Benny Binion's chili served at Horseshoe, LV.

Hi Yall!
Does anyone here remember Benny's great chili served at the downstairs Horseshoe coffie shop in Las Vegas. Lots of bowls were served to us Texans during the World Series Of Poker every year. With Benny's passing his chili is no more. I must now try to come as close as I can to making it at home.
Joe

I used to have this recipe, but can't find it now. I recall that the "secret" was to put the browned ground chuck in a blender.

Ahh Gizmo, tha recipe! I found it in a cookbook called Cowboy Cuisine. Benny's buddy Chill Wills gave him the recipe. The recipe was given for the book by one of Benny's sisters. It called for chuck also. The blinder would work but I just have it coarse ground. But...I have it from a good source that, at the Horseshoe, Benny used the serloin not cooked for the late night $2.99 steak special. You had to stand in line to get that baby, it was great!

I have made the chili with chuck and serloin but think my source was correct. I have made it from scratch but now use a shortcut for the recipe, Caroll Shelby chili mix, extra garlic, black pepper, and cumin. I do not use the red pepper that comes in the mix. If you want a layer of greese on top, like it had at the Horseshoe, use some suitt. I just have some serloin with the fat left on coarse ground. It comes close to Benny's. It may take the Las Vegas air to be exactly the same??
Joe

Many moons ago, I had a bowl of red at Binions. It was great. No beans, just meat, kidney suet to give it that authentic greasy haze, and lots of just right chili seasoning.

I've been back to Vegas many times over the years, and always intended to get back to Binions Horseshoe for some of that chili, but, alas, never made it.

Now it's passed into roadfoad history.

Thanks for the post CoastFan!

How did you know it was kidney suet? Yes, it had a magical haze of grease on top. That is an important peice of the recipe puzzle!
Joe

quote:

How did you know it was kidney suet?

PapaJoe8, way back about 1978, when I ate the chili, that part of the recipe was published somewhere, and was represented as one of the key ingredients in any "real authentic" Texas style chili.

It made a believer out of me.

Has anyone a recipe for that chili?

Wow CoastFan! You have a great memory! Boy I wish we could find where that recipe was published.

Michael, I searched all over the net for the recipe. The only place I found anything was in the Cowboy Quisine cookbook (great book by the way!) so I ordered the book. Benny's sister was very nice to give her recolection of the recipe to the auther Montie Montana. It called for 4lbs chili grind chuck, 2 cups suet, 7 pods garlic, 7T chili powder, 3T paprica1 1 1/2t cumin seeds, 1 1/2t salt, and 2t Japanese Chili Pententine. She says to brown rhe meat, add the ingredients and simmer for 4 hours, then add 1 qt, of water and simmer for anouther hour. Hmm, it didnt say to add any water after adding the ingreadients. It needs some. 7 PODS of garlic, thats allot. 7 cloves is I think what she ment? I made it just that way except I added some water early and used 7 cloves of garlic. I couldnt find those the Japanese chili peppers so I used some canned chapoltie peppers. It didn't turn out the way I wanted.

A poker playing friend of mine who has had lots of Benny's chili was coming for a vesit so I decided to make anouther try at the chili. I was in a hurry so I tried a shortcut. I used 2 lbs. coarse ground serloin, a pack of Carol Shelby chili mix (didn't use the red pepper or the massa that comes in the mix), 4 cloves of garlic, half a small can of chipoltie peppers, and 1 T of cumin powder. It turned out great and my frind loved it! Oh, the serloin had some fat on it when it was ground up. If I can find the kidney suet I will try that next, maybe? Shoot... all this is making me real hungry for some chili!!
Joe

Thanks for the information. I might just try it.

My friend Jack, who tested out the shortcut version of Benny's chili has just been made the head guy for all of the WSOP events. Could it have been that eating that Benny's chili was responsible for his sucess? There is allot of history involved. Benny's powers may live on???

If you don't know what the WSOP is, don't start! If you do go, tell Jack that PapaJoe sent you. But do try tha Benny's chili shortcut version.
Joe

The subject on Benny Binion and food at the World Series of Poker came up on the "net poker" thread. If some of you chili puirests want to try making Benny's chili, you could just sub your own favorite chili spices for the Carol Shelby stuff. The amount of fat is a personal taste thing I think. Benny liked for the fat to rise to the top so he used suet. I liked it beter when the fat kinda mingled in so I used some serloin fat. Hey, you could even do a low fat version. Serloin is so lean with no fat that a bit of fat helps IMHO. But..I gave a friend of mine my shortcut Binny Binion recipe. He wanted to make it for his new wife who is not into fatty foods so I told him to just use ground serloin, not fat added. I named it "honeymoon chili". She loved it!
Joe

For anyone interested, a new book has just come out about Benny Binion called "I'll do my own damn killin". It's about his days in Dallas before he moved to Las Vegas. He was famous for his chili and... a few other things.
Joe

Benny Binion is not mentioned much in the writings about chili history, but he should be. Big signs offering "Real Texas Chili" were hung, for many many years, on the outside of the Horsheshoe Casino. Those signs, and the millions of folks who saw them, went a long way twords making chili as popular as it is today. And... I bet over a million bowls of Benny's chili got gobbled up in Las Vegas. I'm responsible for about 50 of them. Thats my read on things anyway.

