2 onions, chopped
5 lbs chili grind beef
1 clove garlic
15 oz tomato sauce
1 cup commercial chili powder
1 oz (half of the jar) McCormick Chipotle Chili Pepper
1 tbsp cayenne powder or a couple dried cayenne peppers
salt

Brown beef. Pour some of the fat over the dogs' dinner. Serve the dogs their dinner outside so you don't get the dogs making a mess in the house. Mix in coarsely chopped onions and sliced garlic clove to your chili and a little water and cook for a while. Drink a beer and see what's up on BF.
Add seasonings, and tomato sauce, and water, maybe around 4 cups. Have another beer. Cook chili for a couple hours. Meanwhile make a few relevant posts on BF. Stir the pot. In your home, not here.

Serve with grated cheese or crackers or whatever you usually eat your chili with, and beer.

Dang, Lucille, sounds like we should get up a gang of BF 50+ers and head for Texas.

1 can Bush's Chili Magic, 1 can chopped tomatoes - add to about a pound browned ground round with some chopped onion - and there ya go!

I grew up thinking chili was soupy and had macaroni in it - no wonder I think my 'recipe' is flavorful.


Serve with corn bread baked in a cast iron skillet.

You will note the lack of beans in Lucille's recipe. Texans have beans as a side dish, but not in Chili.

I must be the only guy in the world who doesn't have corn bread with chili -- I learned to have it with pita (hmmm, I should probably switch to tortillas)

+1 - for those of us who can't eat beans.

+1 on the beer!

Lucille,
Your great sense of humor and tasty-reading recipes will have you crawling out of the newbie dungeon very soon.

Real chili may be found here. Lots of beer, too.


On the first Saturday of November, over 10,000 "chiliheads" convene in Terlingua for two annual chili cookoffs: the Chili Appreciation Society International and the Frank X. Tolbert / Wick Fowler World Chili Championships. In the late 1970s the Chili Cook-Off sponsored a “Mexican Fence-Climbing Contest” to spoof the U.S. Government’s planned reinforcement of the chain-link fence separating El Paso, Tex. from Cd. Juárez, Mexico and San Ysidro, Cailf. From Tijuana, Mexico. The fence the “chili heads” used was constructed by undocumented Mexican workers who labored annually for the Cook-Off organizers at five dollars a day plus meals and rustic lodging.[6] Among the founders of the first chili cookoff in 1967 was car manufacturer Carroll Shelby, who owned a 220,000-acre (890 km2) ranch nearby

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terlingua,_Texas

Living in Florida, and being married to a Puerto Rican woman, and having been exposed to a variety of cooking styles from Sicilian to Cajun, my chili depends on my mood, and is usually served over rice or corn chips, with some cheddar cheese and sour cream. And extra hot sauce. I've had a venison curry chili that was unbelievable. Chili purists who argue over beans or no beans crack me up. Chili isn't a fancy dish, it's a poor man's stew that we've fancied up.

I like to get some fresh jalapenos, some fresh chili peppers (Finger Chilis) and some serrano or poblano peppers (depending on who I'm feeding the chili to, I might add some Scotch bonnet or habanero peppers) but I am used to making it milder and adding extra heat from a bottle. Sometimes I add some Chipotals. Chop up a large sweet onion or two, and saute the chopped up peppers and onions in some olive oil along with a head of chopped up garlic.

In a separate pot (I like a cast iron dutch oven) I brown 2-3 pounds of ground beef, or small chunks of stew meat (I've been known to also dice up some pork chops or smoked ham) If I'm in a cajun mood, I might add diced chicken and some soft chorizo and/or andouille sausage. I'll peel the casing off the chorizo, and squeeze the sausage in with the ground beef and brown it all. Drain the drippings off of the meat.

Now comes the alchemy.

Combine the pepper/onion/garlic mixture with the browned meat. Add a couple of cans of tomato sauce, or two cans of diced tomatoes. Add some cumin, adobo con pimiento, cinnamon, and at least one 12 oz. bottle of beer. Add more beer if you want a little more liquid. If it's a little too soupy, I take some Masa flour (corn meal based) and mix it with a little water (like you might with corn starch) and stir this Masa paste into the stew to thicken it. Let it simmer for an hour. Eat a little, then refrigerate it and eat it the next day. Like a good italian marinara sauce, it always tastes better a day later.

Serve it with some whiskey for your men and beer for the horses.

i confess a preference for a distinctly non-Texan vegetarian chili. 3-4 kinds of beans (including garbanzos) peppers, onions, cumin, hot sauce, and, definitely, served with chopped onions, cubes of sharp cheddar and corn bread on the side. Sorry if that's all heresy to, umm, y'all.

And then there's New Mexican chili....

Can anyone over 50 eat beans and still have friends?

https://www.beanogas.com/About_Problem.aspx

Beans aren't the only food that can cause a problem. I buy this:
https://www.enzymedica.com/products/Digest_Gold

As for chili, each batch is unique, like Garilia said, expressing your mood.

Here's a summertime tip: Use an old 9 x 13 pan, and make chili on your gas grill. Works perfect.

My problem with beans is a lot more than Beano might cure - such as simple gas. It is a pretty violent reaction of my whole digestive system in ways one would most definitely not want to visualize. This is only for the type of beans used in "baked beans" - not LIma or green beans, for example.

This has been a near miracle after trying almost everything. It aids in overall digestion, and it works wonders. I see it now comes in a version with probiotics as well; I'll order that next time. I buy at amazon.

https://www.enzymedica.com/products/Digest_Gold

From my wife. My comments in bold.:

Well - key to the Chili is to use real chimayo chile powder. Also - the crock pot helps to cook it slow so the flavors are blended.

