This is the reason I am not allowed in the kitchen anymore. Not chile but curry. I love curry and although the really "Hot" ones are beyond my palate- My degree of "Hot" in Currys seems to be about twice what others can take. And there is only one beer to have with a Curry- and it is not beer as it is a lager- Cobra.

But as we are on Culinary items- I have been ordered to make a "Daddies Special" for my GD. Only a basic Rice Pudding but it has a few surprises in it. Coconut- Glace cherrys- Large juicy Sultanas and quite a few other sweet things that I find in the Cupboard. Topped off with home made Ice Cream-(Or shop bought if no time) and every mouthfull is full of expectation. Made it for my kids when they were young but "Apparantly" they grew out of it. I never did.

OMG. I'll be right there

My hubby makes a great chili (with beans). It contains small amounts of cinnamon, cumin, nutmeg, and chocolate.

I make an organic vegan chili every week (stepdaughter is a vegetarian). I prepare it Sunday night in a Crockpot, put it on the counter Monday morning, and my wife plugs it in at the appropriate time. She is the only New Orleans girl I know who, if seen in the kitchen, is told to put her hands in the air and step slowly away from the stove. She is, however, capable of plugging in an appliance that is already on the correct setting. And she is German, so she does it right on time!

I use:

4 kinds of canned beans, rinsed.
1 large Sweet Onion, chopped
4 Bell Peppers, one of each color, chopped
A mess of fresh tomatoes, chopped and rinsed
1 can of tomato paste (adds color and thickness)
several cloves of garlic; minced
Coriander
Cumin
Oregano
Black Pepper
Sea Salt
(the above seasonings freshly ground together in a little grinder)
Lots of mild chili powder
A 'negotiated amount' of Cayenne (I like a lot more than the rest of the family)

Chili has to have Cumin and Coriander for depth of flavor!

Chili?!
. . . and here we thought it would be about the weather; yup it was 'chili' in sunny Tucson: 18 degrees (oh, that's above zero!).

Man I love threads like this one, good job Lucille. What I like, chiliwise is my wife's Venison Black Bean chili. We got the recipe in the late 80's when I was hunting a lot. She is Mexican and from El Paso so she can put some heat on the chili that makes me break a sweat! We used to fix Carroll Shelby's 4 alarm chili from his bag o' fixins. I am a chili liver, period. Beer has to be American lager for me, sorry I got on Bud and Coors in the Corps and stuck with it. Just my personal taste I guess. Beans are not a problem and never have been.

Bill

Chili needs beans just like brownies need nuts. Brownies with out nuts is just chocolate cake. Chili with out beans is just meat sauce.

Agreed. I love my beans anytime, especially in chili.

I think there's room in the world for all kinds of people, all kinds of bikes, and all kinds of chili.
Vive la difference

Just made a pot tonight. It will stew in slow cooker till morning. I make chili to get fiber in my diet. So I've been using 3 or 4 cans of black beans and Pinto beans with a bit over 1 pound of meat. Prefer ground beef, but have tried turkey, buffalo, deer and ground hog. I prefer mild chili. Never got use to Hot stuff.

Amen to that!

Is there an N+1 in the Chili world?

As I don't enjoy anything hot or spicy, I am only a chili fan if it is very mild and - as previously mentioned - contains no beans - so that would be MY N+1 - mild, beanless chilis.

Somehow or other, my son got the "Hot" gene in our family, and he has an extensive collection of all varieties of hot sauces - some, like aquaregia - are so hot they are difficult to contain in a bottle.

If your son wants HOT, try this:

The Source

I've never used it (and never will!), but I first heard about it on Food Network a couple of years ago, during their "Fiery Foods Week". As one chef put it, "I now know how Hell tastes" -- 7.1 million Scoville units (a typical jalapeño is about 5,000 SU). Or as it says on their website, it's the "closest thing to bottling Chuck Norris". It's basically pure capsaicin, for all intents and purposes. According to what I heard, one drop will significantly heat up five gallons of chili.

You're not serious about this, are you?

Chuck Norris
Seriously, I like spicy but not nuclear. Everyone has their own tastes, I'm fortunate that my sons who come over to eat pretty much match mine in food.
(As an aside, when they were little, they were always entitled to get a peanut butter sandwich or something if they didn't like what I cooked. I haven't had to make a pb&j for that purpose in some time although I still eat pb&js myself from time to time.)

+1

Them's fightin' words in Texas.

After living there 5 years, I decided to leave in search of beans.

BTW -- and here, I hope I'm deeply insulting someone from Cincinnati -- there is probably no dish on earth as disgusting as that swill they call chili in Cincinnati. Being a life-long fan of chili, I was eager to try Cincinnati 3-way chili on my first trip there some years ago. My dad warned against it. My uncle warned against it. Still, I went ahead, and was shocked. I don't know what this stuff really is, but I think they named it "chili" just to fool tourists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_chili

I know people who love it. I find it tolerable if I don't think of it as Chili.

Well, you know, not everyone is fortunate enough to be a Texan
However, at least half of us are women, and to have these two words in the same phrase:
Well, some might take exception....

leob1, I'm just picken', no fight here......

There is a certain way that a Texan girl says "Hi" that melts my cold Yankee heart. And I spent enough time in the Lone Star state to grow a fondness for Lone Star beer(hold the armadillo), and real BBQ. But still, no beans, not chili.

Shouldn't they be sayin' Hey instead of Hi?

Chili is simmering in the crock pot as we speak -- plenty of chili powder with hints of cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin, and chocolate chips. Even better the next day after the flavors have more time to blend.

In the fridge, Alton Brown's 'Onion Dip from Scratch' is chilling -- the reviews are impressive so I thought I'd give it a try. Did a few modifications: omitted the mayo (didn't have any), used Greek 2% plain yogurt (strained) in place of sour cream, and black pepper instead of white. I can't wait to try it later.

I may be a chili snob, but I rarely use commercially prepared chili powder. It's much more interesting to make your own out of whatever you want - ground, dried varieties of chiles, generous amounts of cumin, and whatever else catches your fancy. I also use a bit of allspice in my chili, plus a bottle or two of whatever the most flavorful beer is that I have on hand. I'll also usually throw in a bottle of salsa verde and some La Victoria Green Taco Sauce (when I can find it) for its remarkable tang.

I've stopped using canned beans, too, preferring the extra texture and flavor you get from brining dried pintos, kidneys and blacks.

And I haven't made a chili with ground meat in years. It's always in rough dice.

As long as my chili has my "specials peppers" (a mixture of fire roasted Poblano, Anaheim, Cayenne, Freson, Jalapeno, and Scotch Bonnet that are stored in Marie Duffau Armagnac until needed for use) I'm good with beans or without beans. I also like a bit of dark chocolate to smooth out the heat without losing any of it.

Holy Moly. That's some pepper