Mi Tierra likes to simmer its chilli for four hours, but after one I'm too hungry to wait.

BBC: The perfect chilli con carne in the heart of Texas

Because this is Mi Tierra, that bowl has a capacity of 12lb.

BBC: The perfect chilli con carne in the heart of Texas

This, I realise, is how most chilli is now eaten: Mi Tierra's extensive menu only features it served inside or on top of something else, and buried under Monterey Jack.

BBC: The perfect chilli con carne in the heart of Texas

There's only one place to go for the fully evolved Tex-Mex genus: across town to Mi Tierra, more of a civic institution than a restaurant, run by the same family since 1941 and currently putting sauce-rimmed smiles on over a million faces a year.

BBC: The perfect chilli con carne in the heart of Texas

The market square outside Mi Tierra is suddenly alive with noise, colour and the aroma of muscular street food: the city is out in force to celebrate its Hispanic chilli queens, whose saucy banter and impromptu singalongs made every night a street party - until the 1930s, when the civic authorities despaired of their ribaldry and laissez-faire approach to food hygiene.

BBC: The perfect chilli con carne in the heart of Texas