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How to Make Miles Davis’s Famous Chili Recipe


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Miles Davis, who was born on May 26, 1926, was one of the most important and influential musicians of the 20th century, and changed the course of jazz music more times in his life than some people change their sheets. He was also pretty handy in the kitchen.

In his autobiography, Miles, Davis wrote that in the early 1960s, “I had gotten into cooking. I just loved food and hated going out to restaurants all the time, so I taught myself how to cook by reading books and practicing, just like you do on an instrument. I could cook most of the great French dishes—because I really liked French cooking—and all the black American dishes. But my favorite was a chili dish I called Miles's South Side Chicago Chili Mack. I served it with spaghetti, grated cheese, and oyster crackers."

Davis didn’t divulge what was in the dish or how to make it, but in 2007, Best Life magazine got the recipe from his first wife, Frances, who Davis said made it better than he did.

MILES’S SOUTH SIDE CHICAGO CHILI MACK (SERVES 6)

1/4 lb. suet (beef fat)
1 large onion
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 lb. ground veal
1/2 lb. ground pork
salt and pepper
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin seed
2 cans kidney beans, drained
1 can beef consommé
1 drop red wine vinegar
3 lb. spaghetti
parmesan cheese
oyster crackers
Heineken beer

1. Melt suet in large heavy pot until liquid fat is about an inch high. Remove solid pieces of suet from pot and discard.
2. In same pot, sauté onion.
3. Combine meats in bowl; season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, and cumin.
4. In another bowl, season kidney beans with salt and pepper.
5. Add meat to onions; sauté until brown.
6. Add kidney beans, consommé, and vinegar; simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally.
7. Add more seasonings to taste, if desired.
8. Cook spaghetti according to package directions, and then divide among six plates.
9. Spoon meat mixture over each plate of spaghetti.
10. Top with Parmesan and serve oyster crackers on the side.
11. Open a Heineken.

John Szwed’s biography of Davis, So What, mentions another chili that the trumpeter’s father taught him how to make. The book includes the ingredients, but no instructions, save for serving it over pasta. Like a jazz musician, you’ll have to improvise. 

bacon grease
3 large cloves of garlic
1 green, 1 red pepper
2 pounds ground lean chuck
2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 jar of mustard
1/2 shot glass of vinegar
2 teaspoons of chili powder
dashes of salt and pepper
pinto or kidney beans
1 can of tomatoes
1 can of beef broth

serve over linguine

Matt Soniak is a long-time mental_floss regular and writes about science, history, etymology and Bruce Springsteen for both the website and the print magazine. His work has also appeared in print and online for Men’s Health, Scientific American, The Atlantic, Philly.com and others. He tweets as @mattsoniak and blogs about animal behavior at mattsoniak.com.

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People seem to pooh-pooh the product but I find textured protein works quite well as a ground beef substitute with strong spicing.

But. . . only kidney beans? That's such an Eastern US thing. These days I make big pots of chili to deiiver to my Dad. I use pinto, black beans and kidney beans--he loves it that way. But for myself I usually don't include the kidney beans.

Edited by jazzbo
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Chili has an expansive palate from which to paint. Both of these recipes read as incredibly delicious, but in Texas, chili is not something to put on spaghetti. Seriously not. And Chilli Mac is something you do with elbow macaroni. This spaghetti stuff seems to be a Mid-Western thing. Rice, maybe, but spagetti? Not here. 

As to the matter of beans...hmmm....in my chilli world, if there are to be there at all, they're a side dish, not an ingredient. It can be a lovely debate, that one can.

I would gladly partake of both of those recipes, if I could find somebody else to make them!

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14 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Chili has an expansive palate from which to paint. Both of these recipes read as incredibly delicious, but in Texas, chili is not something to put on spaghetti. Seriously not. And Chilli Mac is something you do with elbow macaroni. This spaghetti stuff seems to be a Mid-Western thing. Rice, maybe, but spagetti? Not here. 

As to the matter of beans...hmmm....in my chilli world, if there are to be there at all, they're a side dish, not an ingredient. It can be a lovely debate, that one can.

I would gladly partake of both of those recipes, if I could find somebody else to make them!

No beans in ours.

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28 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Chili has an expansive palate from which to paint. Both of these recipes read as incredibly delicious, but in Texas, chili is not something to put on spaghetti. Seriously not. And Chilli Mac is something you do with elbow macaroni. This spaghetti stuff seems to be a Mid-Western thing. Rice, maybe, but spagetti? Not here. 

As to the matter of beans...hmmm....in my chilli world, if there are to be there at all, they're a side dish, not an ingredient. It can be a lovely debate, that one can.

I would gladly partake of both of those recipes, if I could find somebody else to make them!

