Y’all, these days you don’t have to look far to find controversy. If you have the mind to do it, you can debate politics, the war in Iraq, the merits of various sports teams, or the price of tea in China. For me, the only controversy bubbling around here is:

Beans or No Beans.

That’s right. It’s a cold day, and I’m talking chili.

Here in Texas, there are chili aficionados who think that chili cooking is a science. Others think it is a high art form. In the summer time, you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting another town having a chili cook-off. Why in thunder would anyone want to eat chili in the unrelenting Texas heat? That beats me, but folks do it.

It’s hilarious talking to some of the chili cooks, because chili making is a serious subject. There is no room for levity. Every one of them has a special recipe with a “secret” ingredient. Some cooks make chili with chicken. Those cooks aren’t from Texas, of course. Chili is made with beef!

At a chili cook-off, the cooks try to get exotic, and it can get pretty dadgum disgusting. I’ve tasted chili that purportedly contained ostrich, or buffalo, or quail, or squirrel, and one cook even claimed to have included armadillo. One can only hope that it wasn’t “road kill.” All those meats taste like chicken, if you were wondering. I’ve even seen vegetarian chili, which is just downright un-American, if you ask me. You didn’t ask me, but I told you anyway.

Now, I love to eat chili, but I don’t claim any secret recipe. Heck, I’ll eat Wolf Brand chili if I must. Neighbor, how long has it been since you had a big steaming bowl of Wolf Brand chili? Well, that’s too long.

My favorite chili recipe comes in a package:

And, my “secret” ingredient is:

Yep, the Two Alarm Chili is pretty darned good, and you can adjust it to be One Alarm, or No Alarm, if you choose. We usually make it about One and a Half Alarm. Add some beer to it, or drink the beer. Either way, it makes the chili go down good.

Again, the boiling controversy is Beans or no Beans. I want your point of view, so here is your chance to vote. If your state has already had the primary elections, you’ve already gotten the chance to practice voting. If not, then this will be a good exercise for you. Which do you choose? This handy counter will measure the velocity of your eruptions.

Beans or No Beans
	Gimme chili with beans!
	No beans sully my chili!
Free polls from Pollhost.com

We chose to add beans this time. I’ll spare you any commentary about the velocity of our eruptions.

If you have been around this blog before, you may be aware that I am a woman who loves bacon. I am a Texan, and we fry. Therefore, I prefer my food fried in bacon grease. I mean to tell you that even Brussel sprouts are palatable wrapped in bacon and deep fat fried.

But, I realize that I am getting older and should be eating a more healthy diet. I’ve never eaten much fish. Now, every magazine I pick up tells me I should be eating fish for its health benefits. The Omega-3 oils in fish protect the immune system and play a role in protecting the body from arthritis, inflammation, heart disease, depression, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and I forget what else.

The only fish (that wasn’t in a can) that I consumed as a child was crappie (pronounced as krŏp’ē, if you are unfamiliar with it). We were always excited when Daddy said “the crappie are running,” because that meant he was going fishing and there would be a fish fry! The fish was cut into filets, rolled in cornmeal and deep-fat fried. It was served with heaping mounds of fried potatoes, fried hush puppies, and lots of ketchup. Occasionally, one had a teaspoonful of cole slaw on the plate, but we considered it a waste of stomach space. We never discovered a way to deep-fat fry cole slaw.

I’ve only eaten baked fish a handful of times in my life, and I try hard not to gag at the table, because my Momma taught me manners. The most notable time was when Mr. Ex and I had a fancy-schmancy meal at a hotel in Colorado. I ordered a baked trout, and I was as surprised as a puppy with his first porcupine when that waiter placed the plate in front of me. That fish was staring me right in the eye! I have no idea what expression might have come over my face, but evidently the waiter had seen it before. He pulled out his chopping knife, whacked that fish’s head plumb off, scooped it on a plate and carried it away.

It was too late. I no longer had an appetite.

All that being said, I don’t know what came over me yesterday in the Kroger Store. I got a wild hair to buy a package of catfish (it’s a little known fact that my brother-in-law, C.S. Tucker is an internationally renowned expert on catfish farming) and decided to “oven fry” them. OK, I admit that I would have fried them in a deep-fat fryer if I had one. But, I didn’t get custody of the deep-fat fryer in the divorce settlement, so there you go.

[aside: Y'all do know the difference between a lawyer and a catfish, don't you? One is a bottom-dwelling, scum-sucking scavenger. The other is a fish. Ba-dum-bum]

I went to the internet to find a recipe that might be acceptable. The first recipe for oven-fried catfish at Cooks.com indicated that the fish should be rolled in egg whites and then in crushed corn flakes. Ick! All I had in the cabinet were Frosted Flakes.

Tony the Tiger would not have thought that was “GRRRRRREAT!”

The second recipe called for rolling the fish in cornmeal, but didn’t want the egg whites. Corn meal sounded more like something a Texas girl would eat, and I had a package of Morrison’s Corn-Kits. But, cornmeal doesn’t stick very well, so I decided to mix the two recipes. My Mamaw taught me never to follow a recipe. It’s just supposed to point you in the right direction.

