Trivial Pursuit

Which of the states produces more rice than any of the others?

RICE CULTURE

By Henry C. Dethloff

The Texas rice industry owes its origins to the introduction of rice (Oryza sativa) seed from Madagascar to the Carolina colonies about 1685. Production, milling, and marketing flourished in South Carolina and Georgia for the next 200 years. Although there was early domestic cultivation of rice in Louisiana and Texas, commercial rice production began in Louisiana shortly before the Civil War and in the 1880s spread rapidly through the coastal prairies of southwest Louisiana into southeast Texas. Arkansas, California, Louisiana, and Texas now produce 90 percent of the American rice crop, with lesser production along the Mississippi River in Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee. The earliest form of rice cultivation in Texas involved essentially pioneering agriculture. Farmers plowed small plots with oxen, planted seed by hand, depended on rainfall for cultivation, and harvested with hand sickles. Milling was with a crude mortar and pestle. Consumption was strictly

local. Considerable acreages of rice were grown in southeast Texas as early as 1853 by William Goyens and in Beaumont in 1863 by David French. The latter is often considered the first major rice farmer in Texas. Modern commercial production in Texas derived largely from the completion of the southern transcontinental railroad in 1883 and its acquisition by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1885, coupled with the availability of cheap land on the coastal prairies, the introduction of modern rice mills, and an influx of immigrants from Louisiana and from the grain producing areas of the Midwest. The latter brought with them combines and mechanized agriculture. Pumps, canals, modern irrigation systems, and improved varieties contributed to expanded production. Edgar Carruthers, Louis Bordages, and Dan Wingate produced the state's first large commercial crop of rice on a 200-acre farm near Beaumont in 1886. They shipped their crop by rail to New Orleans for milling. In 1891 Joseph E. Broussard established the first rice irrigation and canal system in the state, and the following year he added rice milling machinery to an existing gristmill, thus initiating rice milling in Texas and paving the way for the rapid expansion of production. Texas farmers planted 234,000 acres of rice in 1903 compared to Louisiana's 376,000 acres. The two states then produced 99 percent of the total rice crop, with production having virtually ceased in South Carolina and Georgia.

An important event in the development of the Texas Gulf Coast rice industry was the introduction of seed imported from Japan in 1904. Seed rice had previously come from Honduras or the Carolinas. At the invitation of the Houston Chamber of Commerce and the Southern Pacific Railroad, Japanese farmers were brought to Texas to advise local farmers on rice production, bringing with them seed as a gift from the emperor of Japan. The first three years' harvest, which produced an average of thirty-four barrels an acre compared with an average of eighteen to twenty barrels from native rice seed, was sold as seed to Louisiana and Texas farmers. C. J. Knapp, founder of the United States agricultural agent system, helped to overcome government regulation to bring seed rice into the country. Japanese rice production began at Webster in Harris County under the direction of Seito Saibara, his family, and thirty original colonists. The Saibara family has been credited with establishing the Gulf Coast rice industry.

Arkansas became a major rice producer after 1900, eventually surpassing Texas and Louisiana production. In 1915 Louisiana and Arkansas produced 12 million hundredweight of rice on 740,000 acres of land, and production was beginning to develop in California. In Texas rice mills operated in Port Arthur, Beaumont, Orange, and Houston. Texas-milled rice went to world markets by rail and through the ports of Houston and Galveston. The Beaumont Cooperative Rice Experiment Station began operation in 1912, under the cooperative management of Texas A&M University and the United States Department of Agriculture. Rice prices, like the price of other agricultural commodities, collapsed after World War I, bringing hard times to rice farmers. This was followed by the even more difficult years of the Great Depression. Various agricultural credit acts and finally the Agricultural Adjustment Act of the New Deal established the precedent for price, production, and marketing controls that generally characterize the industry to the present. Rice farming in the United States has historically been a large-scale, capital-intensive enterprise, heavily dependent upon international markets. The United States markets annually 15–30 percent of the total world rice exports, although it accounts for only 2 percent of world production. Texas growers annually produce 20 million hundredweight of rice on 350,000 acres of land. In various years between 1974 and 1990 Texas rice farms averaged from 250 to 450 acres in size. The number of rice farms remained generally stable with 1,200 to 1,500 units in production. The value of the crop in the field in 1990 was $200 million. Rising domestic consumption and the opening of new international markets are expected to sustain the United States and Texas rice industry.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Henry C. Dethloff, A History of the American Rice Industry, 1685–1985 (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1988). John Norman Efferson, The Production and Marketing of Rice (New Orleans: Simmons Press, 1952). Houston Metropolitan Research Center Files, Houston Public Library. Edward Hake Phillips, "The Gulf Coast Rice Industry," Journal of Agricultural History 25 (April 1954). Randell K. Smith, Eric J. Wailes, and Gail L. Cramer, The Market Structure of the U.S. Rice Industry (Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, February 1990). Vertical Files, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.

