I think we should all get together and have a big chili potluck. Not a cook-off, mind you, lest there be bloodshed. But a whole lot of different chilis, some good beer, and a whole table of condiments and sides.
We’d all sing that “Different strokes…for different folks! And so on and so on and scoobydoobydoo!” afterwards. 
One thing I learned the hard way about chili is that stale cumin, even a little bit, will completely ruin a good pot of any kind of chili while, toasting cumin seeds and then grinding them reveals a cumin flavor that is really outstanding and far surpasses anything that you can buy already ground.
Now I’m craving a pot of chili. I’ll have to make it mild to suit the rest of the family but I have some pickled habaneros to serve on the side. Yum!
Oh and I love the taste of beer in chili. Gives it that little extra something.
My simple-ass peach chili recipe:
1/2 can chili bean mix
1 whole fresh peach
1 teaspoon jerk powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 of a medium-sized onion
Canola oil as needed.
Mix beans and spices and oil and onions on high heat until onions are desired doneness. Then lower the heat and add in the chopped peaches until they are the desired firmness (they start out a bit too firm for my desires but I don’t want them soft as canned peaches, either.)
The allspice in the jerk powder along with the peaches makes it seem like a Christmas treat.
This thread reminded me of one of the funniest threads I have ever read, wherein some guy posts his awful chili recipe and tries to defend it: Who can out-chili my chili? (I bet this MOD CHALLENGE can!) - The Something Awful Forums
Not that anyone here reminds me of that guy, I just giggled thinking about it again.
Peach chili. Will wonders never cease. I want to try that! I saw a recipe for chili with apples in it today, and thought that sounded kind of good. Plus I have all these apples in the kitchen just lookin’ at me…
Stuff I’ve never tried in chili but now I want to: bacon, beer or tequila, pork. Can I use ground pork? I never buy big chunks of pork, really…I guess I could get a pork shoulder and crockpot/shred it?
I do sometimes like it the way Omar Little described–over spaghetti, with cheese, onions, and I add chili sauce too. It’s like Steak & Shake’s Chili 3- or 5-way except it doesn’t make me sick afterwards!
Whoa. A recipe with mushrooms in chili?
Fact is, “chili” seems to be applied to every and any stew that contains a protein and hot pepper. It has very little descriptive value without a modifier of some sort, like “Texas chile” or “New Mexican green chili” or “white chicken chili.” Of course, your locale may have its own engrained chili traditions, in which the modifier is not necessary, but to talk with a general population, it needs some more description. “Chili” has become almost as generic as “stew.”
I wouldn’t say that that’s “not real chili”, or anything like that, but mushrooms are something I would never have considered adding. Before or after reading that.
Oh, and it should go without saying that game meat, especially game meat you or a family member personally hunted, is the best possible meat option for chili. The best chili I ever ate was made with moose. But of course, game meat usually isn’t available, in which case beef or pork are either one fine.
And I really need to get around to experimenting with fresh-ground cumin, one of these days.
It does make a difference, like the difference between freshly ground black pepper and the already ground stuff. It may or may not be a big deal to you. Also, you might want to try toasting the cumin before you grind it. Just put it in a hot pan and toss it around until it’s fragrant–a minute tops, if the pan is pretty hot. You don’t want to burn the cumin. The simpler/more minimalist your chili, the more noticeable these little touches will be. The biggest deal, for me, is grinding down dried chiles for the powder. I like a mix of ancho for the fruitiness and flavor without so much heat, some pasilla, and some guajillo. If I’m feeling to add some smokiness, a chipotle may find its way in there (but, as much as I like smoked foods and BBQ, I don’t like smoke in my chili, so anything that adds that flavor is usually out, including bacon.) If I want a little more heat, some arbol chiles or pequins.
That’s for the powder. I may also make a paste from soaked dried chiles, as well, or use some fresh chiles. I actually don’t tend to like fresh chiles in my chili. I may throw in one or two, but I like the flavor to come from dried chiles in general (except when making New Mexican style green chili.)
And, of course, if I’m in 5-alarm chili mode, I’ll throw in both powdered and fresh habaneros, but generally, that’s something I prefer to add at the table, because otherwise I will be the only person eating chili (which is not necessarily a bad thing, but also not killing it with over-the-top heat makes it more versatile.)