Here’s what I came up with:

OVEN FRIED CATFISH:
About a pound of catfish filets, washed and patted dry
A package of Morrison’s Corn-Kits, or failing to find that, a cup of cornmeal
1 1/2 teaspoons of garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons of crushed parsley
1 teaspoon of lemon pepper
2 egg whites mixed with about two tablespoons of water
A dab of butter (”dab,” in this case, means a little more than a tablespoon)

First, melt the butter in the microwave and use it to coat the bottom of a glass pan (large enough to lay all the filets flat)

Mix the garlic, parsley, and lemon pepper with the cornmeal or Corn-Kits

Roll the filets in the egg whites, then the cornmeal until they are coated, then spread them in the buttered pan

Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

Whip up some tartar sauce, or grab the bottle of ketchup and you’re in business.

Mr. Tucker liked this recipe, and says I have his permission to cook it again (like he thinks I need permission or that he could stop me if I wanted to do something!). I even liked it, and pronounced it “bloggable.” It’s not as delicious as fried crappie, but it’s pretty dadgum tasty.

I might even decide to try other fish recipes. Do you have one that I might be able to stomach?

Do y’all need comfort food now and then? I certainly do. This week has been especially difficult, and I decided it was time to cook. I had another reason to do so. Amidst all my sadness the last couple of days over the disappearance of my cat, there was cause for rejoicing. My neighbors down the street had a beautiful, healthy baby boy! Congratulations Ann and Olav, and welcome to the world, Torbin. This is almost as exciting as getting a new grandbaby!

Because a new mom needs to get her rest, and because it is expected of Southern women (at least it was when I was growing up), I felt the urge to take them a meal. Doing something for someone else could help take my mind off my own troubles.

It’s been bitterly cold the last few days, so Potato Chowder sounded good to me. Fortunately, it sounded good to them, too. Besides, standing in my kitchen I could look out the window and fret, hoping my cat would come slinking down the driveway. She hasn’t yet, and she probably won’t. But, I thank y’all for your good thoughts.

I set to work in the kitchen whipping up the chowder, and decided to share with you, in case you need some comfort food, too. Keep in mind, that I cook in much the same way my Mamaw did. When my grandmother cooked, she didn’t necessarily “measure;” she just kept on adding whatever she had until it tasted right. There is no exact science to cooking around here! I like this recipe, because it only takes about 30-45 minutes to make it, depending on how fast you chop vegetables.

Here’s what you need to pull out of the refrigerator and pantry:

4-5 strips of bacon (Of course! I don’t know how to cook without it!)
6 Tablespoons flour
3 cups of milk (cream is better if you have it)
1 medium onion, chopped
1-2 slices of celery, sliced
a handful of mushrooms (if you have them in the refrigerator)
1 can of chicken broth
4-6 potatoes (depending on how hungry you are) peeled, sliced and diced
1 can of corn (unless you want to get ambitious and slice corn from the cob—if you do, then cook it as you cook the potatoes)
salt and pepper to taste
any other spice to your taste [Here's where you get creative. This time I used a dash of brandy and a sprinkling of basil. Other times, I add a splash of sherry and some thyme. Then, occasionally I plop in a half cup of picante sauce and some chili powder to give it a good old Texas kick.]

1. Fry the bacon. I cut mine into tiny pieces and cook it on high. I don’t know the science of it, but it seems that if more surface area of the bacon touches the hot pan it makes more grease. You are trying to get bacon grease.
2. Remove the bacon and eat it. Unless you are generous enough to share with everyone else and save it for garnish. I’m not.
3. While that bacon is frying, put the mushrooms, celery, onion, and potatoes in a large pot. Add the chicken broth and enough water to cover the vegetables. Bring that to a boil. You want to cook those vegetables until they are almost tender, then add the corn. That should only take about 15 minutes.
4. About the time you add the corn to the other vegetables, heat that bacon grease again. Add enough butter to the skillet (I didn’t say this wasn’t fattening—it’s comfort food!) to make about 3 tablespoons floating around in the pan.
5. Slowly stir in the 6 tablespoons of flour to make a roux. [When I asked my sweet spousal unit to proof read this, he said some people might not know what a “roux” is. It’s just flour and fat cooked into a paste and browned. You use it to season food, but if you want to know the full meaning, you can follow this link to know about a“roux”. is.
6. Add the milk or cream, stirring like crazy so you don’t get lumps (although in this chowder, people would mistake the lumps for potatoes).
7. When that milk and flour mixture is thick and creamy, plop it into the pot of vegetables and stir.
8. Salt it, pepper it, and spice it up.
9. Heat it for five more minutes, then dish up a bowl and go sit by the fire to eat it.

Anyway, that’s how potato chowder gets cooked around here. How do you cook it? I’m always open to new recipes.

And, given your choice, what is the comfort food you cook when you need it? I may be needing some more comfort.