When did Americans appropriate the term "Chili con Carne" and think it meant beef? It's just meat. In many places chili or chile is made with pork usually cut in chunks. In New Mexico a bowl of chile was referred to as a bowl of red or a bowl of green. Typically it did not have beans. It was a long-cooked flavorful pork, and heat was applied either with fresh roasted green chiles or slurry made from soaked dry red chile pods. A pot of beans was a separate thing, at least among my cohort. It also would be flavored with pork. If memory serves, we would sometimes make a dish that used beef and potatoes. It was called Green Chile beef stew. Also no beans.
I know there's a Texas faction that faithfully clings to the concept of chili as a no-beans thing. I'm not a Texan, so I have no opinion about that. Growing up in the Northeast I alway thought of "Chili con Carne" as an Americanized hodgepodge, often using ground beef, beans and a kitchen sink full of stuff. I associated it with pot lucks, college dorms, football games. Often it was sprinkled before serving with some kind of grated American cheese or maybe cheddar. Heat level came from the under or over use of any kind of available ground chile powder. If you ordered it in a diner it would come with saltines. Of course in New Mexico and other southwestern regions it was always served o[with warm tortillas.
Oops, forgot to mention later interventions like Firehouse Chili and Firehouse Chili Gumbo. Firehouse chili is supposed to be SMOKY. Firehouse chili gumbo is a kitchen sink explosion of meats, beans, ketchup, vegetables and Louisiana spices using a roux. Hard to imagine, truly.