When it turns cold and you don’t have time to cook a pot of chili. I’ve found Wolf Brand (with or without Beans) a nice substitute. It’s the closest to homemade I’ve found.
When we make our own chili we always divide it up into small containers and freeze. There’s not enough of us to eat a whole pot before it goes bad.
Hardly. I’ve contributed in many of these threads in the past, but stopped doing so because of people like you. I had thought perhaps this one would make it through without somebody feeling they just had to show their inherent cooking snobbery, but here you are. Pot, kettle, my ass.
Shall we change the subject to something less controversial, then? I propose barbecue. 
(Oh, don’t take it too seriously, Chefguy. It’s all in good fun. What’s a discussion about chili or barbecue or whatnot about without a little put-on macho posturing? Besides, I wouldn’t take silenus too seriously…after all, he likes his eggs cooked into a chalky oblivion, and not with a runny yolk like god intended.)
Personally, I’ve never been a big fan of the whole five-alarms thing. I mean, no matter how hot you make it, you can always go hotter-- If nothing else, mix in increasing amounts of pure capsaicin extract. The goal should be the best chili, not the hottest: The heat is an essential component of the flavor of a chili, but it’s far from the only component.
Plus, of course, making it too hot makes it inaccessible for most people. Where’s the fun in cooking good food, if nobody can ever compliment you on it?
I do agree. But when nobody’s around, I do tend to make it a good bit hotter for myself. I can taste the flavors with no problem. Pure capsaicin extract tastes like crap. None of those extra hot sauces (with the exception of Dave’s Insanity) in my opinion tastes any good. They all have this powdery, chemically taste to them.
Now, pure habaneros–I can do that. I’ve done that once, a chili with just powdered habaneros and fresh habaneros as the chile component. It’s fine, but I really need anchos or something else to bring a little bit more depth to it. Although, I have to say, as far as chiles with a lot of flavor and depth go, habaneros rank right up there. They are my favorite chiles flavor-wise.
[QUOTE=Chronos]
Oh, and it should go without saying that game meat, especially game meat you or a family member personally hunted, is the best possible meat option for chili. The best chili I ever ate was made with moose. But of course, game meat usually isn’t available, in which case beef or pork are either one fine.
[/QUOTE]
Agreed on the game meat. I’ve made chili using some leftover muskox - it was fantastic.
I’ve made pretty tasty chili with the following recipe. If I’m making it for myself, I omit the celery and beans.
3 strips bacon chopped
Olive oil
2 pounds stew beef in 1” cubes
1 pound ground hot Italian sausage meat
1 pound ground beef (coarse grind)
2 lg white onions rough chop large chunks
4 green chili peppers (seeds and all) diced
3 or so tbsp chili powder
1 to 2 tbsp oregano
1 to 2 tbsp cumin
1 to 2 tbsp assorted herbs for stews, soups or meat
Salt, pepper
2 tbsp garlic chopped fine
500 ml beef stock
Medium to dark beer
Lg can diced tomatoes, drained
1 tbsp dry mustard powder
1 to 2 tbsp white sugar
1 tsp unsweetened bakers chocolate shavings
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 can kidney beans, drained
Shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Chopped scallions
In large heavy pot on high heat, cook bacon until almost crisp, remove bacon, leave drippings in pot
Add olive oil to pot
Sear stew meat in small to medium sized batches – add small amount of salt and pepper to meat while cooking – remove from pot and reserve with juices
Cook ground beef and sausage together until cooked – remove from pot and reserve with juices
Add olive oil to pot
Cook onions, chili peppers until onion starts to soften
Add garlic to onions
Add small amount salt and pepper
Add all meat and juices
Add spices, stir and cook for about 3-5 minutes until spices well mixed into meat and onions – be careful not to burn mixture
Add canned tomato
Add beef stock and beer
Bring to simmer
Check and adjust seasoning
Cover part way, simmer on low for 2 hours stirring occasionally, leave on simmer longer if it needs to reduce more
Add mustard, sugar, chocolate
5 minutes before taking off the heat, add celery and beans
Garnish with cheese and scallions
I like it sweet and fairly hot. Going from memory, I brown about 1.5 lbs. ground beef (I’ve been meaning to try add adding bacon, but haven’t gotten around to making chili in a while), drain it, add 2-3 (maybe 4, depending on the size) cloves of garlic, half to three quarters of an onion (usually sweet red or yellow) and 3 jalapeños, chopped and with most of the seeds and ribs intact. I also add a couple tablespoons of various chili powders, 2 teaspoons of cayenne, a teaspoon each of cumin and paprika and a little bit of salt, pepper and a basil. Once the veggies have softened, I add 2 small cans of tomato sauce, some diced tomatoes and about a half cup of water and simmer the whole mess for a couple of hours. When it’s almost time to serve, I add a can or two of (drained) dark red kidney beans (gasp etc.) and a couple tablespoons of brown sugar and let it go 10-15 minutes more.