KISHI COLONY, TX

By Robert Wooster

The Kishi Colony was one of at least three small Japanese settlements established on the Texas coastal plains during the early twentieth century. The community, about ten miles east of Beaumont in central Orange County, was founded by Kichimatsu Kishi, a veteran of the Russo-Japanese War and a graduate of the University of Tokyo. Anxious to get land of his own, Kishi moved to the United States in 1906 and visited California, the Carolinas, and Mississippi before deciding upon the Orange County site. Borrowing heavily, he secured a tract in 1907. The following year he and several fellow Japanese immigrants planted their first rice crops. Several, including Kishi, brought their families to the United States, and the Japanese colony at Kishi eventually included thirty-two men, five women, and four children.

The new settlers faced severe problems in their daring enterprise. The dredging of the Sabine River allowed saltwater to infiltrate Cow Bayou and thereby ruin their irrigated rice crops. The general collapse of the rice market in 1920 led the colonists to turn to truck farming in an attempt to pay off their loans. With the new emphasis also came a number of Hispanic and Cajun laborers. Kishi also sought to diversify through cattle raising and oil exploration. Despite such efforts, the Great Depression led to the Kishi Colony's final collapse, when the settlers were unable to pay off their mortgages.

While refusing to forget their traditional ways, the Kishi colonists adapted to their new culture well. They built a school and church, and several of their descendants fought for their new country during World War II. A few of the former immigrants remained in Southeast Texas, and many of their descendants still live in the area.

The colony's founder, Kichimatsu Kishi, died in 1956. A Texas Historical Commission marker was dedicated on Farm Road 1135 seven miles southeast of Vidor on October 3, 1982, in honor of the efforts of Kishi and his fellow immigrants.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gwendolyn Rosser Wingate, "The Kishi Colony," Las Sabinas: The Official Quarterly Publication of the Orange County Historical Society 9 (January 1983).

On this day in 1982, a marker was erected at the site of the Kishi Colony to honor Japanese pioneer Kichimatsu Kishi and the settlement he founded. The colony was one of at least three small Japanese settlements established on the Texas coastal plain during the early twentieth century. The community, about ten miles east of Beaumont in central Orange County, was founded by Kishi, a veteran of the Russo-Japanese War. He purchased the land in 1907, and in the following year he and other Japanese immigrants planted their first rice crops. Several, including Kishi, brought their families to the United States. The Japanese colony at Kishi eventually included thirty-two men, five women, and four children. Although the Great Depression led to the Kishi Colony's collapse, a few of the former immigrants remained in Southeast Texas. Many of their descendants still live in the area.

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Some things never change

Ramblings on the value of a life and the perceived differences in humans...

It wasn't unique to Dallas, although the city's recent past reputation as a Klan haven brought much attention to the white-bread communities north of the Trinity. In those days the financing behind the fear mongering and hatred came from a pair of born-into-privilege brothers from an oil rich family (sound familiar?). Dallas was their home, but the virulence was all around. Dallas north of downtown was friendly territory for the John Birch Society. What was going on in Big D didn't come to my home. It was revealed to me later as I learned to dig deeper than the pabulum fed to us in carefully edited textbooks.

I grew up out in West Texas; in the middle of it all, or so it seemed at the time. Everywhere you looked across the dusty Texas ranch land and oil fields there were hand-scrawled placards hanging from barbed wire fences and professionally painted road signs shouting "Impeach Earl Warren!" I didn't know who Warren was or what impeach meant at the time, but I did know the seething hatred that could be found whenever a group of old, white men got together over cups of coffee down at Star's Cafe. It was a little later as I haired over and learned to drive that I learned how widespread was the evil. Just to the east of Dallas was a town with a banner hanging over the main street... bragging that it had "The Blackest Dirt, The Whitest People." Just to the west a diminutive but well cared for sign under an oak tree on the courthouse square made the bold claim that "The Last Nig*** Hung in Texas Was Hung From This Tree..." These are gone now, but the fear and hatred from which the emotion was born is still evident. In their place we see anti-Obama and increasingly anti-Hillary signs; we hear a constant barrage from the pulpits and from hate radio about the Muslim usurper in the White House and the greedy wench wanting to force "four more years" into our bleached white existence. It isn't a whole lot different now than it was in 1963. Only the targets have changed... the hate remains the same. Considering the seemingly never ending hatred of the "others" endemic in this state, in retrospect the Kennedy assassination seems almost inevitable. Much analysis has been done on that dreadful event... the murder of a president and the days immediately following that fateful November morning in 1963, but there hasn't been enough attention paid to what lead up to it. The linked article entitled A Month Before JFK's Assassination, Dallas Right Wingers Attack Adlai Stevenson - Remembering the ferment in the "City of Hate" was penned for the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy Assassination by Bill Minutaglio, It offers a glimpse of how it was then. I don't see it being much different five decades later. Who will die, when and where seem to be the only things left unanswered. Dallas has mellowed much since those hate-filled decades, but the hate-filled people are still with us... they've just moved to the suburbs and surrounding counties. Witness the witless politicians they send to the Statehouse and to Congress; interesting folks like Louie Gohmert, Joe Barton, Dan Patrick, and Tony Tinderholt. Children aren't born hating. Hatred is learned, and in Texas it is learned at the knee of the father, from all the hate radio jocks, and in the pews on Sunday. ~~~

New Orleans Schools Reject Creationism

No Teacher ‘Shall Teach Any Aspect Of Religious Faith As Science’ 

By Zack Beauchamp on Dec 19, 2012 at 11:49 am

A Louisiana school district voted on Wednesday to ban from its schools any textbooks and school curricula that follows the guidelines of Texas’ extreme, ideological standards. 

