Chile con Carne Estilo Tejano 1971 (Texas Style Chili)

A classic and easy to make Texas style chili that will become a favorite in your family meal rotation! Made with a combination of pork, beef, and aromatic Mexican spices.

The rest of the cookbook combines recipes with Wallace’s striking photographs of rural Mexico and includes a wide range of dishes organized into the following chapters:

About The Mexican Cook Book

Wallace, George and Inger. The Mexican Cook Book. Concord, CA: Nitty Gritty Productions, 1971. P. 106-107 [TX716 .M4 W35 1971]

The Mexican Cook Book (1971) was authored by photographer George Wallace and his wife Inger Wallace, who accompanied on him on photography shoots throughout Mexico. The forward includes an abbreviated history of Mexican cuisine and its influences:

“During the past forty years, we have travelled throughout Mexico, seeking to know its people, delighting in the discovery of modern customs that are related to the past…Mexico’s cuisine is a result not only of her own products and people, but the influence of her conquerers: First, the Spanish Conquistadores… introduced cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, olives, grapes, rice, wheat, sugar, and cinnamon to Mexico, as well as new herbs and spices…Then on September 16, 1810, in a small village in the state of Cuanajuato, Padre Hidalgo y Castillo cried out to his impoverished native flock “Long live the Virgin of Guadalupe! Death to the ‘gachupines’! – and thus signaled the end of domination from [Spain], and the beginning of a courtship of everything French. Today, Mexican cuisine, a composite of all three, is uniquely flavorful, and almost addictive.”

• Entremeses / Hors de’Oeuvres
• Sopas/Soups
• Ensaladas / Salad
• Antojitos/Snacks
• Enchiladas & Tamales
• Verduras /Vegetables
• Pescado / Fish
• Pollos y Carnes / Chicken and Meat
• Huevos / eggs
• Poster/Desserts
• Reposteria/ bakery items

Somewhat unusually for a cookbook aimed at a U.S. audience in the early 1970s, the Wallaces do not eliminate chiles or replace them all with chili powder, but call for ancho, chipotle, pequine, green (New Mexico), and jalapeño chiles. At the back of the cookbook, they include a short description of each, along with a capitalized warning for cooks unaccustomed to the properties of chiles: “KEEP HANDS AWAY FROM EYES AND WASH HANDS THOROUGHLY WITH SOAP AND COLD WATER IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARD.”

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Original Recipe

In their chapter on Pollos y Carnes (Meat and Fish), the Wallaces include two chili recipes: Chile con Carne Estilo Tejano and Chile con Carne a la Mexicana. The inclusion of both recipes is intriguing because the two recipes differ in only very minor ways. Unfortunately, there is no accompanying explanation of the recipes’ source or the authors’ reasons for associating one with Texas and one with Mexico.

Both recipes call for browning cubed meat, adding sauteed onions and garlic, and simmering with water, chile powder, salt, oregano, and cumin for 1 1/2 hours. Chile con Carne Estilo Tejano is made with a combination of beef and pork, however, and includes the addition of 16 oz. of tomato sauce and 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder, while Chile con Carne a la Mexicana contains only beef and adds pickled jalapeño chiles for extra spice. Interestingly, the Texas-style chile (but not the Mexican-style) includes the option of adding beans.

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Chile con Carne Estilo Tejano

• 1 pound lean beef, cubed
• 1 pound pork, cubed
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cans (8-ounce) tomato sauce
• 2 cups water
• 4 T. mild chile powder
• 2 T. cocoa
• 2 t. salt
• 2 t. oregano
• 1 t. cumin

Brown meat in hot oil; put it in a large pot for further cooking.

Saute onion and garlic in the same oil; add to the meat. Add all remaining ingredients and mix well.

Cover pan tightly and cook over low heat –about 1 1/2 hours –or until meat is tender.

For chile con carne with beans, add 4 cups of cooked Mexican beans to the pot and stir occasionally without breaking them.

Serve with tortillas.

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Chile con Carne a la Mexicana

• 2 pounds lean beef, cubed
• 3 T. oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups water
• 3 T. mild chile powder
• 2 t. oregano
• 1/2 t. cumin
• 1/2 t. salt
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1/4 pickled jalapeño chiles, minced

Brown meat in hot oil and put it in a large pot. Saute onion and garlic in the same oil; add it to the meat. Add all remaining ingredients except the peppers.

Cover pot and cook over low heat–about 1 1/2 hours–or until the meat is tender.

Just before serving, add the hot peppers. These are really hot, and the full effect is not immediately noticeable–so be careful.

How to Make Texas Style Chili Step by Step

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Serving

Serve with warm corn tortillas.

Storing

Store when cool in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the fridge.

More Texas Recipes

Mexican Rice

Seven Layer Dip

Arroz con Pollo