February, 1984 - Vol. 1/No. 2
MONTHLY
I From the Fireside
Hi foks. Thanks for the support everyone has been g1vmg to CHILI MONTHLY The response has been overwhelmmg1 Some peop e have been wand ng whdt we do around here when the magdz e hds been mated out and we have a couple of weeks to Just sit around We I, our New Year's resolution was to conquer windmills in the name of ch and all that 1s sacred. It isn't too hard to fmd misinformed, underprivtleged fo ks m the world who cook beans in their ch1h, think chili is somethmg hke spaghetti sauce, thmk it's a country m South America, or have never tdsted real ch1h. Usually, one can find these poor souls most ani,:where up North. But were we shocked when we found that there 1s a fella m Lynchburg, Tennessee, who cooks beans in his We asked for the Tennessee Squ ch1h 01' Roger Brashears runs a cafe m s ,t nee m stra1ghte111ng Ol.it the bu1ldmg that was once the saloon Roger We enclosed several C.A S used by Jack Da111els himself pr d ch1h recipes. We Seems that when he was about 16 concerned for the welfare of Ja years old, Jack opened the Vvh1te Dane s a~ well as ch1hdom \A ha quite Rabbit Saloon and served his s1ppm' me unsuspecting tourist 'Aere to emba whiskey unhl Tennessee went dry nght 'Rog r how to fix real chili. or ho But before proh1b1t1on 111 1909. A few years drmk Jack Damels? our hedd back, 01' Roger leased the bu1ldmg from We know that the strongest d got up off the Jack Da111els Distillery and opened a1 ab e m The Wh11e Rabb this cafe spec1alizmg in "Southern and stratghte ngs1 ,emonade, but that is no excuse Traditional Food." Then, a few weeks Knowing how sma town fo ks can put,·ng beans m ch1h! ago, this newspaper guy, by the name of feel dbout be ng c.r. c zed by str At any rate, we are not fight n "Up1," was passing through Lynchburg wed dn'tJust get o t e h e anvmore We are c.onfident don't know why, seemg as how preac.hm' to o Roger V.e d Te.nnessee Squires Assoc at Lynchburg 1s dry) and came across much more d p omat ca aro d the straightened ol' Roger ou• Roger's "White Rabbit Cafe " This home/office of CHILI MONTHLY We matter B> now, we are reporter saw fit to wnte 1I up and the shamed him and fussed about h m to Roger Bra~hears 1s 'm t st ry dppeared m our local newspaper. som of our fr ends at t e Jdck Daniels JOm our ranks m lielp D1st1 ery We fired a etter off to the gospel of a good b Now, back to the windmill In the head honcho of the Tennessee Squires out the world the reporter quotes Poor Roger Assoc1at1on, the most respected We do ask tha as saymg he 1s the "head flunk1e" at the organ1 za t1on m all of Tennessee dead level be t t d e111 and that he recommends the because m a matter of th s nature, one unfortunate ch1h at the White Rabbit. He needs to go straight to the top. . We f'Xpencnced s 'd p deep n the kett e to come told on o · Roger to d how sacre our dut t th p enty of beans " And to make lig1ous, how b1asphemous .. how taste of chi se Roger 1s quoted a sa ng WRONG II s to cook beans m chi I We etu and ch1h are very much Unti n xt told Honcro that cookm' beans 111 chili ou can throw ~hatever you IS m redesecratmg than m1xmgcokem t e pot OHMYGOSH!!! To Jack Da111e s! ~;t;:ve never won a cookoff ma Shelby\ Chili Preparation and a couple of six packs are tlie answer. Shelby's Chili Preparation is in the Terlingua tradition. You can make it flame-thrower hot or tame as a pussy cat, but, however you choose to make it, you'll come up with great tasting chili every time. It's all in the quality ingredients and the way Shelby blends 'em. And knowing how to do that makes all the difference. Next time you have the itch to make up a pot of chili, start with Shelby's Original Texas Brand Chili Preparation. Look for it at your - grocer's. As for the six packs, be a gracious cookoff - winner and share them with the other contestants. L
1 Championship Chili Served in a Casual Restaurant Atmosphere
©
Hamburger Bar & Grill
- 26 LOCATIONS IN SIX STATES-
Los Angeles, California Dallas, Texas Tampa, Florida Houston, Texas Boca Raton, Florida San Antonio, Texas Atlanta, Georgia Austin, Texas Kansas City, Kansas Tyler, Texas Denver, Colorado San Jose, California
2 --- ______,,,.
&: Smallwood, Gallagher, Bil Hondo Crouch
S;lerry Castleberry MONTHLY Larry Burruss ec.tor Becky Fox February, 1984 Volume 1 - Number 2
~ Ra.,, King
MONTHLY believes INGREDIENTS can't know too much t ch1h! BLACK MAG IC ...... 4 MONTHLY is endorsed by the Appreciation Society lnterna Loving and Caring for Your CHILI MONTHLY is published month by CHILI MONTHLY , Diana Becker Finlay, P.O. Box Cast Iron Pots and Skillets Martindale, Texas 78655; (512) - '0237. v..~th home. office !ocated on By Diana Becker Finlay Get Along Ranch, (Just a rifle shot from the birthplace of chili). CEDAR CREEK CLIPPINGS ...... 9 Pi/right "> 1984 by CHILI ONTHLY. All rights reserved. By Hondo Crouch Reproduction or use in whole or in rt of the contents without written pem•1ss1on of the publisher is IT WAS SO COLD ...... 9 roh1bited. Subscription rates: Sl2.00 one year; $22.00. two years m By Bill Smallwood he United States; CHILI MONTHLY pnnted in U.SA REVIEWS 12 CHILI MONTHLY denies res ponsibility for anything you MEMO RIES ...... ·- ______----·· _. --··----- ______13 might accuse us of. HILLBILLY CHILI - "The aroma of good chili "Somewhere Along the Trail" ______15 should generate rapture by Bill Neely akin to a louer's kiss." Joe Cooper NOTES FROM C.A.S.I. ·------17 Contact CHILI MONTHLY for ECHOS 19 advertising rate card at P.O. Box 142, Martindale, Texas 21 78655. AROUND THE BEND
Cover Photo by Larry Burruss "May the warmth of our hearts always remain as hot and tender as a steaming CHILI MONTHLY covers chili .. . and other necessary ingredients of the good life bowl of chili." such as country music, memories, barbeque, beer joints, back roads, cookoffs, good George Haddaway books, good friends and good times.
3 BLACK MAGIC Loving And Caring For Your Cast Iron Pots And Skillets Diana Becker Finlay
.,, .0 .c~ C.
