I should have gone to culinary school

[tribdog]

I have no skill whatsoever at cooking. I can't leave things alone. Tonight I was making the good ol' poor man dinner of macaroni and cheese, but it just didn't sound filling enough so I went ahead and threw a can of chili in there. I won't say it is inedible, but for future reference to anyone out there, there is probably a better way to make something worthy of the name "food."
Isn't there something called "chili mac" why does mine suck?

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Chili mac is poor man food and not necessarily very good. you need to add the cheese powder to the chili and then add a bit of milk to keep it from being too salty. If you add the full quantity of milk and butter it will wind up soupy and weak. You also need to use a decent chili. Denisons is crap, and I think Hormel is too though I am having trouble remembering which brand is which at the moment. Stagg is usually pretty decent. I can't remember the name of the brand I normally use though.


inb4 turbo explaining how to make homemade chili mac ;-p

 

[lisab]

Nalley's is OK, a filling meal on short notice. They even have a vegetarian version that's not too bad (I can't get comfortable with eating canned meat ).

I realize there are chili purists here who will freak out at the notion of chili from a can...hmm, I'm sure the chili-ista will be posting soon...oh look at the time, I got to go...!

 

[GeorginaS]

All of that sounds beyond hideous. That SA has actual tried-and-true instructions for this is even more frightening. Add the orange powder to the chili first. Oh my. Then again, it almost sounds like Hamburger Helper.

 

[Evo]

One word - Armour canned chili without beans. Okay, that's not one word, shoot me.

When I'm vomiting, eating a can of this is the only way to cure the nausea. A glop of sour cream on top is even better.

Culinary hint, a glop of sour cream on day old spaghetti is to die for.

 

[GeorginaS]

When I'm vomiting, I eat this.

Why does that not sound like a really good endorsement?

 

[turbo]

When I'm vomiting, I eat this.

Why does that not sound like a really good endorsement?

If you accept any health advice from Evo, you deserve exactly what you get!

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

If you accept any health advice from Evo, you deserve exactly what you get!

I'm disappointed. No tips for homemade chili mac?

 

[lisab]

Lol...one of my early weird food memories is camping with my family when I was about 6 or 7. I came down with food poisoning or something...sick as a dog! But of course that didn't stop my family from going on the scheduled outing, they just left me behind in the tent. Oh sure I'd have to stagger out to throw up in the bushes from time to time , but whatever.

Well after several hours I felt a lot better...and I was **hungry**. I scavenged through the food locker...found Vienna sausages! Omg, so delicious when you're that hungry!

can't stand the thought of eating them now...ugh...

 

[dlgoff]

Omg, so delicious when you're that hungry!

I know what you mean. I tried to survive off the land in northern Arkansas once. After the second week of not so good fishing, I was trying to dead-fall chip monks. Looked like steak to me.

 

[Proton Soup]

if you like carbs with your chili, it goes really well over french fries. some people also like Fritos.

mac n cheese is just nasty tho. how do you people eat that?

 

[Evo]

if you like carbs with your chili, it goes really well over french fries. some people also like Fritos.

mac n cheese is just nasty tho. how do you people eat that?

Mmmmm, Frito's and chili.

If you are ever really, really hungry, Kraft mac n cheese is good. But it has to be just cooked and hot. Once it cools and sticks together...

 

[Cyrus]

I've never been a fan of eating anything that looks the same going in as it does coming out.

 

[Moonbear]

I've never been a fan of eating anything that looks the same going in as it does coming out.

Like Lisa, I can't find anything appetizing about meat from a can. Sure, I'll feed it to the cat, and she seems to think it's pretty good, but cat food usually smells better than the chili in a can for humans.

Somehow, mixing it all together with the orange cheese sauce doesn't sound like an improvement. I can only suggest, if you insist on trying it again, perhaps layering instead of mixing? Pasta on the bottom, chili in the middle, cheese sauce on top.

I could also suggest some substitutions...replace the pasta with nacho chips, the chili from a can with real chili (if you can't cook chili yourself, even the chili you can get from Wendy's is better than the chili from a can), slice some cheddar and jalapeno jack cheese on top instead of cheese sauce. If you like olives or more jalapeno, sprinkle some of them on top. Put it in the oven until the cheese melts. Pour on some salsa, guacamole, and a big dollop of sour cream. Serve with a chilled beer.

