I just made a huge batch yesterday. We’ll freeze a good bit of it. I always use 4 envelopes of the McCormick HOT chili envelopes as a base, then add my own spices to it, like chili powder, cayenne, tabasco. I always use light and dark kidney beans, because the different colors look nice. It’s always delicious.
1 tbsp is more the way I roll. You can never have too much cumin in chili. Of course you have a point - it does depend on what the makeup of the chili powder is. And whether it is “chili powder” or “powdered chilis.”
I’m not making any value judgements. I’ve had chili, chili mac, veggie chili, chili verde and every other conceivable mixture of cubed meat, ground meat, no meat, peppers, tomato, pinto beans, kidney beans, etc, imaginable.
They were all good and if the cook wanted to call it “chili” then I smiled and enjoyed my chili.
*Priya: Would you like some homemade chili?
Sheldon Cooper: Are there beans in it?
Priya: Yes?
Sheldon Cooper: Then it’s not chili. Real chili has no beans in it, but you’re from a foreign land, so your ignorance is forgiven.
[Sheldon tries some of Priya’s chili]
Sheldon Cooper: Mmmm, this is good… whatever it is.* 
Sure. If it’s just pure chiles, you definitely need to add more than 1 tsp.
(Emphasis mine)
Kidney beans are the bane of chili everywhere! If you absolutely MUST add beans (illegal in Texas*!), at least use something more savory than sweet kidney beans. You might as well use lima beans!
*In Texas, the only time you add beans to chili is when unexpected company comes over at dinner time and you need to stretch servings. Or when you are a furriner.
Nah. If you have to have beans in chili, kidney beans are the way to go. The wife uses both pink and red kidney beans in hers, and it’s delicious.
I often use black beans. Just makes it look cool. Lol.
Oh, I missed this. Listen to the man. Gephardt’s is it!
Yeah, beans in chili can start a shooting war. Personally, I don’t like beans in chili. I’d prefer not to have ground beef in it either, wanting chunks of beef instead. But the fact is, every restaurant I’ve been to that I can remember had beans in its chili. (I only get chili at restaurants if I’m having a chili size, chili dog, or chili fries; except for the rare cup as a side-dish with whatever it is I’m really eating.) It’s either good, or not particularly good. I’ve noticed that in Seattle a lot of places have to put their ‘signature’ on chili, tarting it up with ingredients that sound good, and are good for people who were brought up in places where Mexican food is not a staple of everyday life, but make for something almost unrecognisable to the rest of us. Mrs. L.A., who is also a Southern California native, makes ‘chili’ by pouring various cans of vegetables, Rotel salsa, and a couple of cans of chili into a pot. I call it ‘chili soup’.
At the end of the day there are four kinds of chili: The Best Chili In The World that you make yourself because nobody else can do it like you do, The Best Chili In The World from that one hole-in-the-wall restaurant where you used to live, chili that’s good but nowhere near as good as the previous two, and the stuff in the cans. Most of them are good, very good, or excellent – even if they have beans. While I’ll insist chili should have no beans and raise my spoon in a warlike manner, I just like chili. I’m still working on my recipe, and it’s going to be a while before I can make a ‘bowl of red’ I’m really proud of. (A thank-you to Saint Cad who started a chili colorado thread, where I’m getting valuable tips.) In the meantime, I’ll enjoy canned chili when I make pepper bellies (‘Frito pie’ outside of the Antelope Valley), the ‘Darn Good’ Chili that started this thread, restaurant chili, and The Missus’s ‘chili soup’.
Oh, damn. This is turning into one of THOSE chili threads…
Thanks for the affirmation of the basic procedure, puly. And too much cumin in anything makes me feel like I’m licking an Israeli ironworker’s armpits.
While I generally prefer eating pinto beans in general, I blushingly admit to using kidneys in chili for the color-coordination. I use so much chili (and so little tomato) that the brick-red meat and gravy match the kidney beans.
OK, now that’s weird…
The link in the OP was to Amazon. Now it’s changed to Walmart. I remember, because the Amazon link was for a package of six. Also, I never shop at Wal-Mart unless I absolutely have to.
Now see what you’ve gone and done Johnny L.A.. You’ve restarted the Chili War!!
Jacob Goldman: [Max and Jacob are watching TV when the dog passes gas] UGH! What are you feeding this dog?
Max Goldman: Hormel Chili.
Jacob Goldman: [grimacing] Whoo!
Max Goldman: He likes it.
Wrong thread