Maybe. But let's go back a few centuries and to my original question
regarding the origins of chili as we know it today.

Mole goes back to pre-Columbian Mexican cooking as evidenced in many of the
the monk's writings shortly after the conquest. Primary ingredients were
turkey, a dozen varieties of dried chiles, peanuts and chocolate. Today we
add tomatoes and little green onions which were native prior to the
'discovery' of America.

Mole is also used as the basic sauce for deer, armadillo, rabbit and piglet.
So the only difference between a good Mexican mole and Texas Chili is beef.

The friars reporting on the Aztec custom of cutting the heart from the
captured warriors or selected victims, told of parts of the body being cut
from the cadaver and tossed to the multitudes bellow; who would then take
the chunks of tough warrior muscle and simmer in mole sauce for a couple of
days before scooping up the special meal with quartered corn tortillas as
spoons.

I know from personal experience the tenderizing qualities of a good mole. We
would sacrifice the oldest turkey in the flock for the upcoming feast. It
would take three days to prepare the mole sauce using the old turkey's stock
as the base liquid. It would take three days to tenderize these old birds!

So it makes sense that chili is nothing more than tough old beef left over
from the tables of the wealthy and given only to prisoners, cowboys and
vaqueros who would then use the ancient Amerindian combination of chiles to
tenderize the mix and make it palletable. Thus creating one of the greatest
dishes on the planet.

Wayne in Chula Vista
My credientials: http://www.calmexnet.org/partners/wayne.htm