By the way, you’re probably not getting many responses to this thread because there are (at last count) about 350 old threads dealing with the topic.
I use that Wick Fowler’s 2 alarm spice mix and pretty much follow those directions/proportions except:
I brown some chopped vidalia onions
I chop and cook up extra jalapenos
I add chili powder—HOT stuff—to taste
I don’t use the masa at all.
Beans? I know what they are, but not in chili…no point in diluting the kick.
Serve with shredded cheese and sour cream on the side.
I won a chili contest with it; they said it was super tasty but too hot. Hey, I left out the jalapenos and extra chili powder…I guess they would have liked some masa or sour cream to cut the heat.
This is a Trader Joe’s recipe; they were sampling this one day while I was shopping and giving out the recipe.
**Trader Joe’s Turkey Chili
Ingredients:**
1 package (about a pound) of ground turkey
2 cans Trader Joe’s Marinated Bean Salad
2 jars Trade Joe’s Three-Pepper Salsa
Various spices
Directions:
Brown the ground turkey; rinse and drain. Add the bean salad (undrained) and the salsa. Then add whatever spices you like. I use chili powder, cumin, salt and then I add some sliced green onion. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes.
Why do so many chili recipes have so many ingredients? Chili is best when it’s simple and made with high quality ingredients.
Do two separate things.
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Get some good beef. Tasty, expensive, local beef if you can. Cut it into cubes. Competition people like them 1/8" by 1/8", I like it coarser. Ground beef is right out. Quickly brown the cubes in some oil (even better: suet) and set them aside. Don’t totally cook them; just brown–or grey–them.
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Make the sauce. The best sauces are really just gravy. Heat 1/4C. oil, sautee onions and garlic, add 1/4C. masa harina (flour is okay, if you don’t want to buy a bag of masa), make a roux. Add 1/4C. pure chile powder (I like 100% ancho chile), then add 3C. stock (chicken, beef, whatever), whisk like mad. Add just a tablespoon or two of other spices while you cook: cumin and mexican oregano, but nothing else. Epazote is pretty good instead of mexican oregano.
If you change your mind and whan enchiladas instead, cook down the gravy and pop the beef cubes.
Otherwise, add the beef to the gravy and let it simmer for a long time. I don’t know how long–just until it’s done. If it’s too loose, add masa to thicken it up. If it’s too thick, add more stock.
Eat.
I’m sure you meant to say "Chili is best when it’s simple and made with high quality ingredients in my opinion. Not everyone will agree with this.
You’re welcome.
Every right-thinking person will, however. 
When I am God-Emperor, putting weird shit in chili will be punishable by death. You can still cook the stuff. You just can’t sully the name of chili with things like squid, corn, carrots, or chicken. Because I am ecumenical at heart, I will allow the addition of beans if the cook gives up their right to breed in exchange.
Note: Cincinnati chili is exempt from these edicts. It ain’t a bowl of red, but a good 5-way is a Blessing and is to be Respected.
One of my roommates last year was from Cincinnati, and he made us some 5-way. Yum!
Yeah, I have to say that odd things in chili give me pause. I’ve seen people put hot dogs and Italian sausage in chili, and things like celery and carrots just don’t seem to be part of Mexican cuisine. But I try to take the high road by just saying, “oh my, isn’t that an interesting recipe?”, which is just short of saying “well, bless your heart.” That said, I have no quarrel with beans and tomatoes, although I don’t like kidney beans (other than Louisiana red beans like Camelia). And the more complex the spice mix, the deeper the flavor, IMO.
This is my own hybrid recipe, that contains man non-canon elements, but it’s without a doubt the nicest chilli I’ve ever tasted, though I do say so myself.