Texas approved a hard-right curriculum in 2010 that taught utterly misleading assertions as fact — suggesting, for example, that Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti-Communist witch hunt had been vindicated and that the Crusades didn’t happen. But Orleans Parish (which covers New Orleans) schools were so worried about the spread of misinformation that it approved explicit rules in protest of Texas’s guidelines, requiring teachers to teach accurate historical and scientific information which wouldn’t necessarily be conveyed under Texas rules: 

“No history textbook shall be approved which has been adjusted in accordance with the State of Texas revisionist guidelines nor shall any science textbook be approved which presents creationism or intelligent design as science or scientific theories…No teacher of any discipline of science shall teach any aspect of religious faith as science or in a science class,” it reads. “No teacher of any discipline of science shall teach creationism or intelligent design in classes designated as science classes.” 

Though Texas cannot legally require the teaching of creationism, Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) has said “we teach both creation and evolution our public schools” as a consequence of his policy choices. 

Two years ago, proposed Texas textbook changes sparked outrage by rewriting history along right-wing lines and minimizing slavery. While not fully successful, the watered-down version still conveyed an entirely skewed vision of history. A recent review of the books, for example, found a consistent pattern of viciously negative portrayals of Muslims and Islam. 

 UPDATE: 

A state law, the Louisiana Science Education Act, opens the door to teaching creationism in schools. The Orleans County vote was aimed to be a protest against this state law.

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The art of the story... Texas style

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Contest

How many lies, distortions of the truth and points of outright hypocrisy can you count in this article?

WARNING: You'll need to take your shoes off... and then some.

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Wrong again

Texas majority Republican legislature in 2003 passed tort reforms severely restricting medical malpractice judgements. The argument was that doctors were leaving the state in droves due to the enormous settlements and resulting high medical malpractice insurance premiums.

Now, just a few years later, those same proponents are lauding the fact that doctors are returning to the state and with lower insurance premiums, medical costs are coming down.

Allison Castle, a spokeswoman for Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry says, "In Texas, comprehensive medical liability reform has improved access to medical care, particularly in underserved areas, restored balance to the Texas judicial system, keeping doctors in the exam room instead of the courtroom, and has removed a large threat to job creation and economic growth that had been created by excessive litigation."

Trouble is that isn't completely true. In fact, the conservative-libertarian Cato Institute finds the opposite to be true. Cato says that tort reform has potentially resulted in patient harm, done nothing to improve access to medical care nor anything to reduce costs.

In a white paper released this week, Cato researchers conclude that caps on medical malpractice damages are actually bad for patients because they remove incentives for medical liability insurers and physicians to reduce risk associated with the practice of medicine. 

Unsurprisingly, the AMA and the right wingers in the Texas Legislature are having a cow over this report, but considering the number of times that wing has gloated over some report or another issued by Cato, their whining now rings rather disingenuous. 

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Goading Goodhair

In a markedly republican, bible thumping state with a documented racist history, the incumbent governor and current presidential candidate is being edged in the polls by a philandering black man.

That will leave a mark.

And then today in a Wall Street Journal piece by Jonathan Weisman, we learn that…

Satire may not be Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s thing.

Last Friday, at the swanky Barley House tavern in Concord, N.H., Mr. Perry took a little jab at the Occupy Wall Street crowd, referencing an amusing quote his son had sent him from a protester occupying Toronto.

“I don’t know if it can be proved up or not,” Mr. Perry conceded, “the young man’s name was Jeremy and he was 38 years old. But he said, ‘We got here at 9 o’clock, and those people, this was in Toronto, I think Bay Street is their comparable [Wall Street], he said those bankers that we came to insult, they’d already been at work for two hours when we got here at 9 o’clock, and when we get ready to leave, you know, they’re still in there working. I guess greed just makes you work hard.”

It was a reasonable paraphrase of the quote from “Jeremy” in Toronto, who appeared in the Toronto Globe and Mail saying, “It’s weird protesting on

Bay Street

. You get there at 9 a.m. and the rich bankers who you want to hurl insults at and change their worldview have been at work for two hours already. And then when it’s time to go, they’re still there. I guess that’s why they call them the one per cent. I mean, who wants to work those kinds of hours? That’s the power of greed.”

Problem is, there is no “Jeremy.” The quote was from a satirical piece by columnist Mark Schatzker, entitled “Occupy Toronto: The one-week anniversary party.” Above that headline was the word, “Satire.”

 

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Irony

The Lege is at it again, and again they've got egg on their face.

Soon now, you will not be able to vote in Texas unless you have one of 5 forms of identification: A valid Texas drivers license, a DPS-issued election identification certificate, a United States passport, a US military ID card, and… and … a license to carry a concealed handgun issued by the Department of Public Safety.

Now, of the five forms of identification there is only one that does not require you to produce proof of US citizenship. Guess which one?

And yes, you guessed right. The License to carry a concealed handgun issued by the Department of Public Safety does not include a provision that ensures that the license holder is a citizen of the United States.

Don’t believe me? It’s here.

