Serious Chili Makers Shop Right in the Hot of Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas —  When Randy Williams begins the process of making his award-winning chili, he takes his shopping list of top-secret ingredients to Pendery’s.

The reason: Any serious chili cook-off contender in Texas and beyond knows that the boring, nearly flavorless spices sold elsewhere just don’t cut it.

Pat and Mary Pendery Haggerty own Pendery’s, a nationally known spice maker that has operated within the same half-block for 90 years and has been in business since the late 1800s.

DeWitt Clinton Pendery, Mary Haggerty’s great-grandfather, arrived in Texas in 1870 on a stage back when Fort Worth was an untamed outpost for the U.S. Army.

Pendery started a grocery but it never really took off--that is, until he started supplying chiles and other spicy seasonings exalted by the locals. When the grocery burned down, he began his handling spices alone.

“Obviously, the local people that lived in Fort Worth and the ranchers and the Mexicans living in Texas were eating food and they were putting all the spices in together,” Haggerty said. “But DeWitt put it all together and sold it that way.”

Some may refute the claim, but Haggerty says DeWitt Clinton Pendery is “the inventor of chile powder.”

“DeWitt began selling his blend of ground select chile pods, cumin, oregano and other spices and called it Chiltomaline,” Haggerty said. “He sold it initially via circulars over the stage line.”

Pendery extolled the medicinal benefits of the blend. The circular read: “The health giving properties of hot chile peppers have no equal. They give tone to the alimentary canal, regulating the functions, giving a natural appetite, and promoting health by action of the kidneys, skin and lymphatics.”

Chiltomaline is the original blend, and since that concoction, many others have been created. Pendery’s also sells spaghetti and barbecue sauces, fish and chicken rubs, curry blends, cajun spices, Jamaican jerk blends, meat cures and some dessert blends, among many other seasonings.

The Haggertys took over the business in 1987 and have sales in the seven-figure range, the bulk of which comes from a 95-page pocket-sized catalog featuring all manner of spices and things hot.

For example, Pendery’s sells nearly 20 chile blends, well over 200 salsas and hot sauces--with 6- and 12-month plans for Hot Sauce of the Month Club--and various dried spices and blends numbering in the hundreds. They also sell just about anything related to cooking that can be decorated with a red chile.

Pat Haggerty says Pendery’s supplies restaurants all over the country, chili makers and many area cooks. He says word of mouth is his best advertisement.

“We sell things that are so hot that people come in here and say, ‘I have a brother-in-law or friend and nothing’s ever hot enough for him,’ and they buy something and say ‘I’ll show him,’ ” Pat Haggerty said.

Pendery’s sells all over the world to people who can’t get enough hot in their hot sauce. Pat Haggerty says he’s been doing a lot of business with Las Vegas casinos. But the largest percentage of sales, about 10%, still comes from within Texas, he says.

“We sell peppers that’ll take the top of your head off,” said Pat Haggerty, adding that many customers order basics such as standard black pepper.

Pendery’s carries nearly a dozen varieties of whole, ground and blends of peppercorn.

“The finest black pepper is Tellicherry. It’s so much better than the store-bought version,” Pat Haggerty said. “It’s got a warm full-bodied flavor. You can really tell the difference.”

Williams, who is preparing for the final circuit of Texas chili cook-off competition, drove to Dallas on business with his son and made it a point to do some of his cook-off shopping at the Pendery’s store. He usually orders through the mail.

“I started using Pendery’s about three or four years ago and have had pretty good luck,” he said. “If you watch the people that are consistently placing [in chili cook-off contests], I know they’re buying their spices here.”