HUNGRY GERALD

Last month, as a hurricane approached HG/BSK’s Prince Edward Island oceanfront home, BSK made a big pot of chili. It was enough for two days of dinners and lunches, helpful if electricity ceased (gas range and oven could warm the chili). BSK used a Rich Bayless mix (not as good as the Wick Fowler “Five Alarm Chili” mix). A few nights ago, with snow flurries in the future, BSK made another abundant pot of chili, a sure cure for the chills. This time, BSK had no packaged mix but used BSK’s imaginative combination of tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, cumin, masa flour, canola oil and big spoonfuls of spicy chili powder to flavor the simmering chopped beef. The chili was a blast from the past. BSK had produced an authentic “bowl o’ red”, the lusty dish (always served with chopped onions and salty oyster crackers) that was a fixture of diners and “coffee shops” in yesteryear New York. HG topped his PEI bowl with onions plus grated cheddar and sliced avocado. Bliss. Many, many decades ago when HG was a financially limited New York journalist, HG would often patronize a small chili restaurant beneath the Third Avenue Elevated train (This was before the El’s demolition and the resultant construction that made Third Avenue fashionable. When the El thundered above, the avenue was lined with tenements and the street fronts housed Irish saloons, pawn shops, antique stores and cheap restaurants). The chili eatery served its fiery chili Texas-style (without beans), or with beans. The chili could be poured over rice or spaghetti if desired. HG would opt for Texas style chili over spaghetti. A very big bowl cost 25 cents, a filling, warming, affordable culinary treasure.