Food Friday: Chili Roundup – Comfort Foods

We find comfort in all manner of rituals and gestures. These being precarious times, we are seeking the simplest and most expedient comforts.

I spent a lazy couple of hours sitting at the kitchen counter on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, watching Mr. Friday preparing a spaghetti sauce. He contently puttered around the kitchen, listening to Dave Brubeck, rolling out meatballs, cooking sausage, browning meat, and mincing garlic all while stirring a vat of tomato sauce. He didn’t consult a cookbook or perform due diligence on line with the many cooking experts’ websites. He has been making this sauce for years, remembering watching his mother while she cooked it. It is a memory he relishes, and it is a calming, comforting exercise for both of us.

The vast lasagne he then assembled was enough to feed the six of us for two meals while we were preparing for the ceremonial Thanksgiving meal. As we fell on the steaming hot lasagne (and the mountain range of garlic bread, and the jungle of salad) we basked in Mr. Friday’s affectionate embrace. There is nothing like the stupefying feeling of too much pasta to wear away at the edginess that is inevitable when a family gets back together. The newer members were able to relax, and we waddled around together afterward, enjoying the sunset and the anticipation of even more food on Thanksgiving.

As we prepare for the holiday season we all pull out the memories. Some are packed in boxes in the attic. Out comes the family menorah. This is how we always strung the lights on the tree. Some memories are scrawled on stained three by five cards. I’m going to bake my grandmother’s gingersnaps. Soon.

But iIt is still a little early for all the holiday whirlwind. I have decorated an evergreen wreath with little aluminum stars that I have cut out of a recycled aluminum foil cookie sheet. The wreath smells like Christmas – even if it is still 55 degrees out! And I don’t care how mild the weather is, I am going to make a big pot of chili, because it is going to make me feel warm and cosy.

We are strictly a no beans chili family. There are reasons. And one dog does not cover everyone’s sins. That being said, we do enjoy chili.

One of my favorite New York Times writers, Alex Witchel, has two amusing chili recipes: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013822-one-hour-texas-chili Never underestimate a recipe that includes Fritos as a major ingredient. I like the depth the chocolate brings to this version of chili: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1012951-the-general-store-chili But I have always been a sucker for hot, buttery corn bread, too.

Cincinnati Chili is beyond me. I have never understood how to incorporate spaghetti. It might be the best of both worlds, but still… https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/5652-cincinnati-chili-con-carne Perplexing.

The Pioneer Woman, enjoying many creature comforts denied to the Ingalls family, has a lovely, bean-y chili recipe. I do love it when I have all the ingredients tucked away already, and don’t have to run to the grocery store. I do not have lime wedges, though, this being almost winter. I think it will be all right in the end. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/simple-perfect-chili-recipe.html

Epicurious does a grand Texas chili that does not have beans! It is spicy, though. I like a recipe that is better the next day, because if I make enough of it, we will be able to eat it for dinner a couple of times during the week. Then I can have Fritos one night and hot, butter-dripping cornbread the next. Perfecto! https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/our-favorite-texas-beef-chili-51249010

You can buy a bag of Fritos, but here is our own kitchen god’s recipe for corn bread. Thank you, Mark Bittman: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/9375-cornbread

“Ordinary folk prefer familiar tastes – they’d sooner eat the same things all the time – but a gourmet would sample a fried park bench just to know how it tastes.”
― Walter Moers