But I will post the required information to get a conceal/carry license below for those who are averse to clicking.

• Social security number,
• Valid driver license or identification card,
• Current demographic, address, contact, and employment information,
• Residential and employment information for the last five years (new users only),
• Information regarding any psychiatric, drug, alcohol, or criminal history (new users only),
• Valid email address, and
• Valid credit card (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express)

Can foreign nationals not have any of the above? The answer is a definite no. So if someone wants to live in my country and not be a citizen, the only way that they would be allowed to vote under the new voter ID law is to have applied for and received a valid license to carry a concealed weapon.

HT to Hal, via Juanita


When you're as moonbat crazy as that nest of snakes down there in Austin, the little things sometimes escape you.

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Finally some rain

Eight tenths at the barn, but some got a couple of inches. Texans are always grateful for rain, but this time around it is sorely needed. For many though, it is too little... to late.

The wildfires this season likely have been more destructive than anything the state has seen in many years. As far as property loss the hurricanes cost more, but in measurable and long-term damage to our economy, this fire season takes all honors.

The Insurance Institute, in a September 6th report citing the catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide,  that "fire crews in Texas have fought nearly 19,000 wildfires since the beginning of this year. Approximately 3.6 million acres-an area the size of Connecticut-have been consumed in the state, accounting for nearly half of all the acreage burned by wildfires in the entire United States this year."

The Bastrop County fire remains active, but is said to be about 80% contained. This was the most recent of the major fires, killing at least two, destroying over 1,600 homes, damaged hundreds of others and displacing the residents, and scorched over 34,000 acres. To put that into perspective, the population of the county is under 75,000 and there were roughly 26,000 residences at the end or 2010.  

You'd have to be here to understand the sheer scope of  misery and damage, but the following photos will shed some light.



The greatest majority of firefighting in these efforts is done by small, rural volunteer fire departments. One of those volunteers died while trying to help control the first Possum Kingdom wildfire earlier this year. Another was fighting that same fire trying to save the homes of folks he didn't even know... as a few miles away his own home burned to the ground. This kind of dedication to community is well appreciated by every Texan...

...except of course our dear Guv. goodhair and them good old girls and boys in the Texas Lege. In their unceasing dedication to shrinking government, funding for volunteer firefighters was slashed by 75%.

Just another Weiner

Rachel give Texas' own Weiner a well deserved roasting...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

George Bush is beginning to look like the smarter of the two

It is a sad commentary on the state of the Republican party that some have gone so far as to call Perry the winner of the recent New Hampshire debate... in spite (or perhaps because) of the fact that he wasn't even there.

oh... my... gawd!

Reason #4,929 why no rational human being should ever vote for Rick "Guv. Goodhair" Perry.

Consider if you will that these words are spoken by a man who has become a millionaire over two decades of "public service," and currently lives in a rented mansion costing the bankrupt citizens of his state $6,000 just for rent. The roughly $4,000 monthly utility bills, upkeep for the heated pool, Neiman Marcus custom window coverings, subscription to Wine Monthly, and $1,000 emergency repair for the filtered ice machine are all extra.

...and here are a few of the previous 4,928 reasons not to vote for this charlatan.

He was like the invisible man, Dallas Morning News

Teacher Retirement Fund scandal, leaked memo

The Texas Youth Commission coverup, The Texas Observer, Hidden in Plain Sight

Selling State Government, or how Goodhair uses the "Emerging Technology Fund" as bait to lure political contributions...the Burn Orange Report

The list goes ON, and ON and ON, and ON, and ON and ON.

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H/T Juanita

Anymore, it's a scary thought

As a native Texan, history taught me about the giants of Texas politics… John Nance Garner… and particularly Sam Rayburn.  Then there was Jim Wright… run out of office by a manufactured scandal originating from the fertile imagination of Newt Gingrich.

We had Governors of near giant stature as well… Sam Houston, Jim Ferguson and his wife Miriam “Ma” Ferguson… and who can forget Ann Richards…

Texas has produced only two Presidents… Lyndon Johnson and George W. Bush. I’ll leave it to you to judge these men.

Today it comes out that our current Governor, Rick Perry, is considering a run for the White House. No surprise to anyone… he’s been posturing for a long time. Thanks to Harold Cook I’m reminded of a statement made by the most eloquent of Texas ladies, Molly Ivins (Oh my, but I miss Molly!) not long after GWB won his first round on the national stage…

"The next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the United States, please, pay attention."

I hear you Molly… I’m listening.

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Governor Goodhair sure has Helen stirred up

And well she should be. Every Texan should be stirred up. The crap this Governor has elevated to emergency status is beyond imagination. 

Texas is facing a $27 billion budget shortfall, the balancing of which will inevitably cripple public schools, post secondary education, the ability of nursing homes to care for the elderly, and even of the highway department's ability to repair roads. The first budget proposal calls for cutting 9,600 state jobs, and will undoubtably to the loss of thousands more due to collateral damage to private sector industries and support services.

But this is not an emergency, according to Rick Perry. He just kind of brushes it aside and gives another speech railing against Washington excesses. Goodhair pretends the true emergencies in Texas don't exist, and that he and his wingnut cronies are not responsible for anything.

