Thanks! I've just been invited to a chile cook-off.

Jan

Don't forget to let us know when you win!

I did not win the cook-off. Boo Hoo! Nor did I win the football pool at the party. I did have lots of good chile to taste.

Sheila, that recipe was easy to make, especially since the grocery store had the squash already cut and cubed [I bought it even though it was more expensive].

one had noodles

one had a cornbread topping

one had sausge

one had crab meat

mine was vegan

one was really thick

one was really soupy

one had corn in it and

one was so hot[spicy] that it was melting the crock it was in...

I did get several complements on mine.

Now I have meals for a week.

Jan

Chili w/noodles? Chili w/crab meat? Vegan chili? My mind, now rooted in Texas chili is spinning like a top!

Ok, I have long heard chili doesn't automatically mean there has to be anything to do with tomatoes........but there must be some criteria one uses to make chili..............well, chili.

I'm also curious why some of these dishes aren't stews or soups? What makes them chili?

The chili makes them chili. Unlike seasonings added to stews or soups there isn't usually one dominant one - in chili there's no doubt about the star...it's chili.

Anyway, that's my guess.

I agree with Sheila. Without the chili pepper, it might as well be a soup or a sauce; with or without the tomatoes. DSIL serves chili peppers with meat chunks & onion slices (a very spicy broasted dish) over mashed potatoes. Andie ~ don't say anything, SIL's momma is a Texan. But since then, both he and I tread cautiously around recipe names.

But he did ask something, to which I've never found a satisfactory answer... what makes Creole, Creole? Other than using filin some dishes, I've never been able to pinpoint WHY a certain preparation is entitled to being called Creole.

Well There's Creole & there's Cajun, which to anyone living outside of Louisianan would probably be an irrelevant distinction, but to those who live in the state, it's a subject of endless debate.

A quick search brought me this rather long definition:

Creole Cuisine Creole cooking i8 different from Cajun cooking even though both Of them use ingredients found in southern Louisiana. In the book Cajun-Creole Cooking by Terry Thompson; he says that both cuisines have "French roots, livened with Spanish spices, inspired by African vegetables and general magic, Caribbeanized by West Indian hands, laced with black pepper and pork by the Germans, infiltrated with potatoes by the Irish, blasted with garlic and tomatoes by the Italians, and even touched in some ways by the Swiss, Dutch, Malagans and Malaysians."

The difference between Cajun and Creole cooking is that Cajun cooking is hearty country fare with a very dark roux or type of broth which is the basis for most dishes, along with an extremely spicy flavor, using a lot of animal fat. Creole cooking on the other hand, is citified, using a great deal of cream and butter. The seasoning of food is the key to its authenticity.

Creole cooks use everything they have in their dishes. Leftovers combine to make heavenly new taste sensations, especially when combined with green onions, celery, bell peppers, and parsley.

Coffee is extremely important to Creole cuisine. When combined with chicory, Creole coffee leaves an indescribable taste in a persons mouth! Café Brulot is served for special occasions. It is coffee served in demitasse Cups after it has been mixed with cinnamon, orange and lemon zest, coriander seeds, bay leaf, cloves, pecan halves, sugar cubes, and two different kinds of brandy. Café au Lait is hot black coffee and hot milk served with carmelized sugar.

Rice is an important staple in the Creole kitchen. It forms the base for several typical Creole dishes.

Rice is a main ingredient in Creole gumbo a kind of stew made of meat and rice and seasoned after cooking with sassafras leaves or file (ground sassafras leaves). It is used in jambalaya, a mixture Of meat or fish, vegetables and rice. Beignets are small cakes of rice combined with vegetables and poultry. Calas is a rice patty made with a heavy syrup and eaten for breakfast.

Many dishes have fish as their main ingredient: shellfish, crayfish, oysters, trout, redfish, swordfish, etc. Bouillabaisse is a fish chowder containing at least two fish with one being a shellfish. It is highly seasoned, and similar to French bouillabaisse made in Marseille or Paris.

Creole pastries come from French pastry: cream puffs, éclairs, Napoléons, Duchesses, Vol-au-vent. The best-known pastry from Creole country is petite fours, small cakes, thickly iced, with candied violets or other delicacies on top.

Living about 40 miles from the Louisiana border I'd define it as roux, rice, andoille (sp?) sausages, okra & lots & lots of spices.

Here is a link that might be useful: More than you ever wanted to know about Creole culture.