Chili Nation [Paperback]

Jane Stern (Author), Michael Stern (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 5, 1999

Time to Chow Down and Chili Up!

Here is the most comprehensive guide ever to making and enjoying America's favorite meal in a bowl.

From California's Gilroy Super Garlic Chili and Florida's Havana Moon Chili to Wisconsin's Green Bay Chili and New Hampshire's Yankee Bean Pot Chili, Chili Nation features chili recipes from all fifty states.  With their incomparable wit and style, Jane and Michael Stern offer chili history and trivia, a mail-order guide to the best spices and peppers, and tales of beloved chili parlors coast to coast.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

From Chili a la Whistle Stop (Alabama) to Serious Capitol Punishment Chili (District of Columbia) to Code 10 Chili (Wyoming), you'll find every imaginable version of what the authors describe as our "one truly national shared food." There are chilies with beans and without, with meat and without, green chilies, and many variations on the classic "bowl o'red." The Sterns' Roadfood (1976) and other books on American food are well known, and their latest is fun to browse through. For most collections.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Jane and Michael Stern document that every state in the Union has its own approach to chili, the Texas-created national dish. Devotees of the original "bowl of red" may fume in protest that Maryland's shrimp and crabmeat in cream sauce lightly rouged with chili powder stretches the definition of chili beyond the breaking point. Michigan's Upper Peninsula stuffs its miners' pasties with chili instead of the traditional meat and rutabaga filling. Washington State spikes its chili with plenty of coffee. Florida crosses chili with Cuban picadillo. Vermont mellows out the bite of chili peppers with maple syrup. And what does Hawaii do? Naturally, it studs its chili with chunks of macadamia nuts. One can read this book as the triumph of spicy cooking across the breadth of America or as a perversion of authentic ethnic cookery. Mark Knoblauch

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter; 1 edition (January 5, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767902637
• ISBN-13: 978-0767902632
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 0.5 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #650,320 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Variety is the spice of life February 28, 2002

By David G. Smith

Format:Paperback

So, I got me a dilemma, and here it is. I am a very creative person who occasionally has to find things that a four year old will eat. This is the great book for all my needs. Gotta cook at home? Little four year old yummy, not too spicy extravaganza? American Chop Suey Chili from Maine. Maybe a little Kansas Chili. Want to prove I am an experimental guy....How bout Boilermaker Chili. Want to burn some mouths at a pot luck? Tigua Indian Bowl Of Red.
Again, The Sterns are geniuses. I have had some of my favorite meals, at home or on the road(and gained some of my favorite pounds) because of them. But this book is a cultural geography lesson and a daddies dream in one. I don't see this as being a knockoff or reproduced. I see this as a celebration of the large amount of chili recipes that represent our nation. This is the kind of patriotism I want to celebrate, a diverse and spicy nation....and this book does it from soup(some of the chilis are thin) to nuts(macademia....Hawaiian Chili.)

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A great little book that's worth more than the ticket price March 19, 2004

By Threemoons

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I admit--I first got this book on a whim to top up an order for Super Saver Shipping. It's now one of my most reached-for cookbooks, and is almost falling apart from use! CAVEAT: Don't buy this book unless you have access to most of the various chilies--fresh, dried, and canned--in the book; using the listed ingredients really DOES make a difference. However, the Internet is a great resource for finding hard-to-find items, and dried chilies stay forever in a bag in the freezer. Also, the contents of an opened can can be frozen in a baggie...having said that, I have won more than one informal pot-luck prize with the gems in this book.

Not all chili has to be watery, or contain starch--many of the recipes are for what I call "Texas-style" recipes--all meat, no beans--which leaves you to choose your own side-dish to temper the heat. This book runs the gamut of recipes from ultra-mild to very hot, vegetarian to carnivore paradise. Almost every single recipe requires only one pot, and can easily be increased for a crowd. For solitary folks, nothing beats a batch of chilie--eat half over a few days and freeze the rest for a great meal when you're in a rush.

Get this one and have fun!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars I can't decide which chili to make next! February 4, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

If you like chili at all, you'll enjoy this book. It has a chili recipe from each of the 50 states, plus DC. Some are specific recipes from restaurants or diners the authors chanced upon; others are just indicative of regional cooking. If I have one complaint, it's that some of the recipes call for hard-to-find ingredients, but I think they'll be worth seeking out. The recipes have been great so far--I've cooked for friends by asking, "Which state do you want to go to?"

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars They're coasting February 8, 2002

By Lawrence W. Prichard

Format:Paperback

Chili Nation, by Jane and Michael Stern has all the appearance of being a quickly put together raid of their (presumably) voluminous files.

Some of the recipes have appeared elsewhere, e.g. "Square Meals."

Many of the chilis are good, and some are very good, but their hearts don't seem to be in it.

John and Matt Lewis Thorne's "Serious Pig" has a better, more thought out section on chili.

This is all right, but just all right.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars I'm a citizen! May 8, 2003

By Andrew S. Rogers TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

I have to admit that I enjoy reading the Sterns' books primarily for their food writing. Even if I never prepared a single recipe out of any of their many titles, I would still value their books and, generally, give them pretty high ratings. In other words, I'm a fan of "food lit."

From that standpoint, this book was a little disappointing, in that it's split fifty-fifty (almost literally, given the fifty states plus D.C.) between recipes and commentary. This utilitarian little guide doesn't have the foodie allure of "Roadfood," which remains, to this point, my favorite Stern book. I readily admit that for most people, though, and especially for chili-heads who may not necessarily be Stern fans, this title has a lot to offer.

Specifically, what it has to offer is chili -- fifty-one recipes ranging from the classic (Massachusetts' Rock-ribbed bean-and-beef chili) to the exotic (Hawaii's Paniolo macadamia nut and chipotle chili) to the, frankly, bizarre (West Virginia's Fried bologna chili). I was expecting Washington to offer some kind of salmon-based chili, and was intrigued to find instead a recipe featuring our other well-known export, coffee. What you won't find is a "basic" chili -- each recipe is an unusual, not to say unique, regional variation on a theme that is left unstated (kind of the "Enigma Variations" of food, I guess).

With all this diversity, there's something for every taste, including vegetarians. Even if you're not a chili-head, it's worth the effort to track down this book and give a few of the selections a try.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic variety of chili recipes February 19, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

If you like chili, then this book is for you! I was amazed at the variety of recipies. You are sure to find several that you like since they differ greatly.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Just Plain Fun! February 3, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

I bought this book on a whim about a year ago, and simply love it. Its both a cultural adventure and a delicious trek accross America. If you are a chili purist, you might have trouble with some of the recipes. If you just like tastey food, you'll love the variety of recipes paying homage to what is arguably our nation's favorite food. The cultural anecdotes preceding the recipes for each state and the District of Columbia are interesting and lend insight into why the ingredients for the recipes were selected. They are fun, easy to make recipes that your family will truly enjoy.

We particularly love the Whistle Stop Chili from Alabama, the Arizona version featuring pork, and the Nebraska Chili Mac and Cheese.

I think you will enjoy this trip across America as much as we did.