Date I made this recipe:
January 18, 2014 (Screen Actors Guild Awards)
Celebrity Recipes
compiled by Helen Dunn
Published by: Grayson
Publishing Corp.
© 1958 (October, 1958)
Recipe: Walt Disney's Chili and Beans – p. 54
Before we get into the gist of this recipe and this book, a
word about the cover: zzzzzzzzz. Boring.
Really boring. (As was the recipe, but we'll get to that.) I suspect the black and gold print on a cream
page is supposed to convey elegance or "celebrity," but I must say,
it's one of the most "vanilla" covers I've ever seen. And as someone with over 1800 cookbooks, I've
seen a lot.
I selected this cookbook to pay homage to the start of the
Hollywood movie and TV award season, starting with the Golden Globes and ending with the big daddy of them all, The Oscars, in early March. And you would think that a book titled Celebrity Recipes would feature all the
Hollywood heavyweights that (some of us) know
and love but it turned out that the name was a misnomer.
In 1958, the year this book was published, many more people
than the Hollywood actors and actresses we've
come to know, were considered celebrities.
In fact, the back of the book gives us a short list: President Dwight D. Eisenhower (34th
President of the U.S. just
before Kennedy was elected); Her Majesty, Queen Frederica of Greece (Greece
did away with its monarchy in 1967 after a military coup.); Prince Aly Kahn
(who married Hollywood star, Rita Hayworth); J. Edgar Hoover (head of the FBI)
and so on. In other words, no
Kardashians, no Miley Cyrus, no Real Housewives of [insert city name here], and
no to anybody who is currently making a spectacle of herself/himself in Hollywood (and that field
is wide open. Wide.). This book does contain recipes of some actors
and actresses but they were people who were at the top echelon of Hollywood
back in its heyday like Arthur Godfrey, Rock Hudson or even the contributor of
today's recipe, Walt Disney.
Before we get to Walt, let me just point out that I should
have been included in this book. It was
published in October, 1958, and I was born that month and obviously would have merited
a recipe mention or two had I not been just days old (celebrity newborns are
rare). As my dad would say: "Story of my life: a day late, and a dollar short."
Okay, on to Mr. Walt Disney.
When I was growing up, just about every significant movie of my
childhood was produced by Disney Studios.
Walt Disney, former animator turned magnate ruled the world. Here's just a small sampling of Disney
movies:
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
- Pinocchio (1940)
- Fantasia (1940)
- Dumbo (1941)
- Bambi (1942)
- Cinderella (1950)
- Peter Pan (1953)
- Lady and the Tramp (1955)
- Old Yeller (1957)
- Sleeping Beauty (1959)
And on and on and on. And then in 1964, Disney produced Mary Poppins, one of my favorites, and
wouldn't you know the (sanitized) story of how that movie was made is now a
popular movie, Saving Mr. Banks. I haven't seen this movie yet but it's the
story of how Walt Disney worked with Mary Poppins' author, P.L. Travers, to
create the memorable movie version, featuring a significant amount of animation,
of Travers' book. Tom Hanks stars as Walt Disney and British actress, Emma
Thompson, played P. (Pamela) L. Travers.
I've read that in real life, P.L. Travers was so angry about how the
1964 movie turned out that refused to have any other of her Mary Poppins books made into a
movie. So...all was not well in the Magic Kingdom.
And speaking of the Magic
Kingdom, Walt was also instrumental in
building Disneyland. Until Disney World was built (1971),
Disneyland (built in 1955) in Anaheim,
California, was THE place to
visit. There was not a kid I knew
growing up who wouldn't have killed to go there but alas, the cost of a trip to
California
was beyond most families' reach. We were
lucky to go there in 1973 and even though I was a bit older, it was still
magical.
One of the attractions at Disneyland
that made me positively giddy was the "It's a Small World" ride. That 1973 California visit was not the first time I
saw "It's a Small World" as my parents took me through that ride at
the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair.
Thereafter, many relatives sent me "It's A Small World" dolls
as birthday and Christmas presents; I just recently discovered that my mother
had saved them all for me. I want you to
know that to this day, I can still sing along with the theme song: "It's a world of laughter, a world of
tears, it's a world of hope, it's a world of fears, there's so much that we
share, that it's time we're aware, it's a small world after all.... [EVERYBODY!]
It's a small world after all....."
(Let me just say that one of the other rides I looked
forward to the most, Autopia, where you got to drive your own little car on a
track, provided insight into how my dad and I would do in a car for real when
it came time for me to take Driver's Ed.
Hint: not good!)
For that song alone – "It's a Small World" - Walt Disney was a genius. But alas, while his movies were outstanding
and the idea for Disneyland and Disney World
was genius, (and he even sponsored several Disney TV shows), this chili recipe
fell short. In fact, it is the only
chili to date that I've ever made that had no flavor. None.
And I'm puzzled as to why.
The basic recipe calls for three spices: paprika, dry mustard and chili powder. So I added them and tasted
and....nothing. I added salt and pepper
(not called for in the recipe) and...still nothing. Walt suggested that if I wanted a more spicy
chili I could add other spices from an "optional" list so I did: cumin, cinnamon, dry ginger and....oh for
God's sake! Still bland.
An even worse problem was the great abundance of liquid that
turned this recipe more soupy than a stand-a-spoon-in-it thick chili and I'm
not sure if that was the intent. To
start the recipe, you need to simmer the beans with onions in water and
although I read and re-read the recipe, it never said to drain that water but
drain I did! I drained out a significant
amount of liquid before adding all the additional "spicier" spices
but by this time I think the recipe had just derailed and there was nothing I
could do about it. It wasn't bad chili,
it just wasn't that great. And what is
more interesting is that Walt likely obtained the recipe for this chili while
in Mexico! Now granted, many people think that Mexican food
is overly spicy and not all of it is, but I wouldn't have minded a tiny bit of
tongue-singe here and there.
The other critical thing you need to know about this recipe
besides the fact that it (in my opinion) doesn't have much flavor, is that you
must be prepared to devote hours to making it.
The beans have to soak overnight.
The next day, you are to simmer the beans for four hours, then make your
sauce mixture and simmer than for an hour and then add that to the beans and
simmer for one-half hour more. Good
thing I could dedicate a day to making this recipe because it took about that
long. I'm willing to bet that a master
animator like Walt could get the illustrations done in far less time than it
took me to make his chili!
Chili and Beans – serving
size unknown but half a recipe still makes a lot!
2 pounds coarse ground beef
½ cup oil
2 onions, sliced
1 cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp dry mustard
2 lbs dry pink beans
1 large can solid pack tomatoes
1 tsp chili powder, or to taste
Soak beans over night in cold water. Drain. Put in pot with water to cover, about 2
inches above beans and simmer with onions until tender – about four hours. (Ann's Note:
unless you want really soupy chili and beans, drain most of the water).
For the sauce, brown the meat and garlic together in
oil. Add other ingredients and simmer
for one hour. When beans are tender, add
sauce and simmer for one-half hour more.
For spicy Chili and Beans, add a pinch of: coriander seeds, tumeric, chili seeds, cumin
seeds, fennel seeds, cloves, cinnammon, dry ginger and a little yellow Mexican
chili pepper.
No comments:
Post a Comment