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen to things that break easily ... or have to be carefully kept.... Generally, by the time you are Real, you are a little ... shabby. But that doesn't matter at all, beca use once you are Real, you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand. " from THE VELVETEEN RABBIT
Is it the "Real-ness" that sets cast iron Cast iron is commonly referred to in Black iron is one of the oldest types of cookware in a class by itself? Could it be most parts of the county as black iron, cookware in existence today. the memories . . . the secrets . .. the obviously because a well seasoned cast Columbus brought some with him to history in that Dutch oven that has iron skillet is black and crusty on the the New World in 1492. Cast iron made it a necessity in kitchens from outside (and smooth as a baby's bottom utensils were made and used in the Paris, France to Sunflower, Mississippi? on the inside). Cast iron will handle the Baronial kitchens around 1500, about Maybe that "old black magic" is what hottest temperatures for quick the time that cooking became a "fine made Grandma's cornbread taste browning, as well as the lowest for "all art." Before that, during the reign of better than yours.... One of the secrets day" simmering. It holds and diffuses Edward III, from 1327 to 1377, iron pots to Grandma's kitchen was that she heat exceptionally well which allows for and skillets were considered part of the ruled it with an iron PAN! more energy efficiency in your kitchen. "Crown Jewels." By the middle of the 4 e end of the dusty trail. people wanted something new ... shiny After the trail drives and into the ... modem. twentieth century, cast iron cookware But thankfully, many gourmet cooks cast was passed down through the today still realize the value of black iron. oa partsof generations. It was considered the best Chefs who know that some things can't cast iron cook- available, by far, and had stood the test be improved upon would never give up of time. their black iron. Chef Paul Prudhomme, Then something awful happened. the highly acclaimed creole-cajun king Some fella who mistook "shine" for of New Orleans, in an interview with "clean" introduced aluminum cook CHILI MONTHLY, had this to say ware to the world ... and worse than that about cast iron: were teflon pots and pans in turquoise I don't know how the rest of the country and other such colors. They even is, but it's just something I grew up started printing little flowers on some of with .... I been cooking in iron all my life. m ng very popular in this cookware. Well, housewives took With some dishes it's a necessity ... our to it like a hound dog to leftovers. The smothered steak ... it just don't work no other way! At the restaurant we do a lot 1700's, Dutch traders government loved it ... no more black with cast iron ... our seafood dishes ... r to door, selling house- crusty skillets in army mess tents ... for roux ... I use it exclusively for our o sealers. One of their most with the arrival of aluminum, K.P. seafood jambalaya . . and at home I s was a camp oven, which officers could tell at a glance whether or guess we use iron for almost all our not a pot was "shiny-clean." It's a fact cooking. I do omelets, roasts ... it's great ommonly known as a "Dutch for roasts .. I've even done cream g its name from the men that the cavalry soldiers of the 1800's sauces m iron.... I've been using it for . Lewis and Clark carried were served up better chow than our caiun dishes since I was a kid ... in fact, cookware on their expedition Vietnam vets ever got ... the secret? ... the three pots most used in our house are iron skillets. 1c Northwest in 1804. Mary BLACK IRON! on, mother of the "Father Of Carroll Light, West Texas oilfield try," had a will registered in welder by profession ... camp cook at kstown, Maryland. Among the heart, says: :, :, of her will was that one half of Nothin' beats the taste of somethin' st iron kitchen furniture" go to cooked in black iron over a camp fire .. her grandsons, Fielding Lewis. nothin'! I learned to cook from the best f this collection is on display in they is ... old cowboy cook by the name erickstown. At Mount Vernon, of Jigs Plummer ... lives on a ranch out of Toya (Texas) now. 01' Jigs could make rs can see many of the original cast biscuits stand up ta three inches high in tensils used by George Washing a Dutch oven! s servants. Jigs says there isn't any real secret to Cast iron skillets were fastened to the cooking in black iron. The main thing is ks of covered wagons and carried to "measure everything real careful and ng when families heeded the advice throw in about a handful from both Go West!" The '49ers loaded their ;.ack iron and headed out to California find their fortunes in gold, and many the miners used small skillets to pan r gold when they got there. By the " ... the three pots most used in our house me the cattle drives began, right after are iron skillets ... " e Civil War, cast iron skillets and Chef Paul Prudhomme Dutch ovens were mandatory for New Orleons Creole, Cajun King sides of the pot. Take biscuits ... just put cooking on the trail. Chuckwagon in some eggs, milk, or whatever and add cooks knew the value of the long-lasting Little city government officials with some flour till there's just enough." ron for the rugged trail, and also knew health departments went crazy over Whether it's the magic of the cook or that nothing could beat it for flavorful this new shiny aluminum. They wanted the iron pot .. no one knows, but for cooking. The cook knew that the only "shine!" The San Antonio City Health some reason cast iron has something thing worst than a midnight stampede in Department used this "shine is clean" special about it. Maybe it's that a rainstorm would be the disgruntled theory and closed down chili stands in historical quality ... from the Mayflower cussing of the hungry cowhands if their 1937. Chili queens who had been to the chuckwagon ... kings to cowboys food wasn't up to snuff. Nothing made serving satisfied customers for years, ... that ol' black iron skillet deserves the cowboys happier than the smell of a were suddenly told to "shine up or get some credit where credit's due. big pot of pinto beans or chili and a out!" Maybe that black magic comes from batch of campbread greeting them at An era had passed for cast iron ... the permanence of black iron cook-
5 "Nothin' beats the taste of somethin' cooked in black iron over a campfire ... nothin. West Texas Camp Cook Carroll Lig: ware. It's virtually indestructable. Kent black iron skillet. I'd use nothing else on passed down through the famili; ..A,s, and the band had one of our skillets in earth ... and for frying and a lot of other around. Maybe Aunt Bessie will let things, I simply prefer black iron, the "band wagon" and used it last about because that's what I was brought up on have her old skillet ... or Grandpa u: two years ago in T erlingua, to fix ... it fries much more efficiently and is give you his fish kettle. If your relatt scrambled eggs and potatoes. Now, as less intimidating than the new stainless don't pan out, try flea markets or garage talented as these boys are, you'd never steel or aluminum ware. Perhaps it's sales. Sometimes you'll come across more honest ... I think that's it ... it's know that they can't wash dishes. To what I was brought up on." wonderful cast iron treasures at "Ju make a long story short(er), two years sales" ... (probably the owner traded later, during Kent's semi-decade clean that shabby ol' iron for some turquo se up, he brought this very sad skillet to me aluminum with flowers and plastic . . . complete with the original eggs, handles!) potatoes and Terlingua dust, under a But if you happen to be an orpha whole lot of rust. It took about two who has a fear of garage sales and flea Many cooks have a separate skillet that weeks of "intensive care" but the skillet markets, don't worry. There are severa is reserved just for cornbread. This is back on the job and back to normal (in companies that manufacture qualiti; MY kitchen). skillet need never touch water. Simply cast iron today. But carefully note the wipe clean with a towel after each use. If key word here- QUALITY. Don't run you have a properly seasoned corn bread" pan, the bread will never stick to the skillet and will become increasingly seasoned until it produces even more deliciously flavored cornbread. Cast iron is porous, and will absorb Another advantage of owning cast iron pots and skillets that comes to anything you put in it. This is why it out to the Kwickie Pickie and grab the mind around this house is that a Dutch must be properly seasoned. The suet or first skillet on the shelf. Pay attention oven is too heavy to carry out to the lard or bacon grease used for the and check out brand names and sand pile or end up in a toy box. It sets a seasoning process fills the pores and manufacturing locations. This is pretty good example for living as well. gives the skillet a surface similar to another important case for buying Bob Kellermann, great-grandson of teflon, but better. Better, because you American made products. Some stores the founder of Lodge Iron Manufactur don't have to "baby" iron, like you stock iron that is made in Japan and ing Company. said, "Cast iron's like a would teflon .. . very little grease is Taiwan and is available for nearly good woman ... it gets better with age." required for cooking and it is reparable nothing. But you get what you pay for. That's true. Cast iron doesn't get old ... if it gets messed up. There is an element Tommy Patterson at Buttery's Hard just more seasoned! in the iron that keeps grease from ware in Llano, Texas says, "Our line turning rancid. After a few years of (Birmingham Stove and Range) may loving your iron ware, it will have built cost a little more, but it'll last a little up a hundred layers of seasoning. longer ... and when you're talking about The most important secret to iron skillets that's a couple of hundred traditional Southern cooking is cast years." iron. New York Times Food Editor, We found that large department Craig Claiborne has traveled the world stores usually carry quality cast iron, sampling the exotic and traditional but at very high prices. Camping foods from all regions. Yet his roots specialty stores are the same way. The remain firmly planted in the Deep Okay, so you're sold on black iron ... best bargains for good cast iron are South. We spoke with Claiborne about you've sent the kids out to the trash cast iron: with your aluminum and flowerdy pots usually found in hardware stores. We and set that teflon frying pan out on the checked with our local hardware store Black iron skillets? I was raised in back porch for the dog to eat out of. and they said they are "real pleased with Mississippi and though I'm not an Now you're wondering where to get equipment authority, all I know is what the quality of Lodge." Joel Cliett, appeals to me. Personally, I would never your iron cookware. proprietor and well known camp cook, bake cornbread in anything else but a The best black iron is that which is is picky about his cast iron, and he says " ... perhaps it's more honest I think that's it ... it's what I was brought up on." New York Times Food Editor Craig Claiborne
6 s ron's like a good woman ... it gets better with age." Bob Kellermann, Vice President Lodge Cast Iron Manufacturing Co.
