I use beer too, but I add it during the “internal mixing” stage.
I’ve used coffee too; a half-cup or so of extra-extra-strength chicory coffee from Cafe Du Monde. (By the way, for some reason all the Asian grocery stores around her have Cafe Du Monde chicory coffee for about 1/3 the price at the “regular” grocery stores.)
I always make chili for company potluck days, and I try different twists each time. So far the best reaction was from adding KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce, tequila and lime when roasting the meat & onions.
I’ve gotta give that chocolate idea a try… sounds very interesting.
Why go to all of that trouble? Crumble in some corn torilla chips before you let it simmer. 
A handful of whole dried piquins. They help kick it up a notch during slow cooking.
Well, these were already listed in seperate posts but I always put both in my chili - coffee and unsweetened chocolate. They give it a deep rich flavor that balances the heat from the jalapenos.
I will refrain from commenting on those of you who said cinnamon. 
Coursely ground horsemeat. I was living alone at the time, in France, and got a tube of it at the local supermarket. No beans, just a bunch of serrano peppers (they called them “Moroccan” peppers, but I think they were serranos – same shape, size, level of heat, grassy flavor), the meat, some unsweetened chocolate, cumin, and the usual other accompaniments, except tomato. I doubt that would fly in Texas, though.
And beer as well – that 8.5% cheap stuff they sell in dark blue 16 oz cans – plus some plonk they sell in the 1.5 liter plastic bottles for $1-2. Gotta have beer in chili, but the wine was OK too.
I’ve put in about a teaspoon of French’s yellow mustard to give it extra tangy kick.
Zabali – if you try mustard again, you’d probably really enjoy dry-frying some little brown mustard seeds (watch out, they pop like crazy if you don’t keep an eye on them) and tossing them in. That and fenugreek powder are totally to my liking for flavoring.
I’m going to have to try the chocolate idea, it sounds interesting. Usually I use coffee in brown gravy, I love the rich color and the bitter sets off the saltyness nicely, I imagine the same would be true for chili. I have used cinnamon but have to be careful, just a tad is good but too much is rancid. Always thought of this as Cincinnatti style (cinnamon, shredded beef, no beans, thick as putty served over spaghetti with an artery clogging amount of shredded cheese and a few fresh onions). I will find out tomorrow at work if the burnt onion/jalapeno mix worked out, the smokeyness is not too far off of a chipotle flavor. Any weird alternative starches? I used spaghetti in this one but sometimes use potatos.
I’ve never understood why people need to thicken their chili. Mine is super thick after simmering for a few hours.
I make mine with pot roast or pork roast, black, red and kidney beans, a can of corn (yum!) and whatever kinds of tomatoes strike my fancy (stewed, diced with garlic, etc).
Roasted peppers are a must. I usually add a poblano, an anaheim and a jalapeno.
That wouldn’t get you strung up in Texas.
Now, beans in chili? In that case you’re on your own, pardner.
Sounds good but I think they hang people in Texas for that.
There is not a durn thing wrong wit beans in chili. I would bet you in a great chili with the mest cooked very tender I could put a piece of meat and then a bean in your mouth and you could not taste the difference.
But then I’m a believer in the more in a chili the better.
It’s all about combining tastes.
One of these days I really have to learn how to type.
I think this site wins!
The best chili I ever made used up some leftover ground moose that had been sitting in my freezer for long enough.
I never managed to make another pot that got so many “oohs” and “aahs”.
The chocolate idea sounds good to me. I already use coffee or tea (not the powder, the brewed or steeped kind) to deglaze pans instead of water.
Sorry pardner but we’re gonna have to agree to disagree. I grew up in Texas and tho I left long ago I still make Texas style chili. And there surely are not any beans to be found in it. If you want beans I’ll serve them on the side. Most true chiliheads look on beans as filler and I tend to agree. At the Terlingua World’s Chili Championship (held every year starting in 1967) the official anthem is a song by Ken Finlay called If You Know Beans About Chili, You Know That Chili Has No Beans. In keeping with that idea no chili recipes with beans are allowed in competition.
But by all means, if you want beans in your chili go right on ahead. Just don’t expect me to eat it.
I ground up the bodies of Scott Tenorman’s parents.
:::que up the Rolling Stones:::
Brown Sugar.