Old chile recipes
Old chili recipes
Every chili cook has a few recipes, whether written or just remembered, that have helped define his or her own special bowl of red. Here is a more-or-less historical collection which will assist the reader in this purpose, as it has for the author. Since they are really not meant to be cooked from, but rather used as a reference for your own concoctions, no attempt was made to bring the older recipes up to modern cookbook standards. There are valuable hints to be gleaned from them, but more than that, when reading them notice how none of the recipes will stay in focus very long -- that's chili's stubborn refusal to hold still and let the shutter snap.

Recipes Listed:

Mrs. Owen's Cook Book (1880)
U.S. Army (1896 - 1944)
Walker's Red Hot Chile Con Carne (1918)
Romana's Spanish-American Cookery (1929)
Texas Jail Chili (Circa 1950)
Eight Bean Chili (1975)
Old Buffalo Breath (1985)