But what does Goodhair call an emergency deserving of the full and undivided attention of our state legislature? ...a bill requiring every woman seeking an abortion to view a sonogram of the fetus.

Helen does not understand. Texas is crumbling around our ears and Goodhair is only concerned with social issues. Read Helen's commentary HERE first, and be sure to read the comments. There are some doozies. Then read HERE where Helen addresses one of those comments. 

Priceless.

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Sand castles

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been on TV a lot lately. Even though he is running ahead in the polls, I guess Bill White is getting a bit too close for comfort so Goodhair is shelling out some of those bucks the oil and insurance companies have been giving him.

I just watched his newest ad, in which he "confronts" President Obama and takes credit for "keeping our border safe." It hasn't hit You Tube yet or I'd show it. A previous ad had birds and butterflies flittering around, with Goodhair showing his dental work bragging about the wonderful state of the Texas economy.

If only it were true.

Just taking the example of education in Texas we can see where 10 years of Perry leadership has gotten us. For example, our K-12 public schools have performed so poorly that our high schools are now required to implement a fourth year of science. We have a new TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills), but thanks to the creationist wingnuts on our State Board of Education, some of these have no foundation in science.

There is no money for textbooks. For some unexplained reason a Senate proclamation that would have provided money for new science textbooks was not adopted by the State Board of Education. Next year, as a requirement of graduation, there will be end-of-course exams for Biology, Algebra, English and World Geography, but there is no funding for testing.

At a minimum Texas schools have an $18 million budget deficit, and the TEA (Texas Education Agency) is recommending cutting $260 million in education programs, including eliminating money for new science labs (required by the new science requirement), teacher mentoring, teacher professional development, and new textbooks.

Are we kidding ourselves? If we are serious about graduating students from Texas public schools we are going to have to find the money somewhere to ensure we have the trained personnel, facilities and instructional materials to make that happen.

Rick Perry, it seems, is not interested, and Bill White is the only candidate for Texas Governor talking about fixing it.

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What it takes to get elected in Texas...

...is for your name listed on the "R"ight side of the ballot. Whether or not you have any sense apparently makes no real difference.



In fairness, this kooky lady comes from the same city that elected "D" Sheila Jackson Lee.

UPDATE:
I've had it pointed out to me that Rep. Debbie Riddle is merely parroting what she heard from our beloved Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas).



In other words, Louie is continuing his long-standing practice of keeping bigots fed with fear. Apparently there are enough of the fearful in his East Texas district to keep him in office.

Shame. I keep hoping that one of these days we can sit down and have an honest conversation with folks, but I guess honesty doesn't get one reelected.

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Two chili recipes

Neither of the two following recipes are contest chili. These are for meals at home or to serve at the family reunion. Contest chili is a whole 'nother ball of wax. 

Regardless of contest or home consumption, Texas chili has two rules… one is hard and fast, the other not so much so.

RULE 1 – Beans are beans and chili is chili. Both make a good meal, but the two do not mix in the same pot.

RULE 2 – Tomato plants did not fare well in the desert southwest, so tomatoes don’t really belong in chili. The contest judges don't always agree with this assessment.

Recipe #1 – Easy Texas Chili

WARNING: Easy chili won’t be as good, but folks will still enjoy it. Most are accustomed to the crappy chili served at  restaurants, so this will be nectar to them. Best of all you can build it in an afternoon. Of course, like any chili, it would still be better if after cooking it was refrigerated overnight, reheated and served the next day.

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs. of beef (pork, venison or a mixture if you choose, but Texas chili is beef)
• ½ pound smoked bacon (NOT maple cured!)
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 2 Tb. ground cumin (more or less to taste)
• 1-2 Tb. chili powder (I like Gebhardts)
• 2-4 cloves garlic, minced (more or less to taste)
• Water
• Salt and pepper to taste, but do not salt until AFTER the mixture is cooked

Directions:

Cube the beef into small chunks, set aside. Chop up the bacon into ½” bits. Heat a large cast iron pot over a medium-high burner. Fry bacon until not quite crisp, remove and set aside leaving the fat in the pot. Add the beef to the pot and simmer in the bacon fat until nicely browned. Remove the beef, reduce the heat to medium and add the bacon back into the pot, then add onions and garlic and stir until onions are clear. Continue stirring as you add cumin and chili powder. Return the beef to the pot as you continue stirring, then pour in enough water to cover the mixture with about an inch to spare. Increase heat back to medium-high and bring to a boil. Allow to simmer slowly until the mixture is reduced to a bubbling slurry (about an hour and a half). Salt to taste.

Recipe 2 – Mulebreath’s Hell on the Bravo chili

Good chili isn’t easy. Good chili is time consuming and really clutters up a kitchen. Good chili is built over several steps, not simply cooked. The steps are called “dumps,” because the ingredients for each step are prepared, combined, then “dumped” into the pot at the appropriate time.

You are going to need two pots; one heavy skillet and one deep pot. I prefer cast iron for both, but glass or stainless works.

