It's Chili Season!

[WilbursaurusRex]

So a chili discussion broke out over in the Sushi Box thread, and I thought it would be fun to hear everyone's farts...I mean THOUGHTS on chili. Have a recipe you like, or certain seasonings/ingredients you add that may not be too "traditional"? Share them! Lets enjoy this wonderful dish and all of its regional variations

Im in North Carolina and, growing up, chili has always had beans and was served by itself usually with some corn chips as a side (sometimes cornbread). Now that I enjoy cooking I've kind of stumbled my way around chili. I love cooking it, but haven't looked up any recipes as I like experimenting on my own. I haven't locked anything in but, I've tried adding a bit of brown sugar and thought it turned out well.

 

[pisces_bass]

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This recipe has become my standard. Texas style pork chili verde. It’s a process so I have worked out a system to simplify prep. I buy all the fresh ingredients in August at my farmers market and roast/peel the chiles, onions, tomatillos, and garlic in one go. All that business goes in the freezer until now. The rest comes together pretty quick. This year’s batch is on the spicy side!

 

[turf3]

I am torn.

As a native Texan, I believe chili should be without beans.

But I like beans in my chili.

What should I do, Abby?

 

[Lowendtech]

Beans in chilli? Roger, Roger.

 

[TheDirtyLowDown]

Here's a somewhat unusual pressure-cooker beef chili recipe that I can vouch for. It has cocoa powder, soy sauce and fish sauce among the ingredients. It's quick enough to make for dinner on a week night.

Best Instant Pot Chili | Tested by Amy + Jacky

 

[Nashrakh]

I haven't made chili in ages, but I have (or rather, had) a kickass recipe that includes coffee, beer, and chocolate. No beans. It was awesome, and everybody who has never tasted it went, "yuck!". But joke's on them.

 

[JRA]

i've fixed chili a bunch of ways (as have my relatives, friends, neighbors) and i gotta say: i like 'em all!

i'm with the "beans bunch" and i use ample amounts of a "tri-bean blend" i get at the local kroger store. i've used all different kinds of meats, but for several years i've taken to using a couple of pounds of lean ground beef to one pound of spicy sausage. besides cumin and chili seasonings i regularly add salsa to the pot, too. i also add brown sugar to the recipe and use enough to balance the spicy-hot (a little honey whiskey, too!)...and lots of red/yellow/sweet/scallion onions!

i make a lot of it so some of it gets frozen for later...it's time to start thinking about chili!

there are lots of recipes that i wouldn't consider making myself, but i haven't had anyone's chili that i'd refuse to eat, right now!

 

[basscooker]

Here in Cincinnati we have a regional variation that often turns off the Tex-Mex fans, but I like it. As posted a bit above it's a bit sweet and often has cocoa powder. I've sold out plenty of times in assorted restaurants skipping the brown sugar and cocoa in favor of straight up Hersheys dark.

The two big local chains offer it with or without beans, and honestly mostly it's paired with spaghetti.

 

[Gorn]

Here in Cincinnati we have a regional variation that often turns off the Tex-Mex fans, but I like it. As posted a bit above it's a bit sweet and often has cocoa powder. I've sold out plenty of times in assorted restaurants skipping the brown sugar and cocoa in favor of straight up Hersheys dark.

The two big local chains offer it with or without beans, and honestly mostly it's paired with spaghetti.

Don’t you guys eat chili with spaghetti and shredded cheese?

 

[basscooker]

Yup
Don't forget the franks red hot, raw onions and oyster crackers

 

[basscooker]

Oh forgot to mention a pinch of cinnamon in the chains' recipes.

 

[two fingers]

So a chili discussion broke out over in the Sushi Box thread, and I thought it would be fun to hear everyone's farts...I mean THOUGHTS on chili. Have a recipe you like, or certain seasonings/ingredients you add that may not be too "traditional"? Share them! Lets enjoy this wonderful dish and all of its regional variations

Im in North Carolina and, growing up, chili has always had beans and was served by itself usually with some corn chips as a side (sometimes cornbread). Now that I enjoy cooking I've kind of stumbled my way around chili. I love cooking it, but haven't looked up any recipes as I like experimenting on my own. I haven't locked anything in but, I've tried adding a bit of brown sugar and thought it turned out well.

Being a fellow Carolinian, I grew up with chill made that way too. These days I like mine all meat.

 

[Bob_Ross]

Beans in chilli? Roger, Roger.
View attachment 4457795

I'll see your Who/baked beans reference and raise you another Who/baked beans reference!

 

[bassdude51]

Really crazy! Yesterday, the first time in well over a year, I made a big pot of chili. And, now here I am reading and posting here on TalkBass about chili.

I think nobody makes a pot of chili the same twice. Usually, every time we make a pot of it, there are little variations.

Being from Ohio, I make what is probably called "Mid-Western Style Chili". It's got ground beef, diced tomatoes, bell peppers, celery, garlic, onion and any kind of bean or beans that you like. (Yesterday, I home cooked 1/2 lbs of red beans. It wasn't enough so I added one can of red kidney beans.)

