Chili - beans or no beans?

[Harvest Moon]

Real chili does not have tomatoes in it as I stated earlier in this thread. The color and texture is from combining the meat with chili powder, peppers and other seasonings with a liquid such as beer or broth and allowing it to reduce slowly and develop flavor. It's the same technique as a traditional Hungarian paprikash. Didn't you fuckers ever watch the great chili cook off on food network?

The peppers are technically a fruit though, so he was wrong about that. Now if you morons have any other questions about basic cooking, feel free to ask me.

I do know making chili is regional and people have strong opinions about it, that is why I started the thread. Sometimes I make "traditional" chili, without the tomatoes or beans and other times I make the more East Coast version that I posted above. Hell, sometimes I make green "chili", with chicken and green chili peppers or even "meatless" chili. To classify them all as "traditional chili" is about the same thing as comparing "frozen pizza" with freshly made pizza from either New York or Chicago.

I am very much into cooking and I'm pretty damn good at traditional US cooking, many US regional variations, and many international cuisines. I have also studied food history. So feel free to ask away if you have any questions about basic cooking or the history behind the food we eat.


So, with that said, what exactly is traditional Hungarian paprikash?
Do you mean Goulash made with beef (Bogracs Gulyas)? Or, Chicken Paprikach (Csirke Paprikas)? My grandparents were from Hungary. Goulash, which can also be made with pork, lamb or some other red meat, is similar in technique to traditional "chili".

A traditional Paprikash sauce is more delicately spiced and is usually made with chicken (and sometimes pork). Some modern renditions have appeared in recent years called Paprikash, but use other types of meat, these are typically the result of chefs taking a traditional concept into new territories. Either way it is not a true paprikash unless it is served with galuska as a side dish.

I hope at least one person here gets the sense that I take cooking seriously. The rest of you can just continue to eat shit...