Normal Mexican food is more or less similar to Spanish food with hot sauces on the side. Along the way Texans made a difference. Some say it was to cover meat going bad, some say it was to cook the poor cuts of range cattle a long time to tenderize it, some are just plain insulting. But whatever happened, those Mexican hot sauces on the side became essential to what is called Tex-Mex.

You will see I am partial to Tex-Mex more than oriental but then you see the common thread is spicy and hot. I like food that is not hot but I really dislike food that is bland. Food needs be flavorful whether or not it is hot.

That said Mexican dishes range from bland to flavorful but if they are consistently hot that is Tex-Mex not Mexican regardless of what the advertising says.

And on the other hand maybe 25 years ago I went to the historical pony express station in Austin, Texas, which at the time was a restaurant. Early evening the menu was a one price, all you can eat smorgasbord with the beer extra, sort of like a happy hour. You made your own tacos with spicy meat and three levels of hot taco sauce. That was not Tex-Mex but Mexican.

That brings us back to Texas chili. There are as many opinions on what is authentic as there are chiles. No beans, a few beans, ground beef, diced beef, points for hot and points for flavorful. I will not engage in that debate.

I can say those that I have enjoyed the most have first overwhelmed me with the taste before the heat set in and the sweat broke out. And they have always been served with rice so one could have a meal by eating more rice than chili. Consider the chili a sauce for the rice. It allowed one to enjoy the flavor while keeping down the amount of heat one had to ingest.

The upshot is, with rice your entire family, your usual friends, even a block party can enjoy a good chili. Even if you belong a club of chili fanatics everyone can enjoy it.