Sweet chili and other weird foods
Over the years, I have had chili at a lot of different friends’ houses. I myself have also prepared chili for quite a few people. I have a fairly easy recipe, but I think it’s quite good (and I’m not the only one who thinks so).
If there is one thing I know about chili, it’s that chili should be spicy. My recipe, which is my mom’s recipe, is spicy. Not overly spicy, but enough to give good flavor. One thing I do not understand is sweet chili. If you make red chili, and I get a bowl of it, I expect it to be spicy. If it is not going to be spicy, it needs to have some kind of warning on it. Because chili? Is spicy. Chili peppers are hot, not sweet. And if you make sweet chili and I unknowingly get a bowl, then I am forced to finish the bowl, no matter how much I dislike it. Because my mama raised me to be polite. So, let’s sum up here: Sweet chili is wrong. Don’t make it. And, if you make it, don’t serve it to me unless you want me to be unhappy.
(How does one make sweet chili, anyway? How much sugar do you have to put in it? Bleh.)
Anyway, it’s interesting to see the different kinds of food that are “normal” for different people. I’m not talking about different cultures, just regular stuff here in America. Things that I would cook longer (or maybe not as long). Combinations I wouldn’t think of as “good” are things other people enjoy.
I imagine it would be hard if Mike and I didn’t eat the same things, or if one of us was a lot more picky than the other. We don’t eat the same vegetables (I don’t care for corn or carrots, and he doesn’t like limas or pintos), but that’s not normally a problem. We just make two different veggies and each eat what we like. I’m probably a little more picky than he is, but he also eats things like Hamburger Helper beef stroganoff mixed with A1, corn, and sour cream. It’s just gross. I had never had Hamburger Helper until I was with him. He had never tried homemade beefaroni. It’s all about the give-and-take.
If he liked sweet chili, though, we’d have a problem. A girl has to draw the line somewhere.
November 17th, 2004 at
So go ahead and post the recipe! It’s chili season and I’m in the mood for making some chili. Trying a new recipe (I use my mom’s recipe as welL) will be fun.
Question for the community about your chili preferences:
- Noodles or no?
- Sour cream or no?
- Grated cheese on or no?
- Crackers or no?
- Saltines or oyster crackers?
My personal chili configuration - no noodles but yes to sour cream, cheese, and a BIG YES to foregoing the spoon and using Frito’s Scoops to deliver the chili from the bowl to my mouth.
November 17th, 2004 at
now I want chili…way to go.
November 17th, 2004 at
Some of our friends also like rice in their chili. I don’t know if rice goes better with sweet chili or spicy, because I never put rice in mine.
I like cheddar cheese, but no sour cream. And I don’t really do crackers or noodles. My mom would sometimes make cheese quesadillas to go with chili. I enjoy that sometimes.
November 17th, 2004 at
I don’t like chili, but my wife does. Go ahead and post that recipe.
I do like Hamburger Helper Beef Stroganoff, though, and just had it the other day (and leftovers Monday and Tuesday!) I’ll have to try it Mike’s way next time. Mike is proving to be a pretty cool guy, even with that Halo obsession…
November 17th, 2004 at
Mike’s concoction sounds good to me. Mmmmmmm.
November 17th, 2004 at
You guys are sick. I like Hamburger Helper lasagne, but not the stroganoff. And certainly not with all that other stuff.
November 17th, 2004 at
I’m not sick. I feel well today, actually.
:smug:
November 17th, 2004 at
i didn’t know there was such a thing as sweet chili. it sounds pretty gross though.
November 17th, 2004 at
i like riced-up chili - my mom used to make it based on a recipe from a woman at church. that version was more sweet than spicy…
November 17th, 2004 at
Chili sounds dreamy on this cold, bitter night.