Strictly Chili

by A.D. Livingston
Original review By Steve Labinski

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Strictly Chili

High-end chili enthusiasts may find Strictly Chili a bit rudimentary. However, food writer A.D. Livingston's comprehensive approach to all aspects of chili and chili making should delight everyday folks who enjoy the ever-popular spicy mix.

A glance through the chili articles on Texas Cooking illuminates a constant debate over what makes the best bowl of red. A.D. Livingston's answer to this is to walk through all aspects of the food.

The book fully explores everything from eatin' chili to competition chili. Be warned that the book treads easily into very non-traditional areas which would make ardent chiliheads steam.

Part One of the book is a basic primer covering chili ingredients. There is also a primer on all the different chilies. Other explanations cover preferrred kitchenware to cook it in, plus a bit about how to serve it, and leftovers.

The chapter on Modern Chili Powders and Mixes runs-down essential ingredients like cumin and other chili powders. One thing the book is full of is a wide array of chili recipes. From the beginning, the chapters are buttressed with recipes for chili, large and small, from the little-known to the infamous.

For example, there is Hell's Half Acre Chili, a recipe from Pendrey's, which is a wonderful, old marketer of chili blends in Fort Worth. [Fort Worth's famous red-light district was called Hell's Half Acre, hence the name.]

There is a large section listing different meats for chili with recipes for each. Every taste is accommodated here - chili with beef, pork, venison, fowl or whatever you got.

Another chapter of the book explains the regional differences between chilis. Do you know the differences between Texas chili and New Mexico chili? And what is Yankee chili?

Strictly Chili covers all the aspects nicely. Going beyond traditional areas, Livingston even includes recipes with rattlesnake, chili with attitude, how to incorporate wine, soda and whiskey, and more.

More Interesting Texas Food Books:
I'll say again, pure chili folks will probably whince at some of these suggestions - but there's plenty of room for debate.

Some of the fun and tasty recipes in the book include:

Texas foods can arguably be a saving grace to the increasing amount of similar, national foods. We get requests at Texas Cooking and Texana all the time from folks around the country looking to purchase their favorite foods from the days when they lived in Texas. This book is a great collection of what is available, and includes easy methods to order what you like, conveniently, no matter where you live.

A.D. Livingston also wrote
Sausage

Paperback: 207 pages
Publisher: Burford Pr; ISBN: 158080117X (January, 2004)



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