good." He keeps a President of the company, told us that towel. NEVER DRAIN DRY. Now you most of the time. He they are still a family-owned business are ready to season your pot. (The e !,i used to carry and they make over 50% of the cast iron method is the same, whether you are hich is a pretty good cookware sold in the United States. seasoning a new pot or re-seasoning an s a bit less expensive, Their best seller is the Dutch oven, old pot. At times your old pot might lose s still there." which they call the "original slow some of its finish or some idiot may cooker." Most of us call it a chili pot. Lodge carries the largest variety of cookware and accessories we found. They even have a little one-pint "kettle" ecked with several of the that would make a great individual dump it in soapy water.) Using a paper -~~.,....,s that make cast iron these serving of chili. towel, grease the inside with beef suet, :mungham Stove and Range Both Birmingham and Lodge are top lard or bacon grease. (Never use a fu I line of products from the quality and "suitable for heirlooming." vegetable oil, as some brands make a :,K ets and Dutch ovens to the You should be able to judge for yourself sticky, tacky coating on the utensil.) cookware. They have one whether or not that new skillet looks Also, lightly grease the outside of the ~~~ item called an AEBLESKI like it'll hold up for the next three pot and the lid. Place utensil in a 250 to ch looks like a skillet that has hundred years or so. 275 degree oven for two or three hours. muffin cups in the center. Remove the pot several times, wipe out xng called an AEBLESKIVER the grease and replace with more to be written about. We're going :. seasoning. After greasing the pot a ooking for one, right now. Jim ···;. .... minimum of three times, turn off the n, from Birmingham Stove and oven and let the pot cool inside the said that their most popular item oven, overnight. Remove pot from oven er the 10 inch skillet or the Dutch and wipe it out with a clean, dry cloth . They carry a Dutch oven with the Now that you have brought your new and you're ready to go. Your skillet or id. as well as an alternative for or pre-owned cast iron pot home, you pot should have at least three coats on --:nse folks who can't bear to part with have some important rules to follow. the inside and one coat on the outside. r Corningware. Birmingham offers a The first and foremost rule of cast iron is By the way, DON'T leave the lid on the •ch oven with a glass lid. But to NEVER USE SOAP! That's right, pot during this process or you will have emember that if you purchase a glass because the iron is porous, and if you to use a crow bar to remove it! And you will have no guarantee from put the skillet in soapy water, the soap never store your pot for any length of CHILI MONTHLY that the lid will will dissolve the seasoning out of the time with the lid on it. ::>ecome an heirloom. That's the kind of pores and be absorbed in its place. mg that ends up in the sand pile or toy Then your skillet will be seasoned with x ... or broken. soap. Not only will your food stick; it will taste like soap. The first thing you have to do with a brand new store-bought pot is get that factoring preseasoning out of it. All new cast iron comes with this sticky stuff on Once your pot is seasoned, it to prevent rusting. Birmingham and remember NEVER USE SOAP! And Lodge have similar instructions for never use metal scouring pads or the Lodge Manufacturing Company of treating and seasoning cast iron. dishwasher for cleaning. The secret is to South Pittsburgh, Tennessee is the First, using steel wool and hot water, clean it while it's hot. Serve the food in oldest existing cast iron company in the scour the factory finish off all surfaces of another dish and clean the pot while it's United States. Bob Kellermann, Vice the pot. Rinse and completely dry with a still warm using very hot water. If you
" ... great to cook in ... season it right and take care of it or it'll rust on you ... if you treat it right, it'll last a few lifetimes .... " Camp Cook Joel Cliett
7 have to clean a cold pot, heat it up first. Joel Cliett, camp cook, said this The heat will open the pores and make about cast iron: the clean-up a lot easier. If it's seasoned " ... great to cook m .. season it nght and well, nothing will stick to it, but if take care of it, or it11 rust on you ... rf you something does, fill the pot with hot treat it right, it'll last a few lifetimes .... " water and set over medium heat. Use an Joel's suggested methcxi of cleaning up egg turner to scrape the guck off, if after a meal is to get the skillet back on necessary. In most cases whatever 1s clean and then turn the pot upside dov. the fire and "burn it clean." If this stuck will float off in boiling water. on the fire and let it dry. Then grease •c.,.. sounds ex.id to the "unseasoned" cook, . you have to grease 'em to keep the Carroll Light said basically the same rust down, you know .. then when you thing: go to use 'em again, just set 'em on the fire and melt that grease and wipe 'eM out with a towel and that's it ... just don t When you get through cookin', put the ever put any soap in your cast iron Cast iron expert, Darrell Staedtler pot back on the fire and get it real hot and then Just pour you some water in So now you have it ... hov.: to take told us how to remove rust from an old there and ne~er use any soap ... Just cold skillet: water lt1 break up all that stuff and float care of that iron skillet. You may read or 11 up If nothin'sstuck on rt.just leave out hear of methods that allow for soap, but Start with a steel wool pad or half a the water Just get 11 hot and burn 1t don't trust them! From camp cooks to potato. Pour scounng powder on the potato and start scrubbing Sandpaper grandmothers, the tried and true rules might be needed if the rust is very bad. If are simple and straightforward. The those methods don't work, try a soluuon met hex.is we have mentioned are quick, of 1 teaspoon oxalic acid (available at easy and efficient. They will keep your drug stores) to one cup of water Once the rust is removed, dry thoroughly and cast iron cookware in top shape for re-season the pot, as usual. generations. * * * * * * * * * Remember when you purchase cast iron, you are buying an heirloom that your grand children's children will cherish. Can you imagine passing Corningware or teflon down through the family? ... or the new microwave "plasticware"? But any cook would be thrilled to have Granny's bean pot ... or Aunt Ella's skillet. There's a lot to be said for permanence in in this "disposable" world of paper plates and plastic forks. When it comes to black iron, you can't improve on perfection. You just can't do any better than a frying pan that loves you back! As I look at the skillets hanging in my kitchen (some that are at least 50 years old), I think of the wonderful stories they could tell, the love that someone before me felt for them and the wonderful meals they have provided for all these years. What would you give for a usable piece of history? ... how 'bout Wick Fowler's chili pot, for example?
Right: Wick Fowler's Chili Pot YOU CAN'T
KNOW
TOO MUCH
ABOUT CHILI! (Special thanks to Bob Kellermann for pro V1d1ng the skerche~ used ,n rh,s ar/lcfe )
8 CEDAR CREEKCLIPPINGS
la"d by the chamber to celebrate Arbor e Arbor Day because there's no rules to have it. • n whenever we feel a celebration comin' on. ~ plan to plant a prickly pear and poison ivy at e Road. We11 have 1t to our ownself then more. part of the Post Office has had more customers • "n ever, due to the long cold spell. We all go everun' and set 'round the wood stove whether we not. Me and Mama are very shy 'bout that so we one and make it last two hours. Settin' by e3e's fire beats choppin' wood. Kinda like settin' by stead of a wife. Fire seems warmer. s a barrel of soda crackers by the stove at the Post !Ki€\ er once in a while I sneak one to go with my split not anymore. Mr. Wurstbottom, postmaster, put a p m the cracker barrel and it whacked me on the t when he was lookin'. Everyone laughed. Everyone cept me. Made me so mad I just quit stealin' his old rs Stale anyway. Peter Cedarstacker Writer
sed by permission of John Russell Crouch Estate. All Rights
e er Cedarstacker was a pseudonym used by the late o C~ouchfor his weekly column in the Comfort (Texas) ;'S Hondo was the "clown prince" of Luckenbach, who t us all to laugh at our ''funny ownself" and to p'like!
It was so cold • • • • • • • • Bill Smallwood BA.NKER SMITH, TEXAS - The Banker Smith's major industry, Arrow, Oklahoma who told me he nstmas cold spell which hit the playing country music in dance halls, couldn't possibly change the oil in my on has caused a lot of problems. was completely shut down by the Lincoln before Thursday. I thanked him ,.s here in South Texas are not weather because the dance halls all and hung up. What a break. At least I pared for this much sub-freezing froze up. One dance hall got so cold that had three days to get a Lincoln and get it ~ther. We froze up in places we the beer taps froze. to Broken Arrow. I'm sure glad he 't even know we had water. Here in As you can see, this is serious. A couldn't have done it sooner. Maybe I ruil country it got so cold that the whole town without water. An entire could borrow Mike O'Hare's Llncoln. nre municipal water system for the municipality with its sole industry I'm sure it needs the oil changed. ty of Banker Smith, Texas was busted brought to an abrupt halt. I called Texas ~e open. The whole population was Governor Mark White to have him As I pondered that situation the ally without water and had to be declare Banker Smith a disaster area. phone rang again. It was the Governor. evacuated All three of us went south to One of his aides answered the phone He said there was nothing to worry e Rio Grande Valley to escape the and told me that the Governor was on about. Banker Smith had been declared cold. It didn't help. The valley was froze another line. I found out later that he a disaster area several years ago by his up too. Grapefruits froze as hard as was trying to call the President to get predecessor Bill Clements and he saw cannon balls. About seventy percent of disaster assistance for the Valley and he no reason to change the disaster this year's citrus crop was completely had been put on hold. I told the fellow at designation. destroyed and several other crops were the Capitol about our problems here in "Thanks," I said. "By the way, do you ruined. The aloe vera plants were hit so Banker Smith and he put me on hold. have a Lincoln?" badly that it will take a couple of years to While I was on hold AT& T broke up recover. That's the bad news. The good and when somebody finally came back "No, why do you ask?" r,e »s is that the chile pepper crop was to the phone I found myself talking to a "Oh, nothing important. Forget it." r. :::t hurt. service station attendant in Broken CHIU 9 Anyone who's ever enjoyed the robust aroma and savoiy taste of a steaming bowl of chili knows what a delight it is. In fact, chili has become as much a legend as a food. In Texas and around the nation, the central figure in that legend is one Wick Fowler, the father of 2-Alarm® Chili. In the same way that chili has an aura of romance, tall tales and humor about it that makes it transcend ,normal foods, Fowler's life was so full that memories of him have spread past usual boundaries. For most men, just being a war correspondent in Europe during World War II would be adventure enough for a lifetime. But from the telling. it would seem that Wick had ten lives. He was a war correspondent in World War II and Vietnam. A city detective. A roving columnist Assistant to a U.S. Senator and a Texas Governor. A merchant marine. Asailboat designer and builder. A PR man par excellence. And more. With that many hats to wear in a lifetime, it might seem strange that a chef's cap would be his most remembered attire. How did it happen that Wick Fowler would someday be kno\\n as the "greatest chili cook of all time?" Well, legend has it that while Wick was employed by The Dallas Morning News, he would some times cook his flavorful chili concoction for fellow newsmen. Bending to their pleas, he started putting pre-measured amounts of the ingredients into packages so that they could cook it, too. As the word spread about this marvelous way to make chili, orders began to come in from "chili.heads" all over the world. From celebrities to just ''plain folks.'' Soon, a hobby turned into a going business-The Caliente Chili Company. And the chili itself was dubbed "2-Alarm," for obvious reasons. Then, as now, each 2-Alarm package contained seven separate pre-measured packets of nine all natural herbs and spices that you cook \\ith your own fresh meat and a small can of tomato sauce. The result is rich, delicious chili at its home-made, heartwarming best. Wick even built in a way for the chef to control the heat of the chili-from just spicy to 2-Alarm hot by adjusting the amount of red pepper t. Calirntl' Chili, Inc 198; Calie------~nte (;hili. Inc. 1 P.O. Drawer 5}10, Austin, Texas -g~65
