.jpg)
.jpg)
You know that saying, "Some are born with great stories, some achieve great stories, and some have great stories thrust upon them"? Ok, I know it's been adjusted a bit for my own purposes, but the point is made. My sister, Amanda, is a story-person. She was born with stories, pursues stories like a hound to a rabbit, and every now and then has one thrust upon her. This is why most of the stories I tell to a circle of friends involve her as the protagonist and not me. I am not a story person in the active sense. I love studying them, telling them, even creating them, but I never really allow situations to unfold to the epic degree Amanda does. This is why I know when I start saying, "This one time, when Amanda was in Mexico..." I am guaranteed to smile excitedly, as if I was actually there.
One such epic story was thrust onto my family 30 years ago, on a dark, stormy night in Washington state's San Juan islands. Little did we know it would touch our family so dramatically, every Super-Bowl Sunday, for years to come.
My uncle Bob, who was a tour and session musician for the likes of John Lennon, James Taylor, Jackson Brown, Linda Ronstadt, Adam Sandler, and everyone in between, was on a trip to Washington with some musicians and crew from a tour he had just finished. They looked forward to some seaside relaxation off the archipelago of islands dotting the coast of Washington. One afternoon the guys were organizing a fishing trip out to a nearby island, but the weather had a foreboding air about it, and Bob declined. The group collectively shrugged their shoulders and headed out to the sea.
Well, no sooner had Bob warned them a storm came through and rocked that poor little boat. Each crew member looked to the other, wondering which would meet the fate of Jonah and his eponymous whale. Huddled together, a dot in the the center of a tempestuous gale, they feared the worst.
From the shore, Bob also feared for his crewmates. But as fate would have it, Bob had a walkie talkie, and called the coast guard to their rescue.
Waterlogged but alive, the crew was eternally grateful to Bob for quite possibly saving their lives. So much so, one crew member pulled Bob aside, and whispered to him gravely.
"Bob, I know I can never repay you, but this is the only thing I can thank you with."
He unfolded a damp piece of paper from his pocket, and handed it gently to Bob.
"Don't share this with anyone. This is all I have."
Bob looked at the piece of paper. "A chili recipe?"
The man nodded solemnly. "World Champion Chili."
Bob, incredulous: "Seriously?"
Man: "Yes."
So Bob flew home with the World Championship Chili recipe. He gave it to my aunt Tina, who promptly made 20 copies of the chili recipe and handed it out to her best friends and family. You will notice above that the title has changed as well, to simply "Tina's Chili."
Thus is born the legend of "Tina's Chili," which will be sung of in great mead-halls for ages to come. Or at least every Super Bowl Sunday, where it is served as a family tradition on top of a mound of forbidden rice (aka Black Rice) and alongside my Dad's guacamole. I haven't gotten the chance to compare it to recent World Championship winners, but I must say, this Chili is legendary in its own right. Enjoy!
For the Chili (serves at least a dozen, depending on belly size):
You will notice the this recipe is SUPER specific. Most likely because for a man to give this as payment for his life, you bet he tweaked around with the ingredients for a while. The one nice thing about the specificity is that it produces a consistently excellent chili every time, so try your best to get all of the said ingredients.
Ingredients:
4 pounds of Round Steak, cubed to one inch
2 pounds ground steak
12 oz La Victoria Green Tomatoes (or Embassa Tomatillos)
5 smashed garlic cloves
1 bottle Home Made Chili Sauce
1 bay leaf
2 Beef Bouillon cubes
1 teaspoon Pico Picante Sauce
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground mustrad seed
2 tablespoons Worcestshire Sauce
2 28oz cans of whole Italian tomatoes
4 spring onions, finely chopped
2 tablespoons Masa Cornmeal
1 17 oz can of Rosarita Refried Beans
1 1/2 oz Gebharts Chili Powder
2-4 long green chiles, finely sliced
5 Embassa Jalapeno Pickled Peppers, chopped
1 tablespoon pepper juice (from Embassa Pickled Peppers)
1 beer (I like a good Mexican beer, like Bohemia. Anything you would drink with Chili would work)
Directions:
Saute the ground beef until browned (but not cooked through, just aethetically brown and delicious looking) and drain off the fat. Saute the cubed steak until browned but not cooked through as well, and retain the cooking juices. Transfer the ground beef, cubed steak and juices into a large pot (10 quarts or larger).
Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine. Using a wooden spoon, crush the tomatoes, green and red. Simmer over a low flame for two to three hours the day before you plan on serving it. Put it in the refrigerator overnight and heat it up over a low flame for another two to three hours the next day. This is to let all of the flavors meld. Honestly, when we make it we just let it simmer all day.
For the Black Rice:
6 cups black rice
8 cups of water (or whatever is dictated on the package)
pinch of salt
I just cooked my black rice in the rice cooker, using the 3:4 ratio. But be sure to read the directions on whatever pack you get, as they can differ.
:.