Newsletter # 71 – Television, Movies – Chilli Con Carne
Being born in the Fifties I was fortunate (or unfortunate) to have had a very early exposure to both cinema and television. Cinemas reached their peak in Australia in the mid-Fifties with Greater Sydney alone having 160 cinemas. The introduction of television in 1956 brought on the decimation of the cinema industry and by 1960 less than eighty of those cinemas remained.
Mum and Dad were hard working and successful and a television set was definitely a luxury item, but one appeared on the living room floor sometime in the late Fifties. Three television stations in glorious black and white, for me was Nirvana. In addition, there were still plenty of cinemas around to catch latest releases from the U.S.A, the U.K and what would have been a very lean Australian Film Industry.
Locally the television stations in Sydney were all north of the harbour, with the Channel Seven studios located a stone’s throw from our family’s home. Also pretty close was a cinema at Eastwood and a Drive-In at Dundas.
The connection between today’s subject and today’s recipe is tenuous but goes back to something I noticed about American shows very early and to a degree it continues to this very day. I’m talking about the food that the scriptwriters have their actors eating or not eating.
If it is a family dinner for say four persons, there seems to be enough food on the table for about a dozen people and when a character orders a meal or drink it rarely gets consumed.
Quite often the ‘American diner’ is the location for a meal – particularly police dramas. When the protagonist asks what’s good on the menu (invariably after the arrival of the black coffee) apparently it has to be ‘the chilli’. So today let’s look at ‘chilli’ and find out why it is always good.
Chilli con Carne
Originally from Mexico, a type of Chilli Con Carne predates the arrival of Europeans in the 15thcentury. Of course, then it was prepared with native ingredients including chilli, tomatoes, beans and spices, but the meat was not beef because cattle were not native to the Americas.
By the 1800’s ‘Chilli’ had become entrenched in the South-west of the U.S.A, but depending on where you lived it beared little resemblance to its Mexican origins. Even today, purists will argue the right and wrong way to prepare chilli. Apparently, there is no definitive recipe.
So, we are left with our Australian interpretation of Chilli Con Carne which includes most ingredients.
Once the Chilli Con Carne has been prepared it can be served in a number of ways including ‘loaded baked potatoes’, nachos, lasagne, with rice or creamy polenta.
Once again, it is important to realise that sautéing the ingredients until well browned is an integral part of this recipe. The number of portions will be dependent on what end dish you are making it for.
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Assemble your ingredients
- Prepare a spice mix with the paprika, cumin, cayenne, oregano, coriander and chilli
- In your saucepan heat the oil and add the onion, capsicum and garlic
- Sauté for a good 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching
- Add the mince and mix well to break up any lumps of meat
- Continue cooking / stirring for 5 -10 minutes
- Liquids will begin to evaporate but continue to stir till the mix is ‘dry’
- Add the dry spice mix and cook / stir for a further 5 minutes
- Stir in tomato paste and peeled tomatoes
- Add water and stock cube
- Simmer on low heat for 1 hour, stirring occasionally
- Stir in the kidney beans and simmer for a further 30 minutes
- Check seasoning
- Ready
- Serve with boiled rice or creamy polenta
- Top with a dollop of sour cream, grated cheese and avocado. Garnish with coriander.