Please mail nw D 2 (
Enclosed is: D m1 check [.J charge m) credit card LJ \isa D Masterfard
___ .-\pt ___ LState ______Zip ..J REVIEWS
tribute to Bob Wills. He sounds like he's His section on ghost tovms mcl d coasting ... but even when he's coasting, Terlingua, Texas. He notes t he's still just about the best thing rolling. Terlingua was selected as the site o t KENT FINLAY first World Championsh:p C Cookoff, now an annual event. Mr. Butler goes on to write at gred length (and with great authority) abo chili. He states that chili "may or ma not have been born in a Southwester jailhouse kitchen," and that chili's \~~de spread popularity "pleases members o the International Chili Appreciation Society among whose legions ha~e been such renown figures as Jesse James .... " Then after quite a bit of background THAT'S THE WAY LOVE GOES such as this, Ron Butler tells us ho~ to Merle Haggard make chili .... What can I say? Merle Haggard does He says that an1,: kmd of meat will do the singing. Ray Baker is the producer. . .. bear. ratt esnake, armadillo, buffalo, The songs are written by the likes of coyote. goat, moose. or oysters ... but Red Lane, Hank Cochran, Whitey THE BEST OF THE OLD WEST he prefers cubed chuck steak - two Shafer, Lefty Frizzell. and Merle Ron Butler po nd,; You bro~n this in a large pot Haggard, himself The musicians 1983. Texas Monthl~ Press t "d couple of onions, some garlic. a include Grady Martin on guitar and $9.95 green bell pepper, and a few canned Tiny Moore on fiddle . When everythmg a.apeno peppers .... " After the meat ,s is the best, you've just got to come up Te:x.as Mon brov..n, add a "small can of tomato with a pretty fair album. sene~ o G e Boo s ::;auce, four cans of water and one 32 And this IS is pretty fair album In or so The ounce can of tomatoes. Season with fact, there are some high points that are con ene t g three of four tablespoons of chili downright wonderful ... like the Grady m this manner and powder, a tablespoon of paprika, a tea Martin guitar work on the Merle get It Texas M spoon of ground cumin, some oregano. Haggard composition "What Am I magazine and I t o ght a \.- book salt, pepper, a splash of vinegar, Gonna Do With The Rest Of My Life.·• It published by those fo k,, \i.,ou d have to and a dash of Worchestershire." You has a nice laid back jazz feeling, a strain be top notch simmer this for an hour or so. "For the that runs all through the collection, The Best of the O d West clarn.s to be final thirty minutes, add two 36-ounce especially on "Don't Seem Like We've "an indispensab e gu de to the varnshmg cans of drained kidney beans and a b,t Been Together All Our Lives" and "I legend of the Amencan West..,- h \~as more cumin powder." Think I'll Stay," both also written by written by Ron Butler, who hves m New You can imaqine how much you Haggard. In fact, he wrote or co-wrote York City. He ,s a so the author of could learn about the West from seven of the ten songs here. Esquire's Gwde to Modem Etiquette. someone who knows this much about Probably the strongest song on the The Best of the Old We.st is basically chili.... album is the title song, "That's The Way an expanded book of lists. For instance, KENT FINLAY Love Goes," written by Whitey Shafer there is a section entitled "Frontier and Lefty Frizzell. It has been recorded Towns" which lists nme towns such as many times in the past but there is no Tombstone, Arizona Virginia City, ADD SPICE better version than this one. Nevada - Lincoln, New Mexico, etc., Compared to most of the stuff they and gives a brief sketch of each TO are calling "country" and trying to make including information on history, what us listen to these days, this album gets to see, where to stay, and where to eat. YOUR LIFE an eight or nine on a scale of ten. Besides frontier towns, Mr. Butler Compared to other Merle Haggard covers dude ranches, border towns, WITH albums, it doesn't rate quite that high. museums, historic hotels, saloons, CHILI MONTHLY Merle doesn't seem to be getting into it resorts, Indian lands, national parks, quite as much as he did on say ... his and ghost towns.
12 MEMORIES Dal/os Morn111g News. And of course. Pres,-, CL Da a-- a d Pre,; dent of there was his book. A Bowl of Red. We the Texas Sportswnters Assoc1,rnon. sure are gonna miss him. Bill had a 11er',, evemful career m We 'II miss his jabs in the News ... we 'II journalism. He co\·ered the New miss his dry humor and tall tales of London explos1on. the Texas City Texas folklore ... but most of all. we'll explosion, and was Cit',, Editor of the miss the rivalry ... that devilish streak ... Doi/as Morning News at the time John that J.R. Ewing Dennis The Menace Kennedy was shot. combination that never let anyone Probably his most memorable literary forget how mighty the pen can be. creation as Poet Laureate of C.A.S I No one ever got away with much was the official C.A.S.I. Ceremonial when Frank was around ... that is, Salute, the recitation which preceded unless he was getting away with it too. each meeting of the original Chili In spite of his gruffness and Appreciation Society (International). toughness, he always had that twinkle in Crackers would be crumbled into the his eye ... that mischevious gleam like a bowls of chili after the recitation and the Frank Tolbert kid who had been into the cookie jar ... chili would be consumed in a manner 1911-1984 and he always had that turned down befitting the most dedicated connoiseur mouth to keep from grinning when he of the bowl of red. Tolbert left us a couple of was spoofin' someone .... Let us all raise a cheer and crumble ago. It is a loss that will be felt 01' Frank was a master at spoofs. our crackers into the next bowl of chili set before us. in memory of Bill Rives ul the chili world, for Frank Who else could ha1.e dreamed up a of the pioneers ... one of the movement to have the farkleberr\,: and Frank Tolbert, two members of the rs of the chili wars. named the Stare Bush of Texas? (That CHILI MONTHLY HALL OF IN was a crusty old sonofagun .. . hasn't passed i,:et. but we understand FAMY! m. bullheaded, and obstinate .. . there 1s a nev.: push on.) A Toast, amigos, to Chili. Thanks. Tolbert .. . for helping to at he thought. And he was Fevered friend of man. bring thousands of people together ersial. He liked controversy ... Full of succulent juices, through your promotion of chili. And d on it! If he couldn't think of a Always in demand. t for one of his columns, he would thanks for guiding us down the back p something, and give it a ring of roads of the Southwest. And most of all, Coast to coast, men want it. Crackered, and modestly greasy and turn it into real news. Some of thanks for leaving something behind for o::.t entertaining writing was based us to remember you by. The perma To get your fill of chili controversies of his own creation. nence of your writing and your wit will Just ain't very doggoned easy. body loved a fight more than live forever .... So lift high your crackers But did you have to leave so soon? ank Tolbert. He was one of a Along with your beer. shing breed of newspapermen. Now all together, fellows, ts make good copy ... no one wants * * * * * Give chili d thund'rous cheer! read about a quilting party. Another founding father died After the 1983 Terlingua Chili recently. Bill Rives, Poet Laureate of the Championship, in which Frank and Chili Appreciation Society (Inter me of his old cronies commandeered national) was not only a charter posing cookoffs eighty miles from member of C.A.S.I. he was also one owhere and just across the road from of the group of men that pulled off the each other, he was known to smile and original T erlingua World Championship onfide to some of these same friends Chili Cookoff in 1967. He served as at he had never gotten so much Master of Ceremonies at the "cookoff 1 eage out of any fight in his life. that started them all." He also managed This "war game" knocked Lebanon to hold dov.:n the position of Super ff front pages all across the country ... intendant of Schools in T erlingua, as rom the Wall Street Journal to the appointed by "The Very' Right and 4/pme Avalanche. Honorey" Mayor David Witts. Frank did as much as anyone to raise Bill was the Assistant Managing • e bowl of red to a level far above that Editor of the Dal/as Morning News. ! its cousins, stew and goulash, and Executive Editor of the Denton g ve it national acclaim. For years he Chronicle and founder of the Texas wrote about all factions of the chili world Sports Hall of Fame. He held many Bill Rives n his "Tolbert's Texas" column in the illustrious titles such as President of the 1911-1983 13 CHILI MONTHLY BLACKLIST The following people have not yet subscribed to CHILI MONTHLY
1. Poor Roger Brashears - Lynchburg, Tennessee 13. "Bistro Bob" Wiseman - Las Vegas, Nevada 2. Nick Lambridine - Cincinnati, Ohio 14. Ed Jungbluth - Ruidoso, New Mexico 3. Wally Pryor - Austin, Texas 15. Sy liebergot - Houston, Texas ~- Bill Bridges 'ileRture, Gali#mAia 16. 6eeF€je I leddm;o•,1 Lindele, l0x1a1s 5. Walter Mcllhenney - Avery Island, Louisiana 17. L.W. McMillan, Jr. - Tuscon, Arizona 6. George C ♦ reit eoA MerGes, Te11os 18. Richard Hunsberger - Dallas, Texas 7. Jane Butel - long Island, New York 19. Irv Woolsey - Nashville, Tennessee 8. Bob Moore, Spring, Texas 20. Bob Gouwens - Chicago, Illinois 9. Ormly Gumfudgin - La Crecenta, California 21. Jo,, ,be Ber, Atwell iA,us♦iFI, feites 10. Lou P,iebe WashiAgteA, [),C. 22. €011011 Shelby PittsbUf!;!h, feite9 11. Don Ingle - Edmund, Oklahoma 23. Mike Revere - Shreveport, Louisiana 12. Sylvester Stevenson - St. Louis, Missouri 24. Thom Marshall - Dallas, Texas
25. Jim Parker - Alexandria, Virginia
Hurry and subscribe before you too suffer the embarrassment and humiliation of being published on CHILI MONTHLY'S BLACKLIST!