I live alone and rarely have anyone helping me finish my chili, so I generally get about a week’s worth of meals and serve it all different ways. With tortilla chips, grated cheese, sour cream, cornbread, over rice, over pasta, on a sandwich (think of it as a modified Sloppy Joe). I’ve even baked it in store-bought pizza dough with some cheese and made a kind-of Tex-Mex calzone (it was decent, but not spectacular). I guess I’ll eat chili just about any way it’s possible to serve it.
Last night’s episode of Sons of Anarchy involved a really intriguing chili recipe.
Do tell.
It was a head up on all other chili recipes.
I thought the positive contribution was “people have different tastes, get over it”. Significantly different than jokingly (I hope) suggesting that people who put beans in chili should die.
The fact that similar dishes were developed in different places seems to indicate that what was really going on was that people were combining what was little more than scraps and doing what they could to hide the taste of low quality ingredients hence the spices.
From that perspective there is probably some minimum set (protein and hot spices maybe) that is sufficient to merit entry into the chili realm. The rest is just individual preference.
My preference is that if people in Texas say beans shouldn’t go in chili then I want to add lots of beans.
No beans in my chili. Ever. Beans are the devil’s handiwork.
Because of dietary restrictions, I can’t do really hot spices, so all those peppers, etc. the rest of you love are out for me. The more adventurous of you can add the hot stuff to the browning process as you see fit.
I do use a higher-quality ground meat such as angus or sirloin to cut down on the grease. The basic ratio for this recipe is roughly one large can of tomato juice or V8 vegetable juice to two pounds of ground meat to two cans of canned spaghetti like Franco-American or Campbell’s.
Yes, that sounds awful, but bear with me. My cube mate, a truly superb cook, turned up her nose at my chili because of that. Until she tasted it. I gave her a container to take home and she ended up fighting her husband for it. 
Unfortunately, there are no additional physical measurements to this recipe, which has been in my family forever. Pretty much you brown liberal amounts of onions and fresh garlic in olive oil. The more of that in the chili the better.
From time to time I also splash in merlot or some cabernet while it’s cooking. I also now add in a tablespoon or three of something called ‘Better Than Bouillon’ (BTB) which is a thick bouillon beef paste that is utterly fantastic in everything I’ve ever used it in. Way better than cubes and it can found in any grocery store.
When everything’s as dark as you want it, add in the meat, salt, pepper, and some chili powder and brown all that again. Add more wine as you see fit.
The trick is to thoroughly brown the meat this side of actually burning it. Most recipes just tell you to brown the meat. That’s not enough. It’s one of the reasons I can’t eat onions in restaurants. I can’t get the cooks/chefs to burn it the way I like it. To them, ‘burning’ is turning the onion clear.
From there, drain the results thoroughly – I even blot with paper towels just to be sure I got whatever grease there might be - then transfer meat, onions and garlic to a pot, dump in the spaghetti and tomato juice and let the whole thing simmer for at least a day. Leave it on long, slow heat, stirring occasionally to keep it from sticking.
From here on out, you cook by taste alone, adding various dry spices for your chili that you like until you get it where you want it. Oh, and I do use Frank’s Red Hot Sauce. I am able to tolerate that, so there’s usually a tablespoon or three of it lurking in my chili. No cumin. Cumin is also the devil’s handiwork, right up there with cilantro. :eek: ::shudder::
Oh, and additional liberal applications of wine and BTB are also highly recommended throughout the cooking process.
In a nutshell, the longer this stuff simmers, the better it is.