Tuesday, November 5, 2019

In Search of Chili



The Missus texted me the other day while I was at work and asked me to pick her up a chef's salad from the local restaurant on my way home from work. She ordered me up a bowl of chili at the same time. The chili was only about half the size I needed after working all day and it wasn't all that good - not bad but not great. I decided I should look for a decent chili recipe I could make for myself.

The Missus has an extensive collection of cookbooks - maybe 300 of them  - I figured I'd be able to find something to my liking. I went first to The All American Cowboy Cookbook by Ken Beck and Jim Clark figuring there would be no better place to start my search. Sure enough, lots of chili recipes. Most all the recipes in the book are from people in the entertainment business that have played cowboys, or cowgirls, as well as singers, ranch owners - there's even a recipe from Richard Petty.

The book has a lot of photos of all these greats and some bits of bio on many of them. I saw Will Rogers in the book and knowing he was probably the greatest trick roper of all time, decided to see what I could find. The video above is six minutes but gives you a real good idea as to his skill level. If you don't have time to watch the whole thing or aren't at all interested in trick roping, watch the very first few seconds. Good advice there.


The book had a blurb on Ben Johnson as well as his recipe for buttermilk biscuits. Even though I grew up watching the Lone Ranger and Roy Rogers, Ben Johnson is without a doubt my favorite movie cowboy. He wasn't just an actor, he was the real deal as a cowboy. The only person to win a World Champion Cowboy and an Academy Award. Pretty smart guy as well - left an estate estimated at $1,000,000.


No shortage of cowboy singers in the cookbook. Here's one of my favorites: This one's for you Pop!

1 comment:

Surly said...

I have a great chili recipe. I'll get you a copy. Also, someone brought some chili to work the other day that was very veggie heavy. It was killer. I'll see if I can get that recipie as well. See you tonight.