I’ve always been pretty good in the kitchen — and on the grill. I learned a lot from both my mother and father (but not my stepfather; he could’ve burned water). My mom’s recipes are staples in our family, especially around Thanksgiving. I make her dressing, her frozen fruit cups, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. Lizzi’s coming home next month for the holiday, and that’s one of the things we’re both really looking forward to — cooking together, just like old times.
But the two things I think I do best both start in big pots. My dad had his signature jambalaya — not the Cajun kind, but his own creation, a hearty mix of meats and vegetables with plenty of okra. When I was on my own, I decided to make my own version, and it’s evolved over the years into something uniquely mine. It’s probably got twice as many meats as his ever did, but it’s so good that we eat it for close to a week after New Year’s Day, which is when I usually make it.
The other dish is my chili — my true specialty. I’ve been making it for more than twenty-five years, and it’s better than most I’ve tasted. One rule: no beans. Texas chili doesn’t have them, and if you cook in a sanctioned contest, they’re “against the law.” One bean and you’re disqualified. Beans don’t add much anyway. They’re just a filler that ends up tasting like the sauce they’re cooked in. Real chili is about the meat and the gravy — bold, seasoned, and unapologetically rich with chili powder and cumin.
Every now and then, I make chili for an office or church cookoff, and I’ve learned that people have funny ideas about what chili should be. Once, just to see what would happen, I made a white chili with sweet potatoes and cranberries — and I won! But at home, I always come back to the classic: a thick, red, tomato-based chili that stands proudly on its own. No beans required.
Copyright © 2025 Doug DeBolt.
I’m not from Texas, so my chili always has beans. 🙂 But I’ve had Texas chili, and it’s good too. I’ve never had jambalaya, even though I used to live down South.
Ummm, Sweet Potato and Cranberry Chili? Oh, my! That’s already my favorite and I’ve never even heard of such a thing until now. What else goes into it? You don’t need to get too specific, just curious.
It was really a stream-of-consciousness thing. I took a white chicken chili, spun a wheel of ingredients and those two came up. I just decided to do it on a whim because I was tired of cooking my labor intensive recipe for a crowd that didn’t appreciate it. So I did this random thing and it won! Just take a standard white chicken chili and play with it with some unusual ingredients. The next office cookoff at my wife’s job is next week, so I’ll probably be doing something like that again!
Thank You! I will give this a try.