# Let's all have a seat, crack open a beer, and talk about chili. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** beer\ **Created:** [March 10, 2018, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-have-a-seat-crack-open-a-beer-and-talk-about-chili/810347 "2018-03-10T17:47:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2018, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-have-a-seat-crack-open-a-beer-and-talk-about-chili/810347/81 "2018-03-11T21:16:44Z")
> [@Lancia](#): > > and Snap-e-Tom for the liquid. I was rather startled at the ingredient list because here [Snappy Tom](http://www.snappytom.com.au/)is a top selling brand of cat food! :eek: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2018, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-have-a-seat-crack-open-a-beer-and-talk-about-chili/810347/82 "2018-03-11T21:27:34Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > I was rather startled at the ingredient list because here [Snappy Tom](http://www.snappytom.com.au/)is a top selling brand of cat food! :eek: 😃 I was surprised the first time I saw Chihuahua cheese on a menu. Interesting recipe, pulykamell. So that’s a kind of white chili? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2018, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-have-a-seat-crack-open-a-beer-and-talk-about-chili/810347/83 "2018-03-11T22:16:00Z")
> [@jerez](#): > > I was surprised the first time I saw Chihuahua cheese on a menu. > > Interesting recipe, pulykamell. So that’s a kind of white chili? Once you get away from Texas reds, pretty much anything goes as chili. But, yes, in my experience white chilis tend to be chicken/poultry, but this one has pork, the other white meat. The commonality seems to be lack or minimal use of red pepper, use of fresh green hot peppers, and white beans. ---
**Author:** ![Lubricious\_Integument](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@Lubricious\_Integument](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lubricious_Integument)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2018, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-have-a-seat-crack-open-a-beer-and-talk-about-chili/810347/84 "2018-03-11T22:16:18Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > 1. Heathen. > > 1a. Kidney beans. Pinquito if you can find them. Goya makes them both dried and canned. > > 1. Beer adds _some_ flavor to the chili, but it’s really just an excuse to “add a little, drink a little.” There isn’t enough alcohol to make a difference one way or the other. > > 2. Since you’ve already admitted that you aren’t making chili, but rather a “chili-like substance,” then add crushed tomatoes. If the pieces are too big for your tastes, crush them finer with your hands before adding to the pot. > > 3. McCormick? Get a rope. > 4a. At the very least, step up your game to Gebhardt’s. Then go nuts. Garlic, cumin, dried chilis (I like guajillo myself), cumin, Mexican oregano, cumin, onion powder, cumin, Chipotles in adobo, cumin. > > 4. Adjust the heat level by adding Aleppo chili flakes or dried chili flakes to the pot in stages if the dried peppers in your spicing aren’t bringing enough heat. > > 5. Thicken as necessary by adding finely crushed tortilla chips to the pot. That is the easiest way to get masa in a deliverable form. It is rare for a chili snob to advocate FOR beans but AGAINST tomatoes. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2018, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-have-a-seat-crack-open-a-beer-and-talk-about-chili/810347/85 "2018-03-11T22:25:45Z")
I am large - I contain multitudes. 😃 But for the record, that wasn’t advocating _for_ beans. The OP stated right from the get-go that beans were going to be included. The question then became “What kind are best?” Sort of like “Vacation” versus “Vacation with the kids.” When kids (beans) have to be included, purity and perfection cease to be goals. The objective turns into “minimize the scarring.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2018, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-have-a-seat-crack-open-a-beer-and-talk-about-chili/810347/86 "2018-03-11T23:41:55Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > That looks very good pulykamell. But my idea of chili is that it’s a meal in itself. The beans and tomatoes and other veggies round it out. Just like a good soup. For myself, a bowl of beef does not constitute a meal. Do you serve it with sides? Perhaps that’s the sticking point for me. Chili, to me, is a meal in itself. Yeah, when I’m doing Texas red for myself, I have other things to go with it. I’ll usually have it with some corn tortillas or cornbread, and usually some cheese and sour cream on the side. But it’s not quite as much of a healthy, balanced “all food groups represented” sort of meal as the beans & vegetables styles. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-have-a-seat-crack-open-a-beer-and-talk-about-chili/810347/87 "2018-03-12T00:27:06Z")
Thanks for all the replies, all. I came here hoping to find a few tips to incorporate into one wonderful dish, but instead you’ve all given me a number of different ideas I want to try. I think I’m going to make a few different batches before the actual competition (which is a just a neighborhood thing, it has no rules and is just for fun). As a few people noted it freezes well. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-have-a-seat-crack-open-a-beer-and-talk-about-chili/810347/88 "2018-03-12T00:50:36Z")
