Chili con carne - online puzzles

Chili con carne or chilli con carne (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈtʃili koŋ ˈkaɾne]), meaning "chili with meat " and sometimes known as simply "chili" or "chilli", is a spicy stew containing chili peppers, meat (usually beef ), and often tomatoes and beans. Other seasonings may include garlic, onions, and cumin. Geographic and personal tastes involve different types of meat and ingredients. Recipes provoke disputes among aficionados, some of whom insist that the word "chili" applies only to the basic dish, without beans and tomatoes. Chili con carne is a frequent dish for cook-offs and is used as an ingredient in other dishes.

Origins and history

In Spanish, the word chile from the Nahuatl chīlli refers to a " chili pepper ", and carne is Spanish for " meat ".

A recipe dating back to the 1850s describes dried beef, suet, dried chili peppers and salt, which were pounded together, formed into bricks and left to dry, which could then be boiled in pots on the trail.Chili originated from what is now northern Mexico and southern Texas. Unlike some other Texas foods, such as barbecued brisket, chili largely originated with working-class Tejana and Mexican women. The chili queens of San Antonio, Texas were particularly famous in previous decades for selling their inexpensive chili-flavored beef stew in their casual "chili joints".The San Antonio Chili Stand, in operation at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, helped popularize chili by giving many Americans their first taste of it. San Antonio was a tourist destination and helped Texas-style chili con carne spread throughout the South and West.