"Wayne Lundberg" wrote...
But 'comino' is the ingredient that gives Texas chili it's greasy spoon
restaurant flavor and the Cayenne the heat... These two ingredients hardly
used at all in Mexico, if at all. Red chile de arbol? You bet! (But on the
side for each individual to doctor their food according to their taste - not
cooked in the meal as is done north of the border with the hotter being
better mind-set.

I like hot, but I also like the flavor of chile. I use a lot of mild
pure chile powder then add a dash of hot sauce to taste. Mexicans are
fanatics about their chile, even Mexican movie theaters have a shaker
of chile (mild) to sprinkle on the popcorn. I tried it and it was so
good. Chile de arbol is too hot for me, someone once was sauteeing a
pan of it and it filled the kitchen up with toxic capsicum fumes.

I just moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and it's interesting that
Asians use many of the same spices as Mexicans. Both love chile
sauces and various combinations of hot and sour. I have a jar of
Tom Yum hot & sour soup paste from Thailand and Mexicans should love
it, it contains chile and lemongrass for a flavor similar to the
chile/limón candy Mexicans eat so much of, and a lot of other Asian
flavorings also contain tamarind.

San Francisco? Food Mecca of the world!!!

"Satan" wrote in message
. ..
"Wayne Lundberg" wrote...
But 'comino' is the ingredient that gives Texas chili it's greasy spoon
restaurant flavor and the Cayenne the heat... These two ingredients
hardly
used at all in Mexico, if at all. Red chile de arbol? You bet! (But on
the
side for each individual to doctor their food according to their taste -
not
cooked in the meal as is done north of the border with the hotter being
better mind-set.

I like hot, but I also like the flavor of chile. I use a lot of mild
pure chile powder then add a dash of hot sauce to taste. Mexicans are
fanatics about their chile, even Mexican movie theaters have a shaker
of chile (mild) to sprinkle on the popcorn. I tried it and it was so
good. Chile de arbol is too hot for me, someone once was sauteeing a
pan of it and it filled the kitchen up with toxic capsicum fumes.

I just moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and it's interesting that
Asians use many of the same spices as Mexicans. Both love chile
sauces and various combinations of hot and sour. I have a jar of
Tom Yum hot & sour soup paste from Thailand and Mexicans should love
it, it contains chile and lemongrass for a flavor similar to the
chile/limón candy Mexicans eat so much of, and a lot of other Asian
flavorings also contain tamarind.

The dish "chili" is not Mexican; it is a Texas food. Certainly it has a tie
to Mexican cuisine, but chili is Texan.

"Chili" is the stew made from meat and flavored with chiles and other
spices.

"Chili powder" is a pre-made seasoning base for making chili. Depending on
the maker, it contains ground dried chile (usually a variety of chiles), and
various spices that always include cumin seed.

"Powdered chile", is any chile that has been dried and ground. It contains
nothing else but the chile that is indicated on the lable.

If you don't like cumin, you will not enjoy chili as it is an essential
ingredient. I suggest that you try one of the many Mexican stews that do not
contain cumin.

Charlie

Satan wrote:

Beware of cumin, also known as comino. I'm inclined to agree that it's
not typically used in authentic Mexican cooking, not unknown, but the
worst comino offenders I've seen are American "chili" seasonings. Note
the spelling "chilI" rather than "chilE" which indicates chile powder
mixed with other spices. I realize tastes differ, but to me comino is
just the most disgusting spice I've ever tasted. I just love chile, but
for some reason American manufacturers seem to think that chile and
comino are complementary, just like they seem to think lettuce belongs
on tacos. It is actually quite difficult to find pure chile powder
(chile puro en molido) in American supermarkets, at least anything
other than some fancy gourmet brand. In the American West you can
usually find it, pure chile ranging from mild to hot, but anywhere else
you get the chili con muchisimo comino that will give you Taco Bell
farts for 72 hours.

You must be the poster who keeps changing his name. You were probably
Adolf Hitler a few months ago.

You were going off on comino then, too.

I've heard it was the other way around, that the comino *reduced* the
amount of flatulence. But, who knows? You eat a lot of beans, with or
without comino, you're gonna fart a lot.

And, whether comino tastes "right" in food depends on how you were
raised and what your favorite cook added to the beans, and how you
remember the maternal love that the food represented.

Back in the 1950's, my mom loved Mexican cooking and there was a
Mexican lady named Lizzie across the street who had a secret recipe for
pinto beans and ham hocks. My mom used to buy the flour for torillas
and the pinto beans and ham hocks and Lizzie would cook it all up and
we'd split the delicious results.

I tried for years to duplicate the taste of Lizzie's pinto beans and
ham and my attempts never came out "right" until I discovered comino on
the shelf at the supermarket.

Beans with comino just taste like motherly love to me.

(Aw, just shut up and EAT, kid, before I slap you upside the head
again!)