Oh, that book I mentioned above is writen by Gary Sleeper. No chili recipes in it though. Thats OK, we have Benny's recipe right here at roadfood!
Joe

Update;
Harras bought the Horseshoe Casino and changed the name to Binion's. Now Harras has sold Binion's Casino. The new owners took the chili off the menu at Binion's Coffee Shop. What a shame. All you can get now are some chili beans at the Binion's snack bar. At least they call it chili beans and not chili w/ beans.
Joe

 
This is the recipe for Benny's Horseshoe Chili, with my notes and a few changes. I have made it at least half a dozen times and it always turns out great. Kidney Suet is an essential ingredient to get the orange grease layer on top. If you don't want all the grease, refrigerate overnight and remove the solid disc of fat from the top; when removing all the fat I will usually add an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce afterwards. However, the Chili MUST cook with all that grease, think Chili Confit.
 
 
BENNY BINION’S HORSESHOE CHILI
 
4 lb       Chuck beef, chili grind               [use 3/4” grind plate if available]
2 cups   Suet                                          [8 oz. ground or chopped fine]        
7 pods   Garlic                                        [8 large cloves, pressed or minced]
7T         Chili Powder                              [8T Gebhardt’s brand]  
3T         Paprika                                      [OK]
1-1/2t    Cumin seeds                             [1T ground cumin]
2t          Chili petentine*, (Japanese chiles) crushed      [1T Chiles Japones, dried and ground fine]
1-1/2T   Scant of salt                              [2t to start more if needed]
                                                               [1t ground white pepper]
                                                               [1/2t garlic powder]
 
 
Brown meat and add ingredients. Put a lid on it and simmer for 4 hours. Add 1 quart of water and simmer for 1 hour with the lid off. Skim off the grease (Benny left it in) Serve with pinto beans and crackers. This chili is served at Binion’s Horseshoe in Las Vegas.
 
[Try out the suet until rendered, then add the meat and stir until cooked to an even gray color, no pink left. Add Salt, Garlic, Chili powder, Paprika and Cumin; stir well and place covered pot into a 250° oven for 2-3 hours stirring every hour. Add 1 quart of water, Chiles Japones, white pepper and garlic powder-- raise oven temp to 300°and cook uncovered for 1 hour then adjust seasonings. Cool and refrigerate overnight. Remove about half the grease from the top and stir the rest into the chili.]
 
 
This is the recipe from Montie Montana Jr.’s book, COWBOY CUISINE.
 
*Probably meant Chili Petine, which are smaller and much hotter than the Japanese chiles.
 
My notes and changes are in [brackets]
 

JBE 9/20/09

 

rockets

I will usually add an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce. 

 
OOOOh the wrong thing to say when posting a texas red recipe  Thanks for posting the original, I'd probably make it just as it was originally intended, just start with less salt as you indicated, and use a good quality Ancho chili powder for the 7T chili powder.  
 
 

 
Rod,
I know the tomato sauce is a sop to modern tastes but so is removing all the grease. That Chili was based on a Depression Era Jailhouse recipe. Rumor has it that Benny fired a cook for skimming the grease; "if it ain't greasy it ain't good" he would always tell them. Hope you enjoy the recipe, the ingredients shouldn't be hard to get in Bangkok.  BTW, here's a real authentic Texas Red that also calls for beans, go figure.
 
  
Texas Jailhouse Chili
Sheriff Smoot Schmid, Dallas County Jail 1936 

 

1/2 pound beef suet -- ground

2 pounds coarse ground beef

3 garlic cloves -- minced

1 1/2 tablespoons paprika

3 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon white pepper

1 1/2 teaspoons ground dried sweet chile pods

3 cups water  

Fry suet in a heavy kettle. Add meat, finely diced garlic and seasonings; cover. Cook slowly for four hours, stirring occasionally. Add the water and continue cooking until the chili has thickened slightly, about one hour. Serve plain or mixed with equal portion of cooked pink or red beans.  

<message edited by rockets on Thu, 07/19/12 5:53 AM>

Little known fact, but Benny Binion farted himself to death after eating his chili. According to doctors, farting yourself to death is actually quite painful and not an easy passing.