EMERGENCY! 5 Alarm Chili

The problem with my mother is that she has no recipes written down (well, it is the cooking problem with my mother, anyway). I have tried for years to make Thanksgiving dinner just the way she does with mixed results. She cooks by sight and feel, not by written words. I admire this except when it comes to recreating what she does. I often wonder if  she's being proprietary or simply can't remember or just doesn't know. And, it ts ironic that my first guest submission to this blog would be from someone who doesn't know I am a food blogger. So, my mother's chili. First, there is a secret ingredient : Mr. and Mrs. T's bloody mary mix. I know this because I was there 30 years ago when necessity, and my mother of invention, was making chili and lacked some of the basic seasonings, but had bloody mary mix on hand (of course, a staple in our house). Voila! Her famous chili recipe was born. The rest of the ingredients, or at least the proportions remain in question, but for the most part she has made chili this way ever since. It's good, too. Oddly, I yearn for a shot of vodka and a celery stalk instead of crackers when eating it, but otherwise my favorite chili.

"EH ER AH Squad 51":  EMERGENCY! an Adam-12 spinoff combining hospital drama and with the action of paramedic rescue. Starring Randolph Mantooth (what a great stage name) and Kevin Tighe (John and Roy - the Paramedics), Bobby Troup and Robert Fuller (the doctors), and Julie London (as Nurse Dixie McCall).  The stories always started with a 911 call to the firestation and Squad 51 would be dispatched to a burning chemical factory about to blow that had a bus full of school children trapped inside. Then, after the daring rescue, they would whisk the victims to Rampart General where the crack medical team would take over and perform grueling 10 hour surgery. John and Roy would always hang out at the hospital to see the outcome and make time with Dixie. No matter how serious the accident or injury, each episode always ended with a bit of comic relief, usually surrounding John and Roy's buddy Chet, who was always back at the fire station cooking up something in the kitchen.



The Recipe:

Ground beef
Kidney beans
Stewed tomatoes
Mr and Mrs Ts Bloody Mary Mix
(you be the judge on the amounts)


So here's the rub - there isn't one. Brown the beef, add the beans, stewed tomatoes and the Mr and Mrs Ts to taste. Cook until it's done. Serve however many you like.