Mixicali

My Beloved is not generally that fond of chili, but I love it. If I make it from scratch with lots of beef, he does enjoy it, but I don't have it on frequent rotation because he's not a big a fan. However, he is a huge automobile racing fan and can be tempted to purchase just about anything having to do with cars that have unmuffled engines and slick tires. So, when I read that Carroll Shelby invented a line of chili kits, I knew he'd be intrigued. So I raced on down to the store mentioned on the chili kit website to purchase both the beef and the white chili kits. 

It was a revelation to me just to plunge willy-nilly into the center part of an unfamiliar modern supermarket - I usually do all my food shopping around the outer edges where the fresh stuff is kept. I don't think I knew there were so many prepared foods in the world as I found on the shelves of that market. For a fan of Michael Pollan, it was eye-opening and a little frightening - all those "food-like substances" packaged to keep forever. Ulp. Aware that I was probably supporting the evil Monsanto with at least one of my kits, I felt traitorous and oddly guilty.

First, we tried the beef chili with black beans, garlic and onion added to the browning phase. The kit had four envelopes inside, a large one with rust-red powder, and three smaller ones with other flavorings. I left out the masa, salt ,and cayenne pepper packets because the chili was thick enough, we don't like a lot of salt, and we are spice wimps. I made the chili one day and served it the next, as dishes like chili are often better the second day and, being a mix, I wanted to give it every chance to be good.

When I lifted the lid after re-heating, the rich aroma of chiles was so strong that I poured us each a glass of milk, just in case. It was plenty spicy for us; I can only imagine what it would have been like had I added the cayenne packet.

For the same meal, I indulged in a corn bread mix, too. What the heck, might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb, right? I forget the brand, and I have thrown away the package; it probably doesn't matter which industrial mix I used. I added some green onion tops to the mix for color and a little more taste, melted a lot of butter in a hot, black iron skillet, poured the mix into the middle of the sizzling butter, and set the pan into a hot oven for about 15 minutes.

For stuff out of a box with very few improvements on my part, it was a surprisingly good dinner. The chili was hearty as all get out, spicy enough to make us glad of our glasses of milk, deeply flavorful and filling. I'd trust that racy Texan to make good chili again.

The corn bread was not as hearty and didn't fool us into thinking it was in any way authentic, but it was good, lightly sweet-savory with onion scent, and a nice accompaniment to the chili.

I can't call this meal Mexicali - it's just too fake for that - but Mixicali turned out to be quite surprisingly good, too.