They serve chili over pasta in Cincinnati, and I can't think of a nastier combination really.

 

[Equate]

I've never been a fan of eating anything that looks the same going in as it does coming out.

Yeah, like Mexican food, it's all crap.


And then the other day I listened to an elderly lady (whose opinion I usually value very much) suggested to go to "Family Dollar" and buy HUNTS spaghetti sauce and their store brand of apple juice. Each is about $1.- each.

DO NOT BUY - be warned! Atrocious.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Yeah, like Mexican food, it's all crap.


And then the other day I listened to an elderly lady (whose opinion I usually value very much) suggested to go to "Family Dollar" and buy HUNTS spaghetti sauce and their store brand of apple juice. Each is about $1.- each.

DO NOT BUY - be warned! Atrocious.

Hey! Mexican food is great. Where do you live? Maybe you are not getting decent mexican food. Being from Southern California I take it for granted I guess; I have heard that they have horrible immitations elsewhere.

And yeah, cheap food is usually cheap for a reason. I generally look for the half way decent stuff that is on sale.

 

[Equate]

Maybe you are not getting decent mexican food.

One would think I should since I live in El Paso, TX, just a couple of miles from the Mexican Border.

Don't get me wrong, I know people who make great Mexican food, but that usually involves hard labor and great care in preparing it. When a cook puts his/her heart into it, 99% of the time the dish is fantastic.

The average Mexican restaurant here is an entirely different story though. Every dish seems to be dominated by a glob of re-fried beans, a bunch of rice, and an enchilada that tastes like toilette paper. Half-heartedly prepared salsa along with cheap tostadas complement every dish - any flavor of "PACE Picante Sauce" would be better. And the wait staff is usually grumpy and unfriendly to top it all off.

Mexican food does have great potential. If done right.

Just seems as if the restaurants in this piece of crap city I'm living in don't give a rat's a** about there clientel. They figure "there are a gazillion Mexicans living around here that come to our joint every day, no matter what we serve them". And they are right.

I should move.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

One would think I should since I live in El Paso, TX, just a couple of miles from the Mexican Border.

Evo lives in TX and says its hard to find decent authentic Mexican food. It seems strange. Maybe its just the way texans are.

Around here there are plenty of cheap hole-in-the-wall places that really aren't that great but I think they are better than a hamburger joint any day. Occasionally I have found a good one with really tasty food though. I found the most amazing al pastor burrito at a taqueria in Dana Point. I've been trying to find a place that is as good ever since.

 

[turbo]

I had some really good Mexican food in a shabby-looking place in San Antonio, but the very best was a strung-together collection of shacks on the causeway between Tampa and St Petersburg. Fantastic food, and cheap.

 

[Evo]

Evo lives in TX and says its hard to find decent authentic Mexican food. It seems strange. Maybe its just the way texans are.

Texas has Tex-Mex, which is great, but not recognizable as true Mexican.

I'd say anyone that has eaten Mexican food in the US has not eaten real Mexican food. You just will not find it in the US, no matter how much you want to believe it.

 

[lisab]

Texas has Tex-Mex, which is great, but not recognizable as true Mexican.

I'd say anyone that has eaten Mexican food in the US has not eaten real Mexican food. You just will not find it in the US, no matter how much you want to believe it.

I would have argued that point years ago...then I went to Mexico. Wow...just, wow. Well granted, we were in a touristy place (Cabo San Lucas), but we found some back streets places too...fantastic, everywhere we went. Best seafood I've ever had.

And no, haven't been able to find food like that in the US, even in the border states.

 

[turbo]

Texas has Tex-Mex, which is great, but not recognizable as true Mexican.

I'd say anyone that has eaten Mexican food in the US has not eaten real Mexican food. You just will not find it in the US, no matter how much you want to believe it.

The place on the causeway had fish dishes with fruits, etc, as well as the typical TexMex stuff. I don't know how authentic it was, but I remember how good it was.