The New Book of Plots by Niemi Loren;

Author:Niemi, Loren; [Niemi, Loren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Parkhurst Brothers, Incorporated, Publishers

Making Chili (a)

(I) A breeze stirred in South Dakota and got a notion to travel. It swept over the sunbaked plain, tickling the wild grasses, and across the ordered farm fields. It caressed the green stalks of corn. It crossed the low, rolling Iowa hills and skittered into Minnesota. It slid past Blue Earth and Rochester, curled around a burr oak near the Wiscoy Valley, then slid along the bluffs. It fluttered the curtains of the farmhouse overlooking the Mississippi Valley. It circled the warm kitchen like a restless cat and lifted the rich scent of simmering chili from the black pot that stood on the stove. Hmmm, it smelled sooooo good.

(II) Gregory and I were in town when the undeniable urge came. Let’s have chili for supper. Real chili the color of red mud, thick with chunks of meat, onion, and lots of hot peppers.

“Yah,” he says, “that sounds like a winner with some crusty bread. Yes, that sounds good.”

Oh, it’s good? You want good? Here’s good that will bring tears to your eyes. A big bowl of spicy, hot chili with a toasted slice of crusty sourdough bread topped with a thick slab of butter and a cold beer on the side. You know, with the glass taken right out of the freezer, the golden balm of joy poured over the iced rim, the amber settling below a white head of fine bubbles as thick as snow. Now there is a meal worth suffering for. There is a meal to make your tongue jump and your taste buds work overtime.

(III) Take the black skillet, and set it on the flame. Put in a stab of—well, purists would use lard—but you can use olive oil or canola or any grease just as well. Add the meat. A pound or two is about right. Beef, pork, lamb, venison, rattlesnake—anything will do.

I knew a guy who was partial to squirrel, but it is a little stringy for my taste. I even heard of certain unhappy places where rat chili is real popular. Man, we had some rats in the barn that were big enough to be considered, but when it comes right down to it, I prefer beef: cheap chuck steak, sometimes round, but really any tough bit of old bossy that will be improved with a couple of hours of simmering. That was what I used when I first learned the wonder of making the Devil’s due, and, as we know, it’s the Texas standard.

Trim all but about 1/8th of an inch of fat. Cut into chunks—about the size of the tip of your thumb—and throw them in with the smashed-up garlic. Hell, use two or three heads. Don’t be shy. The garlic is just the start of the happy mouth dance. For the chili I am thinking of, there can hardly be too much garlic, for its deep, resonant flavor must balance the pure sizzle of the chilies. Turn up the heat to sear the meat. Meanwhile, chop an onion into big pieces.

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