I make 2 kinds of chili. The kind others will eat and the kind that I eat. Mine has a bunch of crushed cayenne and diced jalapeno. Nobody will eat it but me!

Kind of a quickie about my chili recipe. A good one pound of ground been, maybe 1.25 lbs. I like around 90% lean and 10% fat. Cook it in a skillet with one whole diced onion and around 7 or 8 cloves of pressed garlic and garlic salt.

I either use one big jar of mild salsa or one jar of spaghetti sauce and 2 or 3 cans of Italian style mini diced tomatoes (Walmart). Two or three diced bell peppers. Three or four large stalks of diced celery. A second diced onion. A nice clump of cilantro diced up. Oh yeah, the "Texas No-No"...........beans. Any kind I feel like pinto, kidney, red beans, black beans. I like to cook my beans from scratch and not use canned beans. About 3/4 lbs of dry beans but of course cook them first for the chili. Depending on how I feel, I will use canned beans to save time. Kidney beans are really good. Also, canned chili beans. (No sugar in my recipe nor chili powder. I don't like it's flavor!)

I personally don't like thick chili. I like it a little bit on the soupy side so I add water if needed. I think that it allows more flavor to be tasted. "To each his own."

My chili is pretty tame. But, if I make it my way, I go killer hot!

Chili is a wonderful meal! It's got everything except dairy and cheddar cheese can be sprinkled unto the top of a bowel and then it is a complete meal.

Now, here's an old Steve Miller song for this thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[gln1955]

I learned to make West Texas chili made with chunks o' beef many years ago, so that's my gold standard. I do enjoy other styles made with different meats and even beans.

Just this weekend a friend made up a batch of Cincy-style chili and served it five-way. As long as I don't really think of it as chili, it's pretty good.

 

[Bob_Ross]

I think nobody makes a pot of chili the same twice.

^^^This. Despite my trying for 40-some odd years to perfect and then nail down a chili recipe, all I have is a history of failures. Really. Freakin'. Tasty. Failures.

But here's a question I have not quite gotten a handle on, so perhaps some of y'all chili aficianados can offer some guidance:

What do you do to infuse your chili with more, for lack of a better word, "chiliness" ...without just piling on more chili powder and/or cumin?
In other word, what are the go-to spices/condiments/secret ingrediants that give it that "chili" flavor (as opposed to Spicy Tomato/Beef Soup flavor)? I definitely find that too much chili powder or cumin ruins it. Touches of dark beer, baker's chocolate, smoked paprika, nopalitos, etc. have yielded varying degrees of "almost" ...but I'm still not convinced I've found the ideal balance of all. What makes your chili chili?

 

[basscooker]

Do you roast the dry spices first? Just heat them in a dry pan to right on the edge of char. It breaks out the oils differently than adding them to the sauce or meat, and puts a bit of an extra dimension in the flavor. Like with everything else, don't use the cheap stuff.

A bit of ground cardamom and corriander don't hurt either.

 

[gln1955]

^^^This. Despite my trying for 40-some odd years to perfect and then nail down a chili recipe, all I have is a history of failures. Really. Freakin'. Tasty. Failures.

But here's a question I have not quite gotten a handle on, so perhaps some of y'all chili aficianados can offer some guidance:

What do you do to infuse your chili with more, for lack of a better word, "chiliness" ...without just piling on more chili powder and/or cumin?
In other word, what are the go-to spices/condiments/secret ingrediants that give it that "chili" flavor (as opposed to Spicy Tomato/Beef Soup flavor)? I definitely find that too much chili powder or cumin ruins it. Touches of dark beer, baker's chocolate, smoked paprika, nopalitos, etc. have yielded varying degrees of "almost" ...but I'm still not convinced I've found the ideal balance of all. What makes your chili chili?

Instead of commercial chili powder, get some dried chiles (ancho and other varieties) and grind your own. Commercial chili powders usually include cumin, oregano, paprika and who knows what. Better to add those items on your own terms.

 

[MJ5150]

The key to the good chili we make is what @gln1955 mentions, use fresh ingredients. Nothing we add to ours is prepackaged.
Try buying cinnamon sticks and grinding your own cinnamon powder. You can also put the cinnamon stick directly in the pot. But be warned, a cinnamon stick is more potent than already ground cinnamon powder you buy at the store.
I don't have amounts to give you since it is all subjective to taste and the amount we are making
What I can suggest is to start with a small quantity and taste it, add accordingly. If a flavor gets too strong after adding more of it, then counter it with another spice or ingredient.
Think about the best chili you have had, and make a list of the flavors you really liked in it. Assemble those ingredients on the counter next to your pot and start adding them until you get the exact flavor you're looking for.
Like many culinary delights, what's 'good' or what's the 'best' is very subjective.

-Mike

 

[bassdude51]

Forgot to mention. Chili always tastes better on the 2nd day, 3rd day. Freshly made chili lacks some kind of undescribed flavor. It needs 24 hours to age. For the flavor to broaden out. Spaghetti sauce is kind of the same way. It needs 24 hrs before eating. IMO, IME.