In his heart of hearts, the average American man sees himself as a cowboy.
Geographic location doesn't have anything to do with it, nor does life-style. You could
take the most mild-mannered, soft-spoken hair stylist from the heart of Manhattan, sit him
down with a bowl of chili in front of a television to watch "High Noon" or "The
Magnificent Seven", and when he walks away, he will have a wistful look on his face and a
swagger in his walk. (How big a swagger depends on how spicy the chili is.)
The chili, of course, is key. Short of raw meat on a stick, chili is the most masculine food
around. Along with barbecue and French toast, it forms the trifecta of dishes that every
American man is willing to cook regardless of how puritan he may be regarding other
aspects of domestic politics.
There are several theories as to why this is. One of the most popular is that chili is tied
directly into a man's self-image. When he is cooking a good pot of chili (and it is always a
pot - no real man would make chili in small reasonable portions), he is not standing in a
Formica and porcelain kitchen surrounded by chintz curtains and refrigerator magnets; in
his mind, he is standing on the open prairie, surrounded by sage-brush, rattlesnakes and
guys named Gus and Cisco - out where men are men, where rawhide and six-guns rule
the...("Huh...What? Um... OK Sweetie, you can if Mommy said it was all right...")
Anyway, the point is that a man cooking chili feels more like a man. This has been well
documented. "A hot chili is a macho chili," says Elizabeth Rozin in her book, "Blue Corn
& Chocolate". "From the earliest times, chili peppers have been associated with
masculinity; it is linked to machismo."
A more prosaic reason for the link between men and chili might be that it is fairly easy to
make. It takes an expert to make a great chili, but almost anybody can make a good
one. The other thing is that there are very few recipes for chili - it is supposed to be made
intuitively, with a little bit of this and a double-handful of that.
This suits the male ego which hates to follow directions.
One of the upshots of this is that chili is a food that men really care about. Many
men feel that it undermines their masculinity to show too great an interest in food, but even
the most meat-'n-potatoes guy is willing to give chili serious consideration.
Ask a man to taste somebody's chili and he will do it thoughtfully, rolling it around in his
mouth like a fine wine. He might leave his mouth open for a moment to feel the air on his
palate. He will look deep within himself and then pronounce a verdict - usually something
like, "Hmm. Needs oregano." (This from a man who may not have set foot in a kitchen
since the Reagan Administration.)
Community nonprofit groups have tapped into the characteristic in recent years and found
a way to use it in their fund-raising. A community chili cook-off will raise more interest
(and money) than a bake sale and has the added benefit that the participants will do all the
work and pay for the privilege. They provide the food, cook the food and present
the food, then other members of the community come and pay money to taste it. It is a
fun, fairly headache-free way of raising money for a cause. All the organizers have to do is
set up the tables and collect the money.
This is exactly what the Saxtons River (Vt.) Recreational Area did this past weekend at its
First Annual Chili Cook-Off. The organization of the event was pretty basic - there were
three classes of chili; that which was prepared by individuals, community businesses and by
restaurants. For a first effort, this year's cook-off was pretty successful. There were 16
entries that ran the gamut from a vegetarian chili to one featuring caribou venison. All
entries were judged by community members who paid a flat fee for unlimited tasting
privileges.
Typically, the crowd (particularly the men) took their judging responsibilities very
seriously. There were no guidelines set forth by the organizing committee, so each
individual weighed the merits of each individual chili by his or her own set of criteria,
which could be very stringent at times.
"We're very opinionated on chili," said David Aron of East Swanzy, who was tasting chili.
"We're looking for something unusual. It should have a little heat. It has to be hot or it's
not really chili." His wife Ellen was looking for a proper texture as well. "It can't be too
thin," she says. "There should also be a certain amount to complexity; you want there to
be ingredients that you can't quite identify."
Dan and Cyndi Gonyea are from Western Massachusetts. They were driving through town
on a leaf-peeping tour when they saw the signs for the cook-off and had to stop and taste
some chili. They take their chili very seriously. Cyndi said that the ideal chili
should have a complex, multi-stage flavor. "It shouldn't hit you all at once," she said. "It
should be like a nice wine. It's got to have a little kick afterwards."
The chili cooks had opinions just as firmly held as the tasters. Bob and Martha Wilson of
Saxtons River said that the secret to a great chili is to take a long time in making it. The
phrase "a long time" wasn't used facetiously - their entry was nine months in the making.
They grew their own chili-peppers (four different varieties), garlic, onions and tomatoes,
then smoked and pulled the pork that formed the base of the dish.
Ideally, of course, this cook-off should have proved that chili is a man's domain. If there
was any justice in this world, the contest would have been dominated by men. Sadly, this
was not the case. Entrants were split down the middle in terms of gender. Particularly
telling is the winner of a special honorable mention - 11 year-old Hannah Plumer who
proudly served a vegetarian chili that she had made entirely on her own. Very cute, but
not very cowboy-like.
What is this world coming to?
********
Business Winner: Chili Supreme
1 1/2 lbs. cheap beef or chicken
2 cans dark kidney beans
2 cans light kidney beans
1 large can tomato puree
1 small can tomato paste
2 large cans whole, peeled tomatoes (crushed by hand)
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1/4 stick butter
1 large can mushrooms (stems and caps)
3 large green peppers, coarsely chopped
1 tbsp. garlic powder
4 tbsp. chili powder
2 packages chili seasoning
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. oregano
Tobasco sauce
Add butter and meat to skillet. Cook on medium heat until meat is browned. Add juice
from kidney beans, mushrooms and tomatoes along with onions, green peppers and
mushrooms. Cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. Transfer to skillet mixture along with
all the ingredients except the kidney beans to a crock pot. Cook on high setting for four
hours. Add beans and cook on medium heat for two hours. Add Tobasco sauce to taste
and cook on low for one hour. (The longer you cook the Tobasco sauce, the less bit it
has.)
- Recipe from AK Graphics in Saxtons River who warn that their "Secret Ingredient" has
been omitted.
Individual winner: Hume Chili
1 lb. lean hamburger
1 lb. hot Italian sausage
1 1/2 cup diced white onion
1 cup diced bell pepper
2 28-oz. cans diced tomatoes
1 1/2 19-oz. cans dark red kidney beans
1 1/2 19-oz. cans black beans
5 cloves fresh garlic, shopped
1/3 cup chopped flat, Italian parsley
1/4 cup tamari soy sauce
2 tbsp. cumin
2 tbsp. salt
2 tbsp. black pepper
2 jars salsa (medium or hot)
Cook the meats in a cast-iron skillet until "slightly blackened". Add onions, peppers, garlic
and spices until the onions are translucent. Add all other ingredients but the beans and
cook for "a while". add the beans last, with their juice. Serve when ready.
- Recipe from David and Christine Hume of Saxtons River, owners of the Green Mountain
Gringo Salsa Company, who say the the secret of the recipe is not merely using Green
Mountain Salsa in it, but using the phrase, "Green Mountain Gringo Salsa" in conversation
as often as possible.
