'm done adding the spices, you can't taste it if it were meat. It just looks good. The flavor is still there.

Oh god, I'm gonna get smashed by the meat people......YIKES!
 
NatGreenMeds said:
This ought to gag a few.....I make chili now with *soy* meat. It looks like burger and when I'm done adding the spices, you can't taste it if it were meat. It just looks good. The flavor is still there.

Oh god, I'm gonna get smashed by the meat people......YIKES!

Not me Nat, I love soya instead of meat. I'm not vegetarian either.
 
I'm with you! My veggie chili has been mistaken for "real" chili more than once, even by the most dedicated meat eaters I know.
 
I tried to make veggie chili for my brother and it just doesn't turn out good when I use tofu or soy meat. The "veggie ground round" I bought is the worst, even the smell is aweful. Is there a brand or type of soy-meat that works best?
 
I use Tofu, but I fry it in olive oil first. Try to "over fry" it A BIT and use some salt and pepper or even better smoking salt on it, throw it in the chili as the last ingredient, let it cook for another hour or longer and it'll be hard for some to tell it from real meat. Cooking the fried tofu will soften it a bit, but it'll still be firm to the bite.
 
Is there not different types of tofu, and if so which type do I use?

My brother is a vegetarian from birth and he appreciates a good veggie chili but I always screw it up.:(
 
Yes, there are. I'd recommend the regular tofu, i.e. the white firm stuff, there's also smoked tofu and some with herbs etc as well as a soft kind suitable for sauces.

The tofu you should get anywhere and is cheaper than the rest works best. Crumble it to pieces (like minced meat) before frying it.
 
The thing about tofu that many don't realize is that by itself, it really has no flavor, or a not very appealing one. The very cool thing about tofu is that it will easily adopt any flavor it's put with. Soak it overnight in a light blue cheese dressing and it'll taste just like it. Put it in a chili powder sauce and it'll adopt the flavor of the sauce.

Tofu is a pound for pound protein switch off for meat. Basically, tofu and beef have the same amount of protein in them. The advantage to tofu is that is has no Cholesterol or fats and it's easy on the digestive system.

I gotta say that I'm pretty surprised that there are as many soy users here as there seems to be. Times are changing. Only a few years ago, if you mentioned tofu to someone, it resulted in them screwing up their face and a verbal response similar to that of a cat being run over by a truck.

If you buy the very cheap tofu and freeze it, then thaw it, it gains firmness. Then you re-freeze it, thaw it again and again until it's at the consistency you wish. This is how it's made into meat-like patties and crumbles. It loses water each time in the run off. Unlike meats, it's perfectly safe to do this. It will become smaller and smaller however. That's why "Extra-Firm" tofu costs more than the inexpensive very soft tofu. It took twice as much to make it.
 
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