Original San Antonio Chili... Yankee-Style Recipe

As an Italian-American, I'm not starving for culinary or cultural heritage, but I love Texas and its food. Still, when making chili, I usually exhibit Yankee pride and do my own thing. That means not just beans, but a variety of beans, beer, and tomatoes. Meat? At least three kinds. For Recipe SWAT Team: Chili, I returned to chili's origins. The Yankee may have out-Texaned The Daily Meal's Texans this time. Chili was supposedly invented by the Spanish Canary Islanders who founded San Antonio. Then, chili was dried beef, suet, dried chili peppers, and salt. As Robb Walsh noted, "Chili con carne was introduced to America by the 'Chili Queens,' women who served food in San Antonio's Military Plaza as early as the 1860s. Chili stands.... were the taco trucks of the 1800s." It's generally accepted that in 1893, the "San Antonio Chili Stand," at the Colombian Exposition in Chicago exposed America to chili. It may be impossible to find the original recipe, but in 2004, NPR published a recipe, #1 Original San Antonio Chili from the research library of the Institute for Texan Cultures. I've been known to add a flourish, and I couldn't help one here (substituting pork belly for suet and pork fat), but following instructions resulted in a chili I'd pass on to friends. Here you go.