How to subscribe to CHILI MONTHLY 1. Come up with twelve dollars - American money, please .. no pesos. 2. Print your name and address on this order form. (a) If you don't want to cut up the magazine, just print it on a piece of paper. (b) If you don't have a piece of paper handy, just write your current. correct address on the check or money order. 3. (Here comes the hard part) ... Put the check or money order in an envelope .. . preferably larger than the one you got with the secret number at the last cook-off ... and stamp the envelope. Write our address on the envelope and drop in any reputable post office mail box. CHILI MONTHLY, P.O Box 142, Martindale, Texas 78655. 0 Yes! I want to subscribe to CHILI MONTHLY. I will receive 12 issues at the super-chili-saving price of only $12.00 per year! 0 Wait! I wanf to save even MORE by subscribing for 2 years and receive 24 fun-filled issues for orily $22.00!
MY NAME JS ______
MY ADDRESS IS ------
MY TOWN JS------
MY ZIP CODE IS ______
14 HILLBILLY CHILI "Somewhere Along the Trail" by Bill Neely
The Chili Queens reigned s upreme at San Anto nio's Military Plaza until City Hall s hut them down in 1937.
e hearty smell of mesquite smoke hotel. When the older Def rates its own comeuppance and that compli g mg with the spicy aromas of chiles returned to his native Springfield, ments are made only on pain of angry ne from the plazas of San Antonio. Illinois, to open his own place, serving dissent. During his Christmas trip home e. too, are the gayly painted carts chili only to his friends and regular President Truman stopped at Vergne the fancy costumes and flowers of customers (it was not on the menu), he Dixon's chili parlor at 1904-06 Olive St., Chili Queens. But before their found chili parlors everywhere. He also Kansas City, and put himself outside a ,,sing, chili had become somewhat of found that the name of the dish was bowl of chili along with a scuttle of beer fetched from yonder, Mr. Dixon having national dish. spelled chilli, because a sign painter no beer license. Chili parlors sprang up all over the named Sheehan had made an error It seems to me that some law got ntry, and many small town cafes when lettering the window of a local chili busted here, but I am not for multiplying sen.ed little else than chili. By the parlor and everybody liked it so much our President's problems, so I wi ll only epression years, there was hardly a that it stayed. To this day, it is spelled mutter in a low voice that the W.C.T.U., own that didn't have a chili parlor, even with two l's in Illinois. which hollered murder when our troops got beer in Korea, certainly booted one. twas nothing more than a hole-in-the- By the fifties everybody was talking I am afraid I carried on when I got nplace with half-a-dozen bar stools in and writing about chili. Columnist going about chili con for this delicates ront of a linoleum-topped counter. To Westbrook Pegler was taken to task by sen is downright spiritual witb us who many a wandering work-seeker in those chili lovers everywhere when he long since sat on the high stools, as Mr. epression days, the wayside chili suggested that chili should be made Truman did in Dixon's, and on $25 a week got by payday lo payday, well-fed , ack meant the difference between with beans. In response to the flood of and well-content. :,larvation and staying alive. Chili was mail, Pegler wrote: I wrote that chili-con should be made cheap and crackers were free. with ground beef, beans, chili powder, In praising the beautiful version of tomatoes, onions and garlic and seized Joe Defrates' father, "Port," worked chili-con that was revealed to me in my as a bartender at the Adolphis Hotel in an occasion to extol by name the put-up gallivanting youth in the Mid and chili and the beans and powder sold by Dallas in 1914 and learned to love the Southwest I had no intention to invite or Gebhardt's of El Paso. chili that was served in the chili parlor wage controversy. Yet I should have I had no inkling of the feeling among ust off the main lobby of the lavish remembered that gladsomeness begets the devotees of the house of Gebhardt, 15 who fell on me in numbers, by telegram "Originally," says Valdez, "chili was Bill Neely is the author of biographies and mail. made from the meat of horses or deer, on Chet Atkins, Pete Fountain, A.J. Not only is Gebhardt'sanancient and honorable institution in San Antonio, chile peppers and cornmeal from ears of Foyt, and most recently, Roy Acuffand but Gebhardt's meat is not ground but stalks that grew only to the knee. No the Grand Old Opry. Bill has written cooked so well that it comes undone, beans." several articles for Playboy and is a releasing its juices among the beans. Valdez says he got his recipe from his contributing editor to Penthouse Maga Then, too, I ran afoul of the devotees of grandmother when he was a boy on the zine. He and his wife Martina collabor Wolf's chili-con and related products which are actually made in El Paso. Ute reservation near Ignacio, Colorado. ated on The International Chili Societ~ She lived to the age of 102 and Valdez Chili Cookbook and are head honchos Chili had made it.. .. says she credited her longevity and that of the West Virginia chili clique. Bill is Hal John Wimberly, late editor and of her relatives to the powers of chili. the Hillbilly Bureau Chief of CHILI publisher of the Goat Gap Gazette Actually, he says, chili was invented by MONTHLY. CHIU liked it simple. He said reverently of the Pueblo cliff dwellers in Mesa Verde chili: "I don't know why people screw who passed it on to the Navajos before around with it. It's a marvelous dish if it became popular with the Utes. KENT FINLAY BAND looking for you treat it right, with a few simple Carroll Shelby is more sanguine in his work ... Have played in beer joints, blue ingredients. I mean, look at California approach: "The beauty of chili to me is jeans, high school gyms, and dance cooks, they're likely to throw the whole that it's really a state of mind," he says. hauls. Also Llano. Appeared at Mud garden in." "It's what you want when you make it. Dauber Fest in Luckenbach, a goat Wimberly brought to light another roping in Balmorhea, at family reunion You can put anything in there you want, in Fife, on flat bed truck in downtown controversy that has raged among chili make it hot or mild, any blend of spices Kyle. Appeared drunk at Terlingua cooks since the beginning of time: you feel like at the time. You make it up Chili Cookoff. Almost booked by whether or not one should put to suit your mood." Brewster County Sheriff's Department. tomatoes in chili. "Jailhouse chili," he So the chili pot still boils. As does the Booked any t me we want to be at said, "is a good example. It's always controversy. We certainly don't know Cheatham Street Warehouse in San been a favorite. It has been served to who started it, or where. We just know Marcos, Texas. Can haul hay if you many a prisoner, and it was always very that, as with Billy the Kid, anybody who don't need music. basic - meat, spices, and grease from likes chili can't be all bad. (512) 357-6237 the suet." Over the past one hundred fifty years, many personalities and en anecdotes have been linked with chili. It c::::, SAN ANTON IO POD C: has been lauded by presidents, show ..... business types have defended it, and it n :c was said that Will Rogers judged a town :c by its chili, and even kept scores. Chili aficionados are no longer r- ==m mostly Texans. The famous Chasen's - en restaurant in Beverly Hills serves more KIRBY n ..... "Soup of the Devil" to international C CITY PARK c:::, :a celebrities than any other restaurant. :,-=: m Jack Benny, J. Edgar Hoover, and even c:::, C') Elizabeth Taylor have eaten chili there. KIRBY , TEXAS ..,, In fact, Liz Taylor had some Chasen's ..,, -c:, chili sent, frozen, to her in Rome, during z: the shooting of Cleopatra. :,::. r- Frank Tolbert, the noted Texas chili ...,0 authority, received 29,000 letters from (") C"") all over the world relating chili experi :r. !:'. :c ences after an article of his appeared in l> the Saturday Evening Post. :I: In 1977, a bill was introduced in the MARCH 17, 1984 -a Texas legislature to designate chili as c::::, COOK'S PARTY - fRJDAY NIGHT - MARCH 16 - the official state dish, and one year :z earlier, in California, Rudy Valdez, a full Cl) blooded Ute Indian won the chili [!';':'RIES TO: P,\T I RVlNE l'HO:-JE CONTACT: ::c championship using what he claimed to P.O. BOX !251 BOB 6. ANN M.'GEL - be a two thousand year old recipe. S[c;t:IN, fX 78155 (512) 732-3,52 -a