Ingredients:

Meat:

• ½ pound smoked bacon (NOT maple cured!)
• 3 pounds beef (not high cuts. Cheap meat is just fine for chili)

Veggies:

• 2 large Texas 1015’s (if you don’t know what that is, you’re a savage)
• 4 fat jalapenos (substitute serranos for spicier, or habaneras for hemorrhoid removal)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (not crushed. Crushing is uncivilized)

Liquid:

• 1 quart beef stock
• 1 six-pack Ambar Dos Equis, Negra Modelo, Indio, Leon, or any good Mexican dark beer
• water

Spices:

• ¼ cup dried, ground chili peppers, preferably ancho or pasilla (NOTE: this is not chili powder)
• 1 Tb ground coriander seed
• 3 Tbs ground cumin seed
• 2 Tbs crushed Mexican oregano
• ½ tbsp white pepper
• Sea salt (not iodized)

Directions:

The night before starting this project open one of the beers. Leave it open and sitting out overnight. It should be warm and flat when you start cooking.

Start heating the skillet over medium-high heat. While heating, chop or coarse grind the bacon and the beef into ½” or smaller bits. Coarse chop the onion and mince the garlic, keep separate and set aside. Add bacon to the skillet and fry until not quite crisp, remove and set aside leaving the fat in the pan. Add the beef to the bacon fat and simmer until nicely browned. Remove the beef and set aside. Add ½ of your garlic and ½ of the onion to the bacon fat, simmering until the onion is clear. Remove from the fat a set aside.

1st dump: add beef stock to the big pot over medium-high heat. Pour in what is left of your bacon fat, add remaining ½ of your garlic and ½ of the onion, bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for ½ hour. Go to 2nd dump.

2nd dump: Add coriander, cumin, oregano, and white pepper. Simmer 10 minutes, then go to dump 3.

3rd dump: Add ground chilies and simmer another ½ hour, stirring frequently. Go to 4th dump.

4th dump: Add bacon, beef, remaining garlic and onion, along with your flat beer. Split the jalapenos and toss them in. Simmer another 2 hours at medium-low heat, stirring often to prevent scorching. Add salt to taste. and water as needed to maintain consistency. Remove the pot from the fire and allow to cool. Refrigerate overnight, re-warm (add water to adjust consistency if need be) and serve. To pretty it up some, toss in a cupped palm full of fresh, chopped red and green peppers, then serve before they have time to soften too much. Habaneras add a nice orange color too, but those are not for the faint of heart.

5th dump: You may have noticed this process takes somewhere north of three hours, with probably another couple of hours waiting for the pot to cool enough to go in the ice box... and then you have to wait until the next day to eat. 

Bummer.

But there is salvation. Using that same mathematical acuity you used earlier, you may have noticed that one subtracted from six leaves five… and figured out what to do with the remainder of that six-pack.

Cheers!

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Chili; the State Food of Texas

The evolution of Texas chili, last of a 4-part series

Chili is a controversial dish even among Texans. As we discussed in the previous segment, the only rule that is hard and fast is that beans do not belong in a Texas chili recipe. Other fillers (e.g. corn meal) are frowned upon as well but won't necessarily get the cook run out of town on a rail. Beans may get you shot, but beyond this all rules seem to be rather polymorphous.

The universal truth is that Texas’ chili aficionados are passionate. (I've said that before, haven't I?) Indeed, we’re so  passionate that we hold regular competitions to determine the King (or Queen) of the Texas chili world. There is a bit of debate as to the date of the first chili competition, a regular on the  competition circuit by the name of Ranger Bob Ritchey may have found the truth.

Ritchey did a little research, finding several archived newspaper articles written about the 1952 Texas State Fair Chili Championship. Although many newspaper, magazine and cyber articles have been written claiming the first Chili Championship to be the 1967 Terlingua cook-off, the articles Ritchie found prove that to be untrue.

Take for instance the October 5, 1952 headline from the now defunct Dallas Daily Times Herald, stating that "Woman Wins But Men Do Well in Chili Event." The story following the headline describes how Mrs. F. G. Ventura of Dallas won the Texas State Fair contest and her recipe was declared the "Official State Fair of Texas Chili Recipe." Mrs. Ventura was crowned the first ever "World Champion Chili Cook," a title she retained for fifteen years.

The State Fair event was organized by ex-newspaper man Joe. E. Cooper as a stunt to promote his newly published book, titled With or Without Beans - An Informal Biography of Chili. The competition had no rules as to ingredients, other than banning beans. The first year bragged 55 contestants, judged by a panel of five.

Speaking of the number of judges, Cooper said, "It’ll take a lot of judges because after the first two or three spoonfuls of good, hot Texas-style chili, the fine edge wears off even an expert chili judge's taste buds... It'll be a hot job but one that no true Texan will shirk."

Cooper didn’t live to see the popularity to which chili cook-offs have risen. He died three months after that first competition.

Possibly the best known and most well documented of the early chili competitions is the 1967 Terlingua cook-off. Terlingua is a ghost town and  former mining community, located in one of the most remote areas of the state. You must want to be there, or else you are very lost, if you find yourself in Terlingua. Getting there requires much effort. The nearest airport of any size (if you don’t include Lajitas International) is 240 miles away in El Paso, or 310 miles to San Antonio.

The 1967 competition pitted two well known, albeit self-proclaimed chili champs. Dallas newspaper reporter, Homer "Wick" Fowler, challenged New York humorist and author, H. Allen Smith to a showdown because of a story written by Smith and published in the August, 1967 issue of Holiday Magazine.