I always thought chili on spaghetti was Cincinnati style chili but that may just be because I grew up by Cincinnati and skyline/gold star are such big things there

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https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/01/chili-history-there-are-no-beans-in-san-antonios-specialty.html

Just sayin'...some people take this shit very seriously.

And New Mexico has something else to say about it as well. Red or green? Green for me, please.

Bottom line 'chili' refers to chile peppers. And "Chile con carne" (no frijoles in sight, please note) is the big bang of "chili". Start from there or don't start at all!.

Evolution without awareness is just tribal superstition. So, if there's a history of where the OG chili came from...oh wait, it's a white guy who gave us that history, do he stopped with what he found and that was that. But it's a pretty safe bet that the women who were making this stuff could have included beans had they so desired, and/or if customer demand had been there 

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Inches of suet a part, not my cup of grease, though there are traditional italian recipes with pork suet that I love and eat, what I can not accept it's spaghetti with it. Muslims and Jews don't eat pork, Hindus don't eat beef, Italians don't eat spaghetti with chili. Religious beliefs are protected by the first amendment.

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I can't believe noone has mentioned the oyster crackers.

I once saw a picture of some Cincinnati chilli that has stuck in my head as the worst picture of food I've ever seen. The photograph showed a mess of chilli, processed grated cheese, spaghetti and oyster crackers. Everything about it was unaesthetic and it was obviously going to be flavourless, ersatz and generally grim when eaten. It was the rogue oyster crackers that really made it the Mona Lisa of bad food photography. 

The recipe above really reminds me of that photo.

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/01/chili-history-there-are-no-beans-in-san-antonios-specialty.html

Just sayin'...some people take this shit very seriously.

And New Mexico has something else to say about it as well. Red or green? Green for me, please.

Bottom line 'chili' refers to chile peppers. And "Chile con carne" (no frijoles in sight, please note) is the big bang of "chili". Start from there or don't start at all!.

Evolution without awareness is just tribal superstition. So, if there's a history of where the OG chili came from...oh wait, it's a white guy who gave us that history, do he stopped with what he found and that was that. But it's a pretty safe bet that the women who were making this stuff could have included beans had they so desired, and/or if customer demand had been there 

Sorry to ask a stupid question, but is the Great Beans Debate a regional thing or a reflection on the foods adoption in American culture?

In other words, was there really one "O.G. chilli", derivations from which are merely so many pineapple and ham pizzas?  or were there multiple O.G. chillis, with wide variations, some with beans and some without? 

I am asking as an ignorant Londoner who has never been to either Mexico or the South Western US.

Either way, I'm definitely Team Bean. I'll take them in the chilli and also as a side dish, please.  I would eat beans three meals a day. 

17 minutes ago, porcy62 said:

Inches of suet a part, not my cup of grease, though there are traditional italian recipes with pork suet that I love and eat, what I can not accept it's spaghetti with it. Muslims and Jews don't eat pork, Hindus don't eat beef, Italians don't eat spaghetti with chili. Religious beliefs are protected by the first amendment.

I think I read somewhere that this sort of "chilli" actually comes from Greek pasta recipes, rather than from Mexico or Italy. 

Edited by Rabshakeh
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Oyster cracker, yeah...but the staunch Texan OG-ers use saltines, which to me is just as bad.

It's cinnamon that is used in Cincinnati chili. When we lived in Tampa, there was a place that did that as their thing, probably one of the chains that jcam_44 referenced. It was pretty good once the shock of the whole thing wore off...and that took a while, to be honest!

Then again, I'm pretty much omnivorous, not a purist at all. But I do know (or try to know) the differences between the different steps of evolutions, and resent anybody freelancing with the facts without acknowledging it.

What I like (love, actually) about New Mexico is that they call it what it is - Green Chile Stew. Those who claim that it has magical properties when properly prepared are not exaggerating!

Here's two ways to do it, in two equally entertaining videos:

Even a corporate version will be good if done with proper awareness!

 

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27 minutes ago, Rabshakeh said:

I think I read somewhere that this sort of "chilli" actually comes from Greek pasta recipes, rather than from Mexico or Italy. 

Italian pasta is considered a whole recipe in itself, not a side like rice or cracker or whatever you like. Actually all pasta recipes use to be "mantecata" that means pasta and sauce should be join before putting in a plate. We drain pasta just before the cooking point and let it reach with the sauce, often we add a table spoon of the pasta water, rich of starch in order to reach the best amalgam. Religious beliefs as I told.:D

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34 minutes ago, porcy62 said:

Italian pasta is considered a whole recipe in itself, not a side like rice or cracker or whatever you like. :D

To be clear, I do not like oyster crackers or understand what they are for, and it has not at any point crossed my mind that pasta might be a side or that any particular pasta might be substituted for rice. 

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