Le chili con carne, une sorte de plat épicé dont les ingrédients essentiels sont la viande de bœuf et les chiles, originaire du Sud des États-Unis, anciennement mexicain...
Plus précisément de San Antonio - Texas.
Initialement, un ragoût de viande cuit avec beaucoup de piments rouges séchés, vendu à bas prix par les chili queens d'origines hispaniques, principalement sur la "Military Plaza".
Ces stands à chili furent fermés dans les années 1930.
La plupart des Texans sont horrifiés à l’idée que l’on puisse mettre des haricots dans un plat de chili, car pour eux, un vrai chili ne doit rien contenir qui puisse amoindrir le goût de la viande et des piments !
Bien sur, il existe de nombreuses variantes avec différents ingrédients tels que: tomates, oignons, haricots rouges, ail, cumin...
Famous and Not-So Famous Chili Recipes:
- Arnold's "Old Leatherthroat" Chili Con Carne
- Bowl Of Red / Classic Chili
- Chasen's Famous Chili
- Chili H. Allen Smith
- Linda's Chili Con Carne
- Pedernales River Chili
- Spicy Chili with Peppers
- Tolbert's Original Bowl of Red

One more...
On March 9, 1731, a group of sixteen families (56 persons) arrived from the Canary Islands at Bexar, the villa of San Fernando de Béxar (now know as the city of San Antonio).
They had emigrated to Texas from the Spanish Canary Islands by order of King Philip V. of Spain.
The King of Spain felt that colonization would help cement Spanish claims to the region and block France's westward expansion from Louisiana.
These families founded San Antonio’s first civil government which became the first municipality in the Spanish province of Texas.
According to historians, the women made a spicy “Spanish” stew that is similar to chili.

1880s - San Antonio was a wide-open town (a cattle town, a railroad town, and an army town) and by day a municipal food market and by night a wild and open place.
An authoritative early account is provided in an article published in the July 1927 issue of Frontier Times.
In this article, Frank H. Bushick, San Antonio Commissioner of Taxation, reminisces about the Chili Queens and their origin at Military Plaza before they were moved to Market Square in 1887.
According to Bushick:
"The chili stand and chili queens are peculiarities, or unique institutions, of the Alamo City.
They started away back there when the Spanish army camped on the plaza. They were started to feed the soldiers.
Every class of people in every station of life patronized them in the old days. Some were attracted by the novelty of it, some by the cheapness.
A big plate of chili and beans, with a tortilla on the side, cost a dime. A Mexican bootblack and a silk-hatted tourist would line up and eat side by side, [each] unconscious or oblivious of the other."

Latino women nicknamed "Chili Queens" sold stew they called "chili" made with dried red chiles and beef from open-air stalls at the Military Plaza Mercado.
They made their chili at home, loaded it onto colorful chili wagons, and transported the wagons and chili to the plaza.
They build mesquite fires on the square to keep the chili warm, lighted their wagons with colored lanterns, and squatted on the ground beside the cart, dishing out chili to customers who sat on wooden stools to eat their fiery stew. In those days, the world "chili" referred strictly to the pepper.
They served a variation of simple, chile-spiked dishes (tamales, tortillas, chili con carne, and enchiladas). A night was not considered complete without a visit to one of these "chili queens."