The article, titled Nobody Knows More About Chili Than I Do, made the wild claim that no one in Texas could cook a proper pot of chili. Smith bragged that "no living man, I repeat, can put together a pot of chili as ambrosial, as delicately and zestfully flavorful, as the chili I make." His recipe, which he published with the article, called for beans.

When journalist and author Frank X. Tolbert read Smith’s article, he was righteously offended. Tolbert, author of the definitive tome on Texas chili, A Bowl of Red, began something akin to open journalistic warfare. Tolbert wrote a regular column for the Dallas Morning News, and commenced taking shots at Smith from that pulpit, challenging Texas chili cooks to prove Smith wrong. Wick Fowler stood up for the challenge.

The match was on, and although the competition received a huge amount of publicity, and attendance swelled the little ghost town with over 5,000 spectators, the climax was an anticlimactic tie when Dave Witts, a Dallas lawyer, self-proclaimed mayor of Terlingua, and also the tie-breaker judge, spit his chili on the ground.

Sports Illustrated writer Gary Cartwright described the scene, “[T]he blindfolded judge number three, David Witts, was given a spoonful of chili which he promptly spit out all over the referee's foot. "Then he went into convulsions. He rammed a white handkerchief down his throat as though he were cleaning a rifle barrel, and in an agonizing whisper Witts pronounced himself unable to go on."

Witts declared that his taste buds were "ruint," and said they would have to do the whole thing over again next year. Terlingua has hosted a chili competition every year since. Both Wick Fowler and Frank Tolbert opened chili parlors that have survived the owners. Tolbert’s in Grapevine sells more beer than chili, but his original Texas Red is still at the top of the menu.

The group hosting the Terlingua event for many years was the Texas Chili Appreciation Society, now called the Chili Appreciation Society International. The Society now has some involvement in over 500 competitions worldwide, raising about a million dollars for charities every year. The 2009 Terlingua event hosted over 500 competitors. The 2010 event will be November 3^rd - 6^th.

In 1977, chili lovers and manufacturers in the state of Texas successfully lobbied the Texas legislature to have chili proclaimed the official "state food of Texas, in recognition of the fact that the only real 'bowl of red' is that prepared by Texans."

Amen.

Tomorrow I will offer you a couple of my own recipes for your examination and/or approval. In the mean time, click on the banner below to go to the CASI site. Past winning recipes may be found there.

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Will the Real Texas Chili Please Step Forward?

The evolution of Texas chili, Part III of a 4-part series

One of the questions asked is why chili is such a popular dish? Chili is a cultural heritage, much as is chicken fried steak. Both represent a means to create a sustaining meal out of very inexpensive ingredients.

At the time of the First World War, the Chili Queens of San Antonio were providing a steaming bowl of tasty chili, served up with onions and tortillas for only a dime. Chili joints started to appear all over Texas, and within a few years chili parlors had become a familiar sight in most Western and Midwestern states.

By the depression years, there was hardly a town anywhere in the country that didn't have one. Often these joints were no more than a tin roofed shed or a small room with a counter and stools. In those years, the chili joints often were the difference between starvation and staying alive. Chili was cheap and crackers were free. There are historians that have said that chili may have saved more down on their luck people from starvation than the Red Cross.

Regional differences produced many styles of chili, some unique only to its particular geographic area.

The city of Cincinnati produced a particular style of chili that is very different from the stuff that originated in Texas. Created in 1922 by Macedonian immigrant, Tom (Athanas) Kiradjieff, Cincinnati chili is also called spaghetti chili.

Kiradjieff ran a hot dog and Greek food joint called the Empress. Because Greek food was not popular and the business was a dismal failure, Tom and his brother John created what they called spaghetti chili. Made with different combinations of Middle Eastern spices, this “chili” was served a variety of ways. The spices were certainly not Texan, but the spaghetti is the main difference. 
 

The people of Springfield, Illinois make a chili that they take very seriously, even spelling it differently than the rest of the world. Springfield’s "chilli" originated with Dew Brockman , the founder of a joint called the Dew Chilli Parlor. It is said that Dew argued with his sign painter, who wanted to spell it the correct way.

His spelling may have been off, but Dew’s “chilli” was a hit. At one point, somewhat more than a dozen parlors and scores of saloons were serving up the stuff to hungry patrons and in 1993 the Illinois General Assembly unanimously proclaimed Illinois as the "Chilli Capital of the Civilized World."

Chasen's Restaurant in Hollywood, California made arguably the most famous chili. Stories tell of limo chauffeurs, actors and actresses showing up at Chasen's back door to pick up quarts of the secret recipe chili. Fans included the likes of Jack Benny, J. Edgar Hoover, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Chasen's delivered chili to Clark Gable while he was in the hospital. Rumor has it that Chasen's chili was the last thing Gable had to eat before dying.

Chasen’s is gone now. Owner Dave Chasen did all the cooking and kept the recipe a secret even when Eleanor Roosevelt tried to pry it from him. In 1973 it died along with him and the joint soon closed.

Chili parlors from Seattle, Washington to Washington, D.C. have tried to brand their special chili as the true and correct recipe. Tomorrow we will learn why they are mostly wrong, and why Texas chili is still King.