Ingredients
* 1 tbsp olive oil
* 2 medium onions/1 big one
* 4 in chorizo, roughly chopped
* 2 heaped tbsps cumin
* 1 tbsp turmeric
* 2 tsps ground black pepper
* 1 lb ground beef
* 1/2 12oz can beer (optional - drink the other half while you cook)
* 1 can chopped tomatoes
* 1 tube/small can tomato paste
* Hickory smoke barbecue spray (optional)
* 1/2 small jar jalapeno pepper slices, roughly chopped
* 2 oz 70%+ cocoa chocolate (85% Lindt is best)
* 1-2 tbsp sour cream/creme fraiche
* 2-3 tbsp lime juice
* Pinches of salt
* 1 tin kidney beans (optional)
* Big sprig of roughly chopped coriander leaf (optional)
Method
Chop and fry onions in the olive oil on a medium heat until browning, then fry at a higher heat with chorizo, cumin, turmeric, pepper, for another few minutes stirring all the time. Then add the beef, breaking up the lumps until smooth, then stir in the garlic, cover the pan for a few minutes, and stir occasionally until the meat is browned all over. Uncover and fry off all the residual moisture. Add can of tomatoes, then fill can with water or beer and add that too. Stir thoroughly, then add jalapenos and simmer uncovered for about 1 hour on a low heat, stirring occasionally, then stir in the tomato paste. Add smoke spray, lime juice and salt to taste, and kidney beans (optional). Turn off the heat, and when it’s cooled a bit, put broken chocolate on top of mixture. Replace lid and wait for a few minutes until chocolate has melted. Stir in the choccy thoroughly, then the sour cream, and add more salt and lime juice to taste. Turn off heat and leave for minimum of 2 hours, or better still, put in the fridge and leave for 1-2 days. Reheat gently so you don’t burn the chocolate. At the last minute stir in the coriander, garnish with more, and serve.
Chocolate in chilli - this I have to try 
It’s nothing new, as it is common in mole sauces. It just gives the chili another dimension.
Yeah. It’s not that unusual an addition for the non-purists. You might also find cinnamon (Cincinnati chili, which also often has chocolate/cocoa and allspice) and coffee in chili recipes as well.
I’m not a huge fan of Cincinnati chili, but I’ve never met a chili I didn’t like. I have to say, when I go everything-but-the-kitchen-sink, I do like corn kernels in my chili. It pains me to admit it, but it’s true.
I like Yossarian’s general approach, but I have to say if I’m serving chili for guests, the bean and tomato varieties get more attention, since that’s what we’re used to around here. I remember one day I was at a diner-ish type restaurant in the Loop, and the guy taking orders was talking to another worker about this weird phone call he got: “So this guy calls me asking if our chili contains beans. Chili without beans? Who’s ever heard of such a thing?” I actually explained to him that, in fact, in Texas and on the chili competition circuit, beans in chili is often expressly forbidden. The concept completely blew his mind.
It sounds like you’re feeding an army!!! And it sounds delicious.
I use Carroll Shelby’s little brown bag “kit” most of the time, and then add my own stuff. The kit is the chili powder, corn starch, and salt. I usually add ground beef or steak. I’ve never tried sausage in chili. What kind of sausage do you use? Forgot beans and garlic, which are a must.
I add fresh and canned tomatoes, onions, cheese, bourbon if I’m dolling it up big time, and then serve it with Tostadas or similar.
Wick Fowler and Carroll Shelby both make some pretty good mixes, for amateur cooks. Hell, I’ve been known to use Shelby’s when cooking in the field over a Coleman stove. They both needed a metric shitload more heat, but flavor-wise they aren’t bad.
eta: Amateurs use the mix, not that Wick and Carroll were amateurs. Those guys were GODS.
It was delicious!! And I live with three roommates, and occasionally girlfriends connected with said roommates, so there’s never such a thing as cooking too much food at our place. I did freeze some for later consumption.
The sausage I used was just a 1 lb. bag of sausage that’s available in grocery stores here (McKenzie brand). It’s just an average sweet sausage with a small amount of herbs in it (some sage I think, and maybe one or two other things). It actually adds a lot of interest flavor-wise as opposed to just beef.
There are no beans in chili. If what you are eating has beans in it, then it is a stew, soup, or cassarole. What it ain’t is chili.
Word!
For those of you who can’t abide the beans, what ‘holds’ the chili together and makes it not just “meat sauted with peppers”? silenus, you mentioned that some would find even tomato to be a crime. Is it really then meat, peppers, and spices and nothing else?
For the Orthodox, yes. Meat, chilis, spices and nothing else. Reformed chiliheads accept tomatoes and onions, along with “toppings,” which aren’t really a part of the chili, and therefore not subject to the restrictions of Scripture. Masa is generally accepted by both as a sometimes necessary transgression, and therefore only a venial sin.
Beans are right up there with incest, serial murder and voting Republican as cardinal sins. They are to be served with, not in, chili.
That’s what chili basically is, except it’s not sauteed but rather stewed (well, there is a little sauteeing in there.) Note, “chili con carne” means “chili (peppers) with meat.” The liquid that holds everything together is generally the liquid from the peppers and meat, and a little liquid to keep from burning (you can use anything from stock to beer to water.) The meat and peppers themselves release quite a lot of liquid, if you keep them covered, so you don’t really need much. I use just enough water to keep the chili from burning–it usually ends up being less than an inch. If I use onion (and I always do), I sometimes don’t even had to add any liquid.