By Joe Yonan and Bonnie S. Benwick
Washington Post Staff Writers and Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, January 31, 2007; F01
The two of us are not competitive people by nature. Okay, that's not entirely true. But we've been getting along famously since we started working together a few months ago, finding that our palates are almost as aligned as our senses of humor.
Then came talk of Super Bowl XLI. Neither of us has a dog in this Sunday's fight, but when the subject turned to chili -- a time-honored, crowd-pleasing game-day repast -- a natural opposition emerged. Especially when a Texan is involved, no dish is as contentious.
One of us threw the first flag by suggesting publication of her favorite recipe, a comfort-food riff that includes vegetables and ground beef. The Texan launched a long drive about how real chili, which needs six to eight hours on the stove, has none of the above. The non-Texan said readers could make hers in a fraction of the time and could surely stomach much more of hers than his, which is really just chili-fired beef (and only beef) stew. The Texan not very graciously offered the translation of "chile con carne" from the Spanish, mumbled something about the world championship cook-off in Terlingua, and threatened to use quote marks when referring to her version.
Ultimately we decided that, Super Bowl matchups aside, this is a contest that doesn't need a referee. So we present two chilis, leagues apart but each all-pro in its own right. Make the one that speaks your language: purist or egalitarian, Texan or not. Dish it out and turn on the television. Then let the cheering begin.