But then we have the bean controversy...

Texans are passionate about this question. Texas chili does not have beans… period. So why then do others use beans? Two possible reasons have been proposed.

First, chili is a meat dish. The meat is intended to provide protein. It is possible that some enterprising cookie somewhere in ages past had an insufficient supply of meat, and desiring to supplement the protein in the dish, dumped in some beans. My guess is that he was promptly tarred and feathered.

The greater likelihood is simply cultural. Beans were a crop requiring cultivation to some degree, and were therefore somewhat on the scarce side in the desert southwest. Over time the diet a people consumes becomes ingrained in the societal fabric. If they didn’t grow up with beans in the chili, they would be disinclined to add them in the future.

So the bean controversy remains speculation, but as you will see in the next installment, Texans are passionate on the subject. I did find a page with a somewhat interesting view of the topic, although I certainly wouldn't recommend the included recipe (bloody mary mix? Give me a break.)

Other than this I can offer no explanation, and neither can I find any reference that is anything less speculative.

To be continued tomorrow…

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Hell on the Bravo

The evolution of Texas chili, Part II of a 4-part series

Euro-American immigrants who were crossing the Red River in the mid-1880’s found Texas chili already well known. They’d heard of the stuff and maybe even sampled it before they ever arrived, and they took it as if their own. The cattle drives needed these men as drovers, and trail cooks won and lost jobs based upon the quality of their chili. The wave of immigrants brought entrepreneurs, and businesses were formed to cook, serve and to export the stuff back east.

Dallas millionaire and chili lover Everrette DeGolyer located records indicating the first commercial Texas chili spice mix was created sometime in the 1850’s. The mix was sold to cowboys as a hard times staple, and to adventurers traveling to the California gold fields. Combined with a little dried meat and some pork fat and tossed into some boiling water, the mix reconstituted into a hot, tasty trail meal.

A little later we find the even more convenient “brick” chili; a compressed cube of dried meat, chile peppers, fat and spices that could be dissolved in boiling water to make a respectable meal for those not talented enough to make their own. DeGolyer called the bricks, "chili a la Americano," wanting the stuff to be uniquely American. It also clarified it from the Mexican word “chili,” which is a generic term referring to any hot pepper.

San Antonio in the early to mid-1880’s found Mexican women, nicknamed "Chili Queens," selling a stew made from ground, dried red chile peppers and beef to passersby at the central Military Plaza Mercado. The chili was cooked at home, loaded along with tortillas and tamales onto gaily painted donkey carts for transport to the Mercado, where it was peddled from open kiosks.

The kiosks and this tradition continued until 1937, when they were closed over health concerns. A couple years later, San Antonio Mayor Maury Maverick tried to revive the trade, but the effort was short lived. Several of the “queens” opened indoor cafes, some of which survive to this day, but the al fresco experience was no more.

In 1881 former Texas Ranger and hotelier William Gerard Tobin contracted with the United States government to sell canned goat meat chili to the army and navy. Tobin died before making his first delivery, causing the venture to fail, but this was just the beginning of the globalization of Texas chili.

In 1893 The State of Texas, as part of their exhibit, set up the San Antonio Chili Stand at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Not long afterwards, in 1895, Corsicana businessman Lyman Davis made chili that he peddled for a nickel a bowl from the back of a wagon, including all the crackers you could eat. Lyman made enough money that he switched to a Model A delivery truck, later opened a meat market where he began selling chili in brick form under the brand name, “Lyman's Famous Home Made Chili.” It was in 1921 when he first put the stuff in a can and named it after his pet wolf. Wolf Brand Chili still uses the same picture on their label.

Canned chili powder started showing up on store shelves sometime in the late 1800’s. This was as easy to use as the stuff carried by cowboys for generations, but was now marketed to housewives. Toss a couple spoons full of the stuff into a pan of stewing chipped beef, add some chopped onion, and voila… you have chili.

Not long before the turn of the century, a German immigrant to San Antonio by the name of William Gebhardt became the first maker of the spice blend to have his name identified with the stuff. Gebhardt’s blend contained a mix Mexican ancho chile peppers, paprika, cumin, cayenne, garlic, oregano and salt. Gephardt called his first product “Tampico Dust,” but later changed the name to Gephardt’s Eagle Brand Chili Powder,” which remains today as one of the best selling products of its kind.

At just about the same time Gephardt was turning heads in San Antonio, a dude by the name of DeWitt Clinton Pendery arrived in Fort Worth to set up shop. He started blending chili powder, peddling it nationwide, and becoming an apostle for the healing powers of chiles.

Pendery claimed in one of his sales flyers, that "[t]he health giving properties of hot chile peppers have no equal. They give tone to the alimentary canal, regulating the functions, giving a natural appetite, and promoting health by action of the kidneys, skin and lymphatics." Pendery’s products may still be found on store shelves, still a family business and sold today by his descendents.

Other products started appearing on store shelves, increasing in parallel to the successes of these two pioneers and as Texas “Hell on the Bravo” chili gained even greater popularity. Tomorrow we will spend time looking at the modern history of chili, visit with some modern chili purists, and examine some of the controversies and debates that have defined Texas chili.

To be continued tomorrow…

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