Here's What Sets Oklahoma-Style Chili Apart From The Rest

Oklahoma: where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain, where the corn grows as high as an elephant's eye, and where, presumably, some events occur which are unrelated to the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "Oklahoma!" You may have heard of Oklahoma's famous onion burgers, which originated in the Great Depression, but have you heard of Oklahoma-style chili? Honestly, you may have eaten it already, even if you didn't know what it was called: it's basically chili con carne but with beans included.

If you're even vaguely aware of chili as a concept, you already know that this is a matter of some contention. Texas-style chili con carne, often colloquially called a "bowl of red," should not contain beans or any other kind of filler: just stewed beef in a spicy red sauce. (Even using ground beef instead of chunks of chuck roast is pushing it.) Oklahoma-style chili, on the other hand, is a lot more easygoing — you can use beans, ground beef, serve it over Fritos or a hot dog, whatever the heck you want.

It's often hard to track down the exact origin of a dish, especially one that's been around as long as chili. Although it falls within a Hispanic culinary tradition, it's unclear whether chili was actually invented in Mexico — you certainly won't find many restaurants in Mexico serving chili today. There was one fanciful legend of a nun named Sister Mary of Agreda, who, although she never left her convent in Spain, would go into trances and project herself across time and space to preach to Mesoamericans — supposedly, she learned of chili and wrote down the recipe.

Chili was first recorded as showing up in Oklahoma in the 1890s, not long after the fabled "land grab" that resulted in the nickname of the Sooner State. Perhaps it spread upwards from San Antonio, Texas, and its "chili queens," or perhaps it was a more general effect of people crossing the Red River from Texas to Oklahoma. Maybe the more relaxed rules of Oklahoma-style chili was the result of travelers coming in from Cincinnati in the 1920s. Whatever the case may be, we certainly wouldn't want to judge a chili cook-off between Texans and Oklahomans.