**Silenus** is correct, a saltine cracker is the best accompaniment…at least for a Yankee chili like mine. Tortillas don’t make it for me. Chili snobs reject beans first, but also tomato, and finally onion. The latter two add too much sweetness and liquid. John Thorne says the only vital ingredients are meat, chile, some liquid, and garlic. See his brilliant essay “Just Another Bowl of Texas Red,” in SERIOUS PIG, North Point Press, 1996. This is a book every serious American cook should own…in addition to the chili essay it includes equally perceptive long essays on chowder; New England baked beans; rice and beans; and barbecue. And shorter pieces on things like dirty rice, _gumbo z’herbes_, fried potatoes, greasy roadside hamburgers, toll house cookies, etc. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-have-a-seat-crack-open-a-beer-and-talk-about-chili/810347/89 "2018-03-12T01:02:58Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > The latter two add too much sweetness and liquid. John Thorne says the only vital ingredients are meat, chile, some liquid, and garlic. Well, duh, that’s why you use the onions. For the liquid! 🙂 And then only use as little broth as possible, if any. But, more seriously, yes, that’s the ultra-purist version of chili I’ve seen and made. I certainly will not disagree that all that is needed for chili is “meat, chile, some liquid, and garlic.” I think the onions help balance it, though, and I just love the flavor of meat stewing in the rendered liquid from onions. Tomatoes I’m happy to leave out. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-have-a-seat-crack-open-a-beer-and-talk-about-chili/810347/90 "2018-03-12T14:30:06Z")
My chili is never the same twice and the version I made last week went thus (and is total heresy to “real” chili aficionados): 2 lbs lean ground beef, 1 diced sweet onion and 4 cloves of garlic browned in a healthy tablespoon of bacon fat. Added 4 bison-whiskey sausages sliced and a container of chopped shiitake mushrooms, as well as 6 chilis de arbol ground, and two tbsp each chipotle powder, oregano (mexican is better but I was out) and a tbsp cumin, sea salt and ground black pepper to taste. Once that was all ready to go, added 1 bottle of [Maple Shack Cream Ale](http://www.gib.ca/beer/maple-shack-cream-ale/) to de-glaze. Added one can of organic whole tomatoes, one can each of rinsed black and red kidney beans, and 1 can Heinz brown beans. Finally, I added 1 tbsp of cocoa powder to kick up the umami slightly, to add a slight bitterness that it needed and to thicken it some. Let simmer for roughly 90 minutes. I went with a little milder chili this time around but I’ve used roasted habaneros, serranos and poblano peppers in the past depending on who would be eating it besides me. It turned out marvelous! Sufficiently so that I ended up eating half the batch right away and froze the rest. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-have-a-seat-crack-open-a-beer-and-talk-about-chili/810347/91 "2018-03-12T14:51:45Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Beanless chili is sloppy joe mix Eh, if you want it to be, especially in Cincinnati. Around here – other places too, I imagine – Mexican restaurants have chili colorado which IIRC is closer to what chili was before the Texans started messing with it, tougher cuts of beef cubed, browned, and stewed a long time to tenderize them in a sort of chili gravy with no visible vegetables. It can be found as a burrito filling or simply served on a plate with tortillas on the side. Usually, chili verde is also offered which is pork in a gravy of green (duh) chilis. In my camp at Burning Man it is mandatory that each member prepare one meal for 25 during the week. My offering is chili. I make a double batch, one with ground beef and the other with Trader Joe’s ground beef TVP for the vegans. It’s a really stripped down version for ease of preparation. 2 pounds protein 2 15-oz cans pinto beans 2 15-oz cans tomato sauce 2 medium yellow onions 2 Tbs chili powder 1 tsp ground cloves Dump all of the wet ingredients and spices into the pot and start it heating. Brown the cut up onions in a bit of oil[sup]1[/sup] and add them. Crumble the beef[sup]2[/sup] and start it browning. While it’s doing so, crumble the TVP and just throw it in; the meat goes in its own pot when ready. Stand and stir for a half hour to forty-five minutes until the liquid is reduced; if you turn the stove too low so you don’t have to stir too often, the wind wends to blow it out. I have a Penzeys store about three miles away so I use their [Medium Hot Chili Powder](https://www.penzeys.com/online-catalog/medium-hot-chili-powder/c-24/p-61/pd-s). One year I unaccountably left it behind and, Reno having no Penzeys, substituted McCormicks instead. People spontaneously said it was a bit off, somehow, so yeah, Penzeys makes a difference. The cloves are my “secret ingredient.” It’s not enough to really taste[sup]3[/sup] but leaves a faint aftertaste making people wonder, “What _is_ that?” Served with shredded cheese, diced raw onion, and a jar of crushed red pepper for those who want to kick it up. [sup]1[/sup]At home I simply brown meat first then onions in the beef fat. [sup]2[/sup]I try to get course ground but haven’t found any in years. [sup]3[/sup]Nowhere near enough to make it Cincinnati chili. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-have-a-seat-crack-open-a-beer-and-talk-about-chili/810347/92 "2018-03-12T16:32:09Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > **pulykamel @69:**. Excellent choices for base chiles! Unfortunately, NYC still has fewer Mexican-Americans than Chicago, so it’s damn hard to locate the hotter chiles unless you plan special trips…so I depend on Penzey’s excellent ground chipotle, crushed red pepper or cayenne, and the random shot of various hot sauces. > > I stopped in a small grocery in California farm country once — inland from Monterey — and the entire front of the store was filled with huge open sacks of every chile you could think of. Here, you can only find a small rack of cellophaned ancho, guajillos, negroes, or pasillas, and only two varieties at one time. In my area of Queens, I have little difficulty finding a good mixture of dried peppers and other Mexican spices at the smaller grocery stores. As for fresh, sadly there’s only one market I can rely upon to have poblanos regularly - everything else is just bells, cubanelle, and jalapeno only (and half won’t even have cubanelle). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-all-have-a-seat-crack-open-a-beer-and-talk-about-chili/810347.md?page=4)