No one really knows when mac and cheese was invented, but it seems to be clear that it was an Italian concoction.  According to Wikipedia, the casserole was recorded in cookbooks as early as the 14^th century, and the first modern version was published in a 1769 cookbook by Elizabeth Raffald.  It is believed that Thomas Jefferson brought the dish to the United States, serving it at a dinner in the White House in 1802.  But the real jump to fame came in 1937 when, in the throes of a deep depression, Kraft introduced its boxed variety—it could be prepared in just nine minutes and served four for only 19 cents.  The company sold 8 million boxes in a year!  Even now it remains a staple for college students with little time and even less money to spare.

Chefs have jumped on the comfort food bandwagon, creating masterpieces out of this eternally flexible casserole.  With additions like lobster, crab, or truffles in fine dining establishments to beans, onions, and chilies at local barbecue joints, the possibilities are endless for an outstanding side dish, or even main attraction.  You can even find deep fried macaroni and cheese balls at fairs and some food trucks.  These varieties and more will take your favorite comfort food to the next level.

Best Spicy-Bean Mac n Cheese

Spicy-Bean Mac n Cheese. Photo credit: Jeffrey W

Ingredients:

1 cup onion, diced

1 jalapeno chili, diced

1 tablespoon oil

1 can Rotel tomatoes

1 can pinto beans, drained

8 oz elbow macaroni

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Preparation:

In a large stock pot, cook macaroni according to package directions.  Drain and set aside.

Using the same pot, saute onion and jalapeno in oil until tender.  Add tomatoes, pinto beans, pasta, and half the cheese and stir well.  Spoon into a casserole dish, top with remaining cheese, and bake at 400° until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Lobster Mac n Cheese with Chanterelles

Lobster Mac n Cheese with Chanterelles. Photo Credit: Lee Coursey

Ingredients:

1 pound elbow macaroni

1 pound chanterelle mushrooms

1 tablespoon olive oil

6 oz bacon

1 qt milk

1 stick butter

½ cup all-purpose flour

4 cups gruyere cheese

2 cups sharp cheddar

1 pound cooked lobster meat

1 cup bread crumbs

Preparation:

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain and set aside.

Saute the chantrelles in olive oil, add salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside.

Dice the bacon and cook until crispy.  Drain the fat from the bacon and add milk.  Heat but don’t boil.

In a separate pot, cook flour in 6 tablespoons of butter and cook for about 2-3 minutes, stirring often.  Add the milk and cook until thickened.  Add the pasta, chantrelles, and lobster and stir well.  Spoon into a casserole dish (or in separate 5-ounce baking dishes for a more elegant appearance.)  Combine breadcrumbs with remaining butter, melted, and spoon over top of macaroni mixture.  Bake at 400° until the sauce is bubbly and the breadcrumbs are browned.

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Today, there are three main types of trees used for chocolate—the Forastero, the Trinitario, and the Criollo.   The Forastero tree is native to the Amazon basin region of Africa and is responsible for the largest amount of cocoas produced around the world.  It is a hardy variety with a high yield of beans, but typically produce a quite bland chocolate.  The Criollo, from Central America, is the rarest of the cacao trees, but the output is a delicate, complex bean that is favored among chocolatiers.  The Trinitario tree is a hybrid of the Forastero and the Criollo, with some of the complex taste of the Criollo but with the disease-resistant qualities of the Forastero.

Specialty chocolate makers derive their creations from a single type of bean.  The Criollo beans are the desired ingredient in specialty recipes, but the cost and availability is often a deterrent.  Specialty chocolates can be made from other trees as well—the key is in the use of just a single bean.  The beginning process of chocolate-making is the same from manufacturer to manufacturer:  even with all of the progress in machinery since ancient times, the harvesting, fermenting, drying, cleaning, and roasting of cacao beans is still done by hand. Machines then take over to do the grinding.  From there, each chocolate maker has their own process that makes their chocolate different from others on the market.

And it’s not like you might think it is.  That is to say, if you ask people what makes a really great chocolate you will not get a standard answer.  In much the same way as coffee roasting, there is a craft involved, and everyone has perfected their own roasting manner.  The key, according to modern chocolate makers, is “not getting in the beans’ way.”  Before this approach, chocolate makers roasted beans dark and the finished product reflected that process.  Now, though, chocolate beans are roasted according to their variety and where they are grown.  Today, you’ll “taste the bean itself, which can present flavors as varied as red berries, lemon, and tobacco” for example.