16 Notes from C.A.S.I.
e n Nuevo Laredo on Some days you can't have fun, it's all started searching for a site, going up composing this note. work and no play. So, back to the El Rio and down all the streets and as we the chili world was out where we were staying, to check out the turned the corner by the ISFA Inter numerous parties and bar. On the way back, we turned left national Headquarters Building, we saw ngent of chiliheads were instead of right at the fifth statue and got it! In the northwest corner of this village sunbathing under the lost. Because of this, we made our most there is enough room to have a cookoff, moon and swimming in important discovery of the whole but the greatest sight was a closed , I was working in behalf of expedition. Just like San Antonio has building for sale. It was perfect for the Alamo Heights, a city inside a city, C.A.S.I. Chili Cooks Retirement probably read in your local Dallas has Highland Park and Houston Center. There is a large lounge area for , of the terrible problems has Montrose, here was a small village social events and there are almost 60 , avmg in the border towns. inside of Nuevo Laredo. The road rooms built in the back and side. I think XJCan government was sup approaching this village was very rough, at one time it was probably a motel. It have shut down all bars on but we were told the city had just voted needs some restoration, but chiliheads and Sunday. Knowing they some bond money to improve the are talented people and we can do a lot :n prostitution in Matamoros streets. As a matter of fact. I remember of the work ourselves. I'm sure the osa, naturally I believed they Red Caldwell calling me trying to sell Mexican government has funds avail away with drinking. They say some municipal bonds that were sup able for historical restorations of sm is taking over in Mexico, posed to be a good buy. This quaint little commercial buildings, just like in the dications point toward the village looked like a modern housing U.S. The land is located uphill and will ment being controlled by the community in the U.S., with its security have excellent drainage. I think this will n Baptist Convention. fence built around the whole village. No be important, because it hasn't rained ::i vas C.A.S.I.'s first venture into guard was in the guard house, just like a here in a long time, but the streets were igative reporting, but it won't be modern housing development. On the still muddy. When we move in, we will s Chiliheads deserve to be aware right as you enter, they have their own get some chiliheads elected to the City mportant things in life. So, off we little police department; continuing Council and get the streets improved. ged to Mexico to go to work. down the main street, there are nice We need to get a committee to investi me state here, before any rumors little restaurants and clubs_ and street gate some of the writings on the walls of started, that this trip was not vendors selling fajitas. The Dallas some of the rooms. The only one we ed by C.A.S.I., Carroll Shelby, Cowboys have a club at the end of the could read stated that "Yeller Dog was S . I.R.S., NAACP, ISFA, USFL or main street. This could explain some of here in 1982." C.S. Olympic Committee. I went to the problems they had at the end of the Funding for this operation will be bank like any chilihead and season. easy. We can make it self-supporting. 01,1.-ed the money, using my chili Leaving the affluent section of the We noticed most of the license plates on pe for collateral. village, we drove through the poor all the vehicles were from out of the The only logical way to approach this section of town on the south side. There U.S., so this tells you right away this isa was to check all bars alphabetically. you saw a lot of poor old widows living in great tourist town. We noticed dozens a side street, we started at the El small cubicles. Probably on Mexican of hunters and hunting vehicles in the encana Bar and on through Cactus, welfare. Going back to the north area. So it must be a favorite watering d llac and all the middle alphabet, section of the village, we decided to hole for hunters to stop in for a drink. :xling up at The Winery. This left X, Y check out one of the bars to see if they We can open a souvenir shop in front of ncl Z for the next day. were selling booze. We had one drink the retirement center and sell Having worked hard, we decided to and left. I've heard Gary P. Nunn sing mementos to the tourists. As you know, some fun with our work and check about how friendly the women are in a lot of hunters and fishermen go off and the bars at the dog track. We had a Amarillo, but that must be because he really don't go hunting and fishing. This b em here. All the people were has never met any of the little girls of this way, they can buy souvenirs and take avmg as we drove in. Make yourself a village. them home to their wives and girlfriends te. the dogs no longer run at night, About this time, the thought came to and prove where they have been. y during the daytime. Another all of us at once. This town needs a chili C.A.S.I. is negotiating for this scovery, no more racing on Sunday. cookoff. We understand there is little to property and will let you know the out That's one of the reasons I'm sitting do in the daytime in this village. Well, as come in another issue of CHILI ere writing this, today is Sunday. Not you all know, the first thing you have to MONTHLY or a C.A.S.I. Newsletter, mention that my head caught polio. do is get a location for the cookoff. We as well as the progress of the cookoff.
17 After all this hard work, we found out SHOW 2. Tom fa·erett, Odessa, TX I. Mash 4077th, Big Lake, TX 3. Jim Miller. Lubbock. TX all the bars were selling booze on 2. Henhouse Chili, Odessa, TX SHOW Saturday and Sunday. Another rumor 3. Combat Chili, Big Lake, TX I. Little River RR Chih Team, Odessa, TX was discredited and the trauma in many October 22, 1983 - Denton K.C. Hall 2. Horse Collar Chili, Seminole. TX CHIU 3. Dave's Rdggedy Ann Coyote Chili, Del R10, TX chiliheads' minds was removed. I. Cindy Bell, Aubrey, TX December 3, 1983, Nocona, TX 2. Ginnie Bivona, Dallas, TX CHIU On a Congratulatory Note .. 3. Doris Coats, Irving, TX I. Winston Bland, Corsicana, TX SHOW 2. Momy Britton, Dallas, TX Congratulations to the-newly elected I. Charlie's Angels, Arling1on, TX 3 Beverly Bl3nd, Corsicana, TX Great Peppers of the following pods: 2. Wild Tiger, Irving, TX SHOW Becky Fox, SOT Pod; Sy Liebergot, 3. Just a Swangin, Sherman, TX I. St. Nick's Chili, Wichita Falls, TX October 9, 1983 - Boles Acres lion's Club 2. Grand Pnze Chili, Richardson, TX Houston Pod; Mike Revere, Lalouisi CHILI 3. San!a Claus Chili, Grapev,ne, TX ane Pod; Mike Gallagher, CAP Pod; I Pat Bellows, Boles Acres, NM December 4, 1983 - Hlarris County SDA 2. Donna Von Gentry, El Paso, TX CHILI Mike Hamilton, Hooch Pod; Mike 3. Bust Head, Ruidoso, NM I. Shirley Whitson, Houston, TX Niemeier, TIT Pod; Pat Irvine, San November 12, 1983 - Some Like It Hot, Dallas 2. Lori Rickert, Houston, TX 3. AR Antonio Pod; Dee Horton, VASA Pod; CHILI Liz Rickert, Hot Springs, I. Yvonne Calhoun, Richardson, TX SHOW Gerald Terry, TOT Pod. 2. Ray Calhoun, Richardson, TX l Ma & Pa Kettle, Houston, TX If your pod has had recent elections 3. R.T Miles, Duncanville. TX 2. Kiss Me Ted, Kingwood, TX 3. TeX
a fme job on your That would cause problems for the Thank you for the comp copy of oak foward to customs department, since they'd have CHILI MONTHLY. Looks like you've Best wishes for to start checking all the cars coming got a winner ... if you don't run out of CHILI MONTHLY! back from Mexico for contraband string .... Keep the humorous vein. Best peppers, as they aren't regulated down of luck to you. Gnffin there. One thing's for certain' I don't want to George Haddaway get busted for Possession with Intent to P.S. Cartoon on page 17 should read Distribute Anchos!!! id en oy the first issue of "penalty for 'cooking· beans in my chili.'' Maybe we ought to consider the ITHL Y. A real class publi We have no prejudices against beans .. whole question a little further before we pos1ttve attitude coupled 'specially pinto ... just don't COOK 'em turn the bureaucrats loose! r Journalistic talents are in the chili! We en1oyed Kent's reviews Sincerely, * * * * * 10n, sensitivity and humor ... Concerned Capsicum Consumers Well. my outhouse has a newgradl' of 1.uod's ambulance account Committee paper. It m<1kes for some damn good read and enjoyed several (Editor's Note: CM spoke again with readin' and I'm veal glad to have it out r house. Lou Priebe of CHILI USA who assured there, as some of mi,1 friend (sic) think I the good work! us that when chili 1s proclaimed the have gotten some class at last. Keep national dish, the government will not goin' with your fine magazine and if I c.in nd Les Lewellen interfere with the goings-on of veteran come up with the money, I'm gonnd ch1liheads As with the eagle who can vant some more issues. now eat lamb three times per da"!,,' Respectfully, without being harrassed by ranchers - !'.1s Editor: Darrell Staedtler chili cooks will haue special privileges have just read your position - and insofar as rules and paperwork (Editor's Note: Con~idenng the fact ent regarding Chih as the are concerned, since "chili doctrine" is that euery tirne /'m neur a radio. I hear :1a dish. At first reading, it sounds a religion for many chiliheads, the George Strait 011 top of the charts with t after considering what the U.S. church-state separation will be appli one of your songs, I betcha that money '"nment has done for the mail cable. Now that your worries are will be easy to come up with!) e, social security, and OSHA, I'm resolved, write to your senators and oo sure that I want a band of congressmen askrngfor their support of o:.Jucratic beanbags messin with my the bill to make chili the national dish.) of red. They'd probably come up d 2000 page report requmng all s of weird rules for my "health and e y," and to make sure that there was disclosure to the consumer." On top of that. they'd probably want o file 97 different forms every time e cooked a pot. Then they'd probably '-iae the monthly capsicum consump ndex, and some fool would start ~d ng pepper futures, and some mil na1re in Dallas would try to corner the .arket. Then we'd have problems from e beanbags in the Equal Opportunity :::::>ept. because some poor yankee in Hoboken can't get his "fair share" of nchos. Then, some loose lipped politician uld start an investigation and eanngs, and it would be really messed p, 'cause they'd probably start issuing Gee, I don't know. It looks like a pretty good cook site to me. pepper stamps," and rationing them.
