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Texas Symbols, Dish: Original Texas-Style Chili

Chili

Adopted in 1977.

Chili, the state dish. Dallas Morning News file photo

Chili Recipe

House Concurrent Resolution No. 18, 65th Legislature, Regular Session (1977)

Previously published in The Daily Sentinel on
Sunday, September 30, 2001
Why Is Chili the State Dish of Texas?
It started with the farkleberry.

So says Ben Z. Grant, the man from Marshall who convinced colleagues in the 65th Texas Legislature that chili was the only dish worthy of representing the state in an official capacity.

Ben told how such legislation was made in an article in the East Texas Historical Journal (Spring 1998, pp. 72-73), in case you want every last detail.

The farkleberry figures in the story because Albert Agnor asked his legislator to make it the "state berry" of Texas. Agnor claimed that was the secret ingredient that made him the world's champion chili cook.

Ever attuned to the needs of constituents, Grant floated the idea with legislative colleagues, to their great amusement. What weakened his support of the farkleberry even more was remembering that "Cactus Jack" Garner earned his nickname in a vain effort to elevate the prickly pear above the bluebonnet as the official state flower.

"But chili as a prospective candidate" for the state dish was another matter, said Grant. He learned that chili con carne had been developed in San Antonio, which gave it a bona fide Texas birth.

Considering that he had history on his side, Grant got Representative Ron Bird of San Antonio to cosponsor a resolution to make chili the official state dish.

Agnor came to Austin to participate in the lobbying for the resolution by preparing a huge pot of the chili for legislators and supporters. Some of the latter wore T-shirts on which was written "Legalize Chili" to advance the cause.

Then the opposition revealed itself. Says Grant, Beaumonters and Port Arthurs demanded the designation of "state dish" for gumbo, Hispanics advanced the cause of menudo, and the black delegation favored chitterlings.. According to Grant, a Democrat, a Republican nominated chateaubriand in a fit of partisanship.

But Grant argued authoritatively for chili by invoking the support of LBJ and Senator A.M. Aiken, dean of the Texas Senate, who moved Grant's House resolution through with great urgency.

Grant traveled to Dallas to celebrate the victory in a chili parlor operated by Francis X. Tolbert, Dallas Morning News writer and chili guru. Instead of the honors he expected, Tolbert made him pay for his bowl of the new official state dish.

While still in the legislature Grant also rode a horse from Marshall to Austin to demonstrate that Texas needed to get rid of its horse-and-buggy era constitution adopted in 1876 and still in use, but that is another story.


By Archie P. McDonald

Archie P. McDonald is Director of the East Texas Historical Association and author or editor of more than 20 books on Texas.

Rumored, after the 65th (1977) Texas legislature voted Chili as the State Dish, they drove to Dallas to Frank Tolbert's Chili parlour for a celebration with the authentic version. There were no beans in Frank's chili.

ORIGINAL TEXAS-STYLE CHILI
from A Bowl of Red by Frank X. Tolbert

• 3 lbs. lean beef, preferably stewing meat
• 2 oz. beef suet (or substitute vegetable oil)
• 3-6 Ancho chile pods, boiled 5 minutes, cooled, stemmed, seeded and chopped, cooking water reserved. (or 3-6 Tbsp. chili powder or ground chile)
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 Tbsp. crushed cumin seed
• 1 Tbsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 Tbsp. Tabasco sauce
• 2-4 minced garlic cloves, to taste
• 2-4 extra Ancho chile pods
• 2 Tbsp. Masa Harina or cornmeal

Cook suet until fat is rendered. Remove suet. Sear meat in fat in 2 or 3 batches. (Use oil for low cholesterol, less grease.) Place meat in large pot with pepper pods and as much of the pepper liquid as you think you'll need to keep the meat from burning. About two inches of water rising above the meat is usually right. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes. Add rest of ingredients except Masa and extra Anchos. Simmer 45 minutes more, covered. Stir only occasionally. Skim off grease. Taste and adjust seasonings. If not hot enough to suit you, add extra Ancho pods which have been stemmed and seeded, but not chopped. Add Masa Harina to thicken liquid. Simmer for another 30 minutes until the meat is tender. Variation: Wick Fowler made his prize-winning chili basically the same way, but he did not use suet and added 15 oz. of tomato sauce. He never served the chili on day of its conception, but kept it in the refrigerator overnight and skimmed off the grease the next day, then added Masa Harina upon heating the chili if it was too thin.

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