In the coffee industry, this boils down to a pairing process that requires much thought about how to marry the flavors.  It is more than a simple recipe of coffee and chocolate.  Alex Whitmore, owner of Taza, encourages “deeper roasts or low acidity coffees” for mochas made with modern chocolates.  But Jamie Fey, café manager for Dogwood Coffee, claims that “many single-origin coffees open up in the presence of chocolate.”

Pairing specialty roasts of coffee with specialty roasts of chocolate opens up numerous doors for flavor experimenting in the coffee shop.  The flavor potentials are seemingly endless, and this makes for a lot of fun coming up with the best concoctions.

I don’t know about you, but I think I will go out and get a mocha!

The post Much Ado About Chocolate appeared first on Houston's Blog.

The origins of chili are as hot a debate as the chili itself. Some say the perfect bowl began with “Chili Queens,” who sold seasoned bowls of goodness from colorful makeshift wagons or carts in the San Antonio, Texas Military Plaza. Others claim that chili found its beginning in “bricks,” made up of all the seasonings, designed to flavor venison or other game to feed hungry cowboys who were far from home on cattle drives.

During the Depression, chili joints “A small cheap restaurant, particularly one that served poor quality food” cropped up across the United States—it was cheap to make and often meant the difference between starvation and living. But in 1936, Dave Chasen put a whole new spin on his chili joint in Hollywood—selling his concoction (after freezing it for the week to let the flavors meld) to actors and actresses, studio people, chauffers, and even J. Edgar Hoover and Eleanor Roosevelt. The glamour of Hollywood and the allure of his recipe, which he would never divulge, took chili from the garbage that was necessary for survival to a more fashionable, sought-after fare.

And then, in the 1950s or 1960s depending on which sources you trust, the battle was on to see who could create the best bowl of chili. Many sources say the challenge began in 1967 in Terlingua, Texas—a two-man contest between Texan Homer “Wick” Fowler and Dallas newspaper reporter H. Allen Smith. The game was on when Smith wrote an article titled Nobody Knows More About Chili Than I Do, to which Fowler took offense. Although this competition resulted in a tie, a tradition was born. Chili cook-offs are as rampant and feverish as ever, with many people vying to take the top honors.

In 1909 Dew Brockman’s famous chili recipe, helped to dub Springfield, Illinois the “Chilli capital of the Civilized World” in 1993. Yes, that is an extra “l”, and yes, it is supposed to be there. Springfield chilli is not afraid of fat…often in the form of suet. And unlike Texan chili, Springfield chilli boasts the addition of beans.

Another interesting take on chili is the Cincinnati 5-way version…a generous helping of a thin, loose chili meat sauce served over a plate of spaghetti noodles, with raw onions, red beans, and cheese.

No matter how you make this versatile dish, chili is sure to warm you on cold winter days. And although my chili doesn’t come with a formula, there are many recipes out there that are sure to make your taste buds tingle, and will ensure a consistent batch every time. Try them out, and let us know your favorite. Here is one to get you started:

Chili with Beans

INGREDIENTS

Chili with beans. Photo courtesy of Christina Graiff

•2 pounds lean ground beef
•2 medium yellow onions, medium dice
•1 medium red bell pepper, medium dice
•6 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped
•1/4 cup chili powder
•1 tablespoon ground cumin
•1 1/2 teaspoons salt (or to taste)
•2 cans diced tomatoes
•1 can tomato sauce
•2 cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
•1/4 cup coarsely chopped jalapeños

INSTRUCTIONS
1.Cook the ground beef over medium-high heat and drain most of the fat
2.Add the vegetables, garlic, chili powder, and cumin, stir to coat the vegetables, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer the mixture to the slow cooker, add the diced tomatoes and their juices, tomato sauce, and beans, and stir to combine.
3.Cover and cook until the chili thickens and the flavors meld, about 8 hours on low or 6 hours on high.
4.Stir in the jalapeños or green chiles. Taste and season with salt as needed

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