19 ECHOS, cont'd
The word was out. There'd be a bean aren't quite up to Olympic standards Thank you for the copy of CHILI cookoff the first weekend in December, except maybe, the washer pitching - MONTHLY. I read it from cover to high on a ridge on the south bank of the those guys were good! The longest belt cover. You have truly put together a Pedernales. And so, it came to pass, contest was won by some guy named fine piece of chili news and information. that on the appointed day, we loaded "McFad." Hope you, Kent and the family have a the pickup and headed west, eagerly Six o'clock was turn in time, since Happy New Year. anticipating a day of long needed bean cooks aren't early risers. With a Best Wishes, lethargy. You see, bean cooks are a lazy flurry of activity, we all got our entries Speedy Beal sort. Beans take a long time to cook, turned in by 6:30, then headed for the don't need much attention, and pretty bonfire where we had the opportunity Sales Manager, Spoetzl Brewery - Shiner Beer well turn out on their own. As a result, a to drink a toast to the day's success with bean cook can have plenty of time to a nicely warmed bottle of Chateau * * * * visit around, play washers, and just Thunderbird '83. * generally goof off, without ending up Then, the winners were announced. The first issue of CHILI MONTHLY with a pot of home made charcoal. It seems there was a five way tie for first looked great! Keep up the good work. I There was a group there who set up a between two pintos. one green, one am enclosing a letter I received from the complete cow camp, chuck wagon and baby ma, and a butter bean. Per T erlingua community thanking us for all, that turned out some of the best sona , I think it was fixed, 'cause I the ambulance. Maybe you should print edibles you ever saw. They e\:en taught voted for tne el y beans. this letter, as everyone who supported some of us all thumbs types to make Al in a 1t v,:as Just a super da~! and participated in the C.A.S.I. cookoff camp bread - sure went VJ€ll with the Thanks, Carol! Thanks. Mike! at Terlingua last November deserves beans. credit for this ambulance. Good luck Being the type of people they are, the Red Caldwell with CHILI MONTHLY. athletic events that bean cooks enjoy * * * * * Carroll Shelby
Dear Mr. Shelby: The communities of Terlingua and Study Butte would like to express appreciation for your personal efforts in obtaining an ambulance for Terlingua Medics. Will you please extend our thanks to the sponsors: Stroh Brewery Dodge Division. Chrysler Corporation Pepsico Frito Lay Gebhardt's Chili Mix Christmas Mountain Land and Cattle Co. Carroll Shelby's Original Texas Chili Chili's As you well know, Terlingua is located 80 miles from the nearest doctor or medical facility, so this new equipment WI I play a vital part in saving lives. If Terlingua had a Mayor, he would surely give you a key to the City. If we had a City Council they would issue a formal commendation for your support. Since we have no official government spokesman, our alternative is to circulate this letter so that local residents can endorse this note of gratitude individually. From all of us, thank you once again.
20 Your cookoff must be listed at least OUND THE BEND 30 days prior to the cookoff to qualify for C.A.S.I. sanctioning. Send infor contact Rosanne Savoy at 6200 W. Bellfort ff238, Houston, Texas 77035, or call after 5 at (713) 772-8357. mation to CHILI MONTHLY, P.O. :-;ow, (CASI. rules.) Box 142, Martindale, Texas 78655 or April 14 - ARLINGTON, TEXAS - The 4th Annual North Texas Knights of Columbus Chili Cookoff. call (512) 357-6237 and we'll list it at C.A.S.I. rules and all the tnmmings. Write to Ben no charge! DePuew for details at 1117 Dickens Center, Arlington, a~p out on one Texas 76015. April 28 - WILCOX, ARIZONA - 1st Annual NSAS Arizona State Chili Championship. Fnday and Saturday You can't know too ookoff, at the night dances - Kent Finlay 8dnd. Overnight camping 20.00 entry fee available. We'll have more details next month, but if you much about chili. In addi ail II to Charles or can't wait, call Nick Cleckler. (602) 384-4920 or (602) 384- rth Little Rock, AR 2089 and he'll fill you in! C.A.S.I. rules; goodie bags, the tion to CHILI MONTHLY t1on about this one works! s April 28 - SPICEWOOD, TEXAS - 6th Annual we suggest that you sub 1CHTTA FALLS, TEXAS The 2nd P.P.O.A. Chili Cockoff on FM 2322, 3:, miles off Hwy 71 Thomas Fowler Poet 169 Chili west of Austin. Call for RV arrangements. C.A.S.l. rules. scribe to: by Jerry Harns and he's Limn 50. Makolm Fox, emcee. $10.00 fee to P.P.O.A., Youd better hurry.because c o Gilbert Johnson, Route 1, Box 145N, Sp1cewood, ber of cocks to 50. Send your Texas 7?iM9, (512) 264-1042; or Lynn l-lejtmancik, (512) JCS QUARTERLY JOURNAL (Ed. " th name and address to 264-1457. Jim West, P.O. Box 2966, Newport Coc~otf, c o Jerry Harris, 29 May 5 - DENTON,TEXAS- Sounds like a good 'un ta Falls, Texas, or call him at Called the 2nd Annual Spring Chili Fling a nd they are Beach, Ca.). The International Chili or home, (817) 723 6481 for more holding it at the Denton County Fairgrounds. C.A.S.l. Society sends this publication to !CS s party Friday night. By the way, this rules, goodie bags for the ~rst 75cooks and much more' AS I rules too. All this for only $15.00, payable to the Denton Festival members to keep them up to date on BR.°'CKETTVILLE, TEXAS The 2nd Foundation. P 0. Drower P, Denton, Texas 76201. For chili happenings around the world. nallonal Open' Championship. It's all the details, call Llz Taylor at (8171 382-9693. Contact JCS for more information good one. Send your $15.00 to the (Remember you got Liz Taylor', phone number from ber of Commerce, P.O. Box 386. CHILI MONTHLY'!!) about this tabloid which covers ICS s "8832. They will be having a dance May 5 - MARBLE FALLS, TEXAS - The 13th cook-offs from England to Australia. ea•unng Valentino and the Shahan Annual Howdy Roo Chili Cookoff w, I be another ~ r dancing boots• memorable one' Clyde Gnffin has a I the deta,ls,and you SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS SAP can contact h:m at 1101 Arbor Ln., Marble Falls, Texas J.>est Regional Championship Chili 78654. This is one of the "old hme chili-reunions" when GOAP GAP GAZETTE (Ed. Joanne Park, San Antonio. Friday night cook's folks from ~"ars back a I gather at the Marble Falls park Horton, 5110 Bayard Ln., Houston, ry fee. A supremente party to celebrate and reminisce and remember all those chili stories that ch . Send entries to Pat Irvine, P.O. Box they forgot they forgot' Texas 77006). The GGG is a monthly Texas 78155, or call Bob or Ann Angel for May 12 - HOUSTON, TEXAS - The Spring Branch (except January} newspaper, .., at (512) 732-3452. It's rumored that Optimists 1st Annual Chit, Cookofl will be on the Katy mg an lnsh Coffee Mixofl in honor of St. Freeway and the Wilcrest Exit next to the Petro Bank, developed to help spread the news of and will be run by C.A.S.l. rules, v.11h Kasey Kirby upcoming cook-offs. The motto of this r - CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS - 2nd heading it up! (Contact Kasey for more information at the irreplaceable tabloid is "Nothing serious Chili Cookoff. They're like the Elks ... it's address listed under April 14 Houston listing, above.) g moose chili ... these are the fellas running $15.00 entry fee. If you're optimistic"about your chili, this is included in its columns. We hope." SlO SO entry fee to8001 S. Padre Island Drive, one is a MUST! st , Texas, or call Walter Sheeler for more May 19 - SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA - The aoout this C.A.S.I. cookolf at (512) 853-1419. Louisiana State Championship. Th,s one is put on by the .4 - TYLER, TEXAS - 4th Annual Rose City La Casi Louisianne Pod, and naturally will be run under Tommy Long runs this C.A.S.I. cookofl C.A.S.l. rules ... Darrell Folse promises more information ,ear they are limiting it to 70cooks, so send your as soon as he gets it, but for now, just mark it down in o Tommy ($15.001 at P.O. Box 7193, Tyler, your chili calendar as a biggie! ---11 or call him for details at (214) 595-5530. This May 19 - DALLAS, TEXAS 5th Annual Top 0/ •s •he March of Dimes ar.d is held at the E'.ast Texas Pod Cookofl. Always a fun one, with proceeds F grounds. going to the Uttlest Angels Home. Contact Gerald Terry, N.rd, 30-31 - Ff. BEND, ARKANSAS - Hangin' new Great Pepper of TOT for more details, or look for Isaac Parker Chili Cookoff. Benfits the the scoop in next month's CHIU MONTHLY. Gerald's Dimes and is also a C.A.S.I. cockofl. $15.00 address 1s 2145 Stradivarious, Carrollton, Texas 75007 or ee Will probably have a computer tallying the call him at nights at (214) 492-6191. If he's not around, the sheets (see Computer story in Jan. CM). For new TOT secretary might answer the phone and Sherry orrnation about this cookofl call Duane should know everything about the cookoff! S. (5011 7834105. May 25-29 - GUADALAJARA, JALISCO, March 31 - SAN MARCOS, TEXAS - Purgatory MEXICO Mexico Grande National Championship. Pod 1st Annual Pre April Fools Day Chili Cookoff Top three winners go directly to Terlingua. See details in that an impressive name for a chih cookoff). Entry this issue of CHILI MONTHLY, or contact Nancy TRAVEL IN YOUR FUTURE? $15 00. Location to be announced. Contact Larry J3.,cker at (713) 583-5833 or (713) 580-2322 for more CALL: MICKEY (MOM) ROTH ss at (512) 392-4968 (after 5, call him at (512) 353- information. CLASSIC CHILI'S or wnte to Joe Kohut at 400 C.M. Allen Parkway, June 2 - SPICEWOOD, TEXAS - 2nd Annual Marcos, Texas 7861:h. Great American Chili & Show-Off at Krause Springs, "GYPSY MAMA" ~ 7 - HOUSTON, TEXAS Kasey Kirby is Texas - 35 miles West of Austin on Hwy 71. C.A.S.l. th~ Spina Bifida Chili Cookoff at Bear Creek RULES. Entry fee $5.00 ,f postmarked before 5/ 1/84. SEGUIN TRAVEL th s weekend. C.A.S.I. rules. $15.00 entry fee. $1.00 head for everyone at the gate. Overnight camping act Kasey Kirby for more information at 13030 available for $5.00icouple. Hookups available, but Mr. AGENCY, INC. • al Dr., Houston, Texas 77079 or call (713) 468- Krause'II charge a little extra. For more information, or ~ entries, write to Becky "Buzzy Off" Fox, 5530 Burnet SEGUIN, TX 379-8420 April 14 - HOUSTON, TEXAS - The 13th Annual Rd., Austin, Tx, or call (512) 453 7987 or (512) 327 llll. SAN ANTONIO. TX 658-7016 ston Pod Chili Cookoff. This year they are going all July 14 - SEGUIN, TEXAS - Annual Classic Chili TOLL FREE - 800-292-1018 way' The cookoff will be at the Westchase Hilton Cookofl. $15.00 entry fee. Details to be announced. e and Tower and they are hm,tmg it to 100 cooks, so Contact Pat Irvine, 208 Galvin St., Seguin, Texas, for more information~
21 Chili a la Mexico
Guadalajara 1984 is shaping up to be the The Mexico Grande owes much of its most exciting year so far! For the ninth good-time spirit to the city of Guadalajara year, Nancy Becker of Houston will head itself. It is one of Mexico's most up a group of chili cooks from around the cosmopolitan cities but still retains the country to meet in Guadalajara, Jalisco, coloial touches that make it so unique. The Mexico to compete in the 9th Annual city is rich in its old world charm. MEXICO GRANDE NATIONAL CHILI CHAMPIONSHIP at El Tapatio Resort Horsedrawn carriages and spirited Hotel and Racquet Club. mariachis in the park make a shopping spree another highlight of the 1.1:eekend. Participants, guests and chili aficionados will arrive on Friday, May 25th in groups Late evenings are often spe11t under the originating in Houston, Dallas, and San stars with entertainers such as singer• Antonio. Others will fly in from other states songwriter Kent Finlay, the Poet Laureate and Canada. For the next few days, they of T erlingua, or Sergio Or.12. a 1.1.-ell known will be wined, dined and entertained in the Mexican singer who often appears on :he typical "style grande" known only to past "Love Boat" and other cruise ships m the participants at the Mexico Grande. Caribbean. Ortiz has participa:ed m Cocktail buffets, breakfast in bed, fiestas, practically every Mexico Grande and his mariachis, fireworks, and a bullfight with team repeatedly runs away with daring matadors recruited from the cooks Showmanship Awards. Last year several themselves wiU fill every waking moment. popular Mexican movie stars stopped in and sang a few songs for the appreciative The Hotel Tapatio is superb! The rooms and excited audience. are spacious. Each one has a large private terrace and a panoramic view of the city at Guadalajara! El Tapatio! Mexico Grande night. If chili isn't your only game, you'll 1984! A beautiful weekend and an find tennis courts, jogging tracts, unforgettable experience! Let's share it norseback riding and close-by golf together! courses. The only problem you'll face is deciding what to do first. Should you take a Dates this year are May 25th-29th. LAND dip in the pool and swim up to the bar for COST (includes accommodations for 5 one of their famous pina coladas, lie back days and 4 nights, continental breakfasts, and turn golden tan in the wonderful lauish cocktail buffet, Bloody Mary Party, sunshine, or treat yourself to a sauna and Mexican Fiesta featuring a dinner buffet, head-to-toe massage? The answer is bullfight, mariachi bands, cock fights and simple! You do them all! Later when the the Ballet Folklorico) is $160 per person, sun gives way to the moon and stars, you'll double occupancy. Entry fee for the be tempted once again! Should you dine in cookoff is $15.00 per team. AIRFARE the continental elegance of the hotel's uaries from city to city. All airfare should Masion de Chef Restaurant, or visit a be ticketed through Seguin Trauel Agency downtown restaurant and club? Of course, (Mickey Roth) at Texas WATS No. 1-800- no one misses dining once at Dayton 292-1018. Seats haue been blocked out of Herzog's "No Name Restaurant," the Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Out of favorite spot in T!aquepacque for the state participants should call (AC 512) Mexico Grande regulars. 379-8420.
····················--············-----·······················-·-· ------·············-·--·------··············· Mexico Grande 1984 Registration Form
NAME------ADDRESS ______CITY ______
TELEPHONE NUMBERS HOME ______WORK (If it is necessary to call you, all calls will be made "collect.")
!AND PRICE of $160 per person is based on double occupancy. ___ I prefer a single room. (Acid $50 for single supplement.) DMaEPOSIT of $50 per P,"rson must accompany registration. The entire balance will be collected in Guadalajara uµon arrivdl and may be charged on American Express Visa ster Card or D,ner s Club. ' '
AIRLINE Reservations from various points should be made through Seguin Travel, Seguin, Texas. Call Texas WATS No.; J-800-292-1018. Out ofstate call: (A.C. 512) 379-8420. Ask foHr Mickey Roth. Rates are be,ng established at the time of printing but should be available by February J. Seguin Travel has blocked LIMITED space on flights departing 1rom ouston, Dallas and San Antonio. Make your reservations EARLY!!I REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS MAY 1, 1984.