How to Make Decisions
Issue 53

We welcome your letters, questions and desperate pleas for help in this uncaring world. As always, e-mail WBXylo at Gmail.com. Don’t fret about e-mailing me with puzzle problems; I won’t yell at you.

Chili

Like politics, religion, and BBQ, few people agree on what make a proper bowl of chili. To conciliate this volatile situation, HTMD provides 3 distinct recipes for the dish, including one by an American President.

Sacred Chili
In Texas, there are a lot of rules for Chili con Carne. The rules considered most important, generally, are:
A. The meat should be cut into small cubes, never ground.
B. Tomatoes, onions, and beans do NOT belong in Chili.
C. The meat should be browned in beef suet, not oil nor water.

Texas Chili
Source: Grunes, Magida The Southwestern Sampler

3 dried ancho chili pods
6 dried chili pods, cascabel
9 dried chili peppers, petines, pequines, arbol, or Chinese chilies
10 cups boiling water
6 ounces beef suet
3 pounds lean venison (or beef round)
1 1/2 cloves garlic
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
salt

1. Place the 9 chili pods in a pot. Pour 9 cups boiling water on them, cover and let soak for an hour.
2. Discard the seeds from the dried chili peppers. Use the remaining cup of boiling water to soak these chilies in a covered bowl
3. Render the suet, saving 1/4 cup, storing the rest.
4. Separate the chilies from their respective waters; combine the waters.
5. Brown the meat in the 1/4 cup suet.
6. After the meat is browned pour in 5 cups of chili water. Simmer for 1-2 hours.
7. De-seed, de-stem, and de-skin the chili pods.
8. Cut the peppers into small pieces.
9. Mix the chilies and pods into the meat. (And some of the remaining chili water if necessary.)
10. Add the garlic, oregano, cumin, and salt.
11. Simmer for 15 more minutes.

Serve with pinto beans and rice.

The recipe for LBJ’s Pedernales River Chili
4 pounds Chili meat (Course Ground Chuck)
1 large Onion, chopped
2 cloves Garlic
1 teaspoon ground Oregano
1 teaspoon Cumin seed
6 teaspoon Chili powder
1 ½ cup Canned whole tomato
2-6 dashes Liquid hot pepper sauce
Salt to taste

1. Place meat, onion and garlic in a large heavy skillet or Dutch oven. Cook until light colored.
2. Add oregano, cumin, 2 cups water, chili powder, tomatoes, hot pepper sauce (more or less to taste), and salt.
3.Bring to a boil, lowering heat, and simmer for one hour. Skim off fat during cooking.

ML Kennedy’s Atheist Chili

I think chili should be slightly different each time, so I follow no single recipe. The following is the last version of Chili that I made. Most things can be changed around, depending on the tastes of the chili eaters.

1. Saute 2 cloves minced garlic in 3 tablespoons bacon grease.

2. Add 1 pound 73% lean chuck and 1 pound ground pork, and brown.

3. Lower heat, and mix in
one can of tomato paste (16 oz)
one can kidney beans (undrained)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons Frank’s Red Hot
2 habanero peppers thinly sliced
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp crushed red pepper

Cover and simmer for at least 1 hour

Word of the Week

Mazotropism- The ability of a woman’s breasts to turn heads.
(Source- There’s a Word for it by Charles Harrington Elster)

This Week’s Puzzle (difficulty: Mild)
Sally is Tom’s mother; Tom is Sally’s son.
Tom is standing behind Sally.
Sally is standing behind Tom.
How can this be done?

Last Week’s Puzzle (difficulty: Moderate)

Aside from the obvious (i.e. they are in English, they are made of letters), what do the following words have in common?

Bag
Bank
Blast
Box
Man
Paper
Trap

Beyond the Threshold’s Mark B. was the first person with the correct answer: SAND. (i.e. sandbag, sandbank, sandblast, etc.)

Last 5 posts by ML Kennedy

• How to Make Decisions (72) - June 19th, 2007
• How to Make Decisions (71) - June 12th, 2007
• How To Make Decisions (70) - June 5th, 2007
• How to Make Decisions (69) - May 29th, 2007
• How to Make Decisions (68) - May 21st, 2007