Chili

Ingredients:

• 1 lb or 2 of ground beef (venison, if you're out of cow)
• 1 yellow or white onion chopped bitesize
• 1 can tomatoes (or 3 large tomatoes, if you feel adventurous)
• 1 garlic clove (if you like) chopped fine
• 1 can kidney or pinto beans
• 1 tbsp chili powder (actually as much as you can stand)

Break up the ground meat into little chunks and fry them in their own juices until they're as done as you can take. (Y'gotta convince the critter it's dead!) Salt and pepper if you'd like. Especially pepper.

Toss in the onion (and garlic) and turn the fire down to simmer (saute' if you know how). Give the meat a chance to absorb the flavors.

If you must, drain off the fats, but save the meat and onions.

If you're starting from real tomatoes, chop them bitesize, but save anything that tries to escape. Include it with the chunks in the next step.

Pour in the tomatoes and beans and stir. If the mix is too thick, add a tomato (chop it first).

Mix in the chili powder and stir until well mixed then stir some more. Is it hot enough? Do your eyes water? Does your forehead bead? If not, add some more chili powder and try again.

Cover and let it cook slowly for an hour or so. If the mixture is too thin, cook it some more.

Shut off the fire and serve up. Y'might want some milk handy to ease your tongue from time to time.

If you're making this for Yankees or city folks, back way off on the onion, garlic, and chili powder.

Peppers

Oh my word! My sources failed me. They confused "peppers" with bell peppers and their more brightly colored likes. Everyone knows how to cook with those! Chop'em up and toss 'em in; let them cook long enough to flavor whatever you added them to.

Real peppers, aka chili peppers, must be handled more cautiously, and preferably by someone else. I'll try to find my "how to's" in old articles from New Mexico magazine.

Did you know that chili peppers and their cousins were such a part of the New Mexico economy that New Mexico's A&M (New Mexico State University) developed several more resistant and hardier peppers and dozens of recipes for them? It's true.

What? You thought New Mexico was Mexico after the PRI was un-elected? For pity's sake! New Mexico was the 47th state to join the union known as the U.S. of A.! It's still a member, with Senators and a Representative and everything! Lew Wallace has been gone for a century by now.