Brown 3 pounds of Ground Beef. Use the type with fat so you get a better taste - then drain off the fat and set aside. (Note: we currently don't have a dog)
Saute the following in the pan:
2 cups chopped onion
1 red bell pepper (chopped)
1 yellow bell pepper (chopped)
1/2 head of chopped garlic
Combine with the beef in a large crock pot or dutch oven.

Drain 3 cans of beans - use whatever you prefer (black, pinto, kidney etc) and add to the pot. (Note : A combo of beans is nice)

Add:
1/2 to 3/4 cup Chimayo ground Chile powder (heat can very with this so know your powder).
2 Tablespoons ground cumin
2 Tablespoons Mexican oregano
1/2 disk of Iberra chocolate
1-2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1-2 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons worchestershire sauce
1 cup red wine (zinfandel that you are drinking while making this is good)
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
2 huge cans of chopped tomatos
1 6 oz can of tomato paste

Slow cook 6 to 8 hrs.

White corn bread baked in a cast iron pan works best as a compliment. Actually, white corn bread is just really good anytime. Toppings for the chili can include sour cream, cilantro, shredded sharp cheddar cheese, diced avocados, and Fritos. With this chili, which has a wonderful hot sweetness, a couple of good Belgian beers is indicated. Or finish off the Zinfandel, if there's any left. Oh, and the choice of meat is critical. If you try to be healthy and use super lean, low fat ground beef, there isn't enough fat to absorb the flavors effectively. If you want to try to make this as a healthy dish, use ground buffalo meat instead of beef. Even after the slow cooking, the chili is always better the next day, when the flavors have had additional time to mellow.

Chile only got to our household about 30 years ago. Not my favourite but I think that is because the wife liked it and we had it every other meal for a year while she "Experimented" on getting the recipe right.

May not be my favourite but Every one else likes my wifes chile so it can't be that bad.

Grass fed beef is quite healthy. You don't need bison. Grass fed beef has flavor without so much fat. I bought half a beef at less than $4/lb.

Chili is a mainstay in our house. I have a handful of recipes I rotate among, though the primary one gets made more often. I also have a vegan version that substitutes carrots for the beef. And I got an incredibly easy vegan one from my sister-in-law that uses TVP and is waaay better than it has any right to be, if you base that sort of thing on the amount of work it takes to make. My wife also has a couple she makes, including a white chili with chicken, and a wonderful green chile stew with pork. That one's especially good as a topping for things as diverse as eggs or tamales.

I make chili fairly often. I don't have a recipe, though I enjoy reading them to get ideas. I never make it quite the same way twice, varying by the mood I'm in, the ingredients available, the amount of time and effort I want to put into a particular batch and who will be eating it. I cook much like I play harmonicas, following some basic guidelines, but making it up as I go.

Most of my chilis begin with sauteed diced onions and bell peppers. Then I add garlic and a variety of seasonings, diced tomatoes and a beer or three. The meat may be ground beef, ground turkey or diced chicken if I'm making a quick and lazy batch, but if it is a serious effort, I use roasted meat cut into chunks about 1/4" to 1/2". I prefer venison, but will use beef if I can't get any. I also often add italian sausage, cooked whole and then cut up. I don't like the texture of ground meat in a serious batch of chili.

I'll use a small amount of prepared chili powder, but mostly I add the basic ingredients - garlic, peppers and cumin. Peppers usually include cayenne and jalapeno, but may include many others, whatever I can find. I put a lot of effort into crafting the heat characteristics of my chili. It depends a lot on the target diners, but for myself I like it pretty hot. I try to come up with a blend of heat sources that will make some heat on the tip of the tongue, adding more heat and flavors as it works through the mouth and coming in with a surprise hit as it works down the throat.

I simmer it for a long time, several hours if possible. I agree with others that chili tastes best after a day in the refrigerator. The flavors come together that way. I do usually add beans to my chili. That's the way I learned to like it. If the chili is to simmer for a long time, I usually add the beans in the last hour or so to avoid making them mushy. Dark red kidney beans is my go to bean, but I sometimes go with other varieties on a whim. I do also make beanless chili sometimes, but I care nothing about traditions. I make it to eat.

I know this may be blasphemy but my wife puts beans in her chili. She's an Atlanta native. Sometimes she uses ground turkey instead of ground beef. One time she used bulgar wheat. Even our teenage boys were fooled and thought it was beef, beans, spices, etc.

+1 for making the beers Belgian.

A nice Saisons Dupont Farmhouse Ale, or a Duvel. Or the Belgian style American's like Ommegang's Three Philospher's Ale. Oh heck, I'm on a strict diet right now and I'm craving chili and beer. As it is, I'm kegging my Nutcracker Ale tomorrow,and brewing a Pumpkin Ale. In two weeks, I'll keg the Pumpkin and brew a Honey Wheat, all in preparation for our 30th Anniversary pig roast (a day I will most definitely not be dieting ;-)

Great points on making the heat pop out at different times. I've never really thought about it that way. I do the same thing with hops though, when creating beer recipes. Different hops have different alpha acid content, and some are brewed for an hour, and impart a deep, underlying bitterness that is almost undetectable in the palate and nose. Then there are finish and aroma hops that are delicate and can not be boiled for more than 5 minutes or should be dry-hopped after the boil is done.

After pushing the envelope -- and pushing beyond the envelope -- on spices, I've been forbidden from making chili for about 5 years now.

My Mother-in-law would put B&M Baked Beans in her chili. A nice New England twist.

I recently finished a six pack of this. It's really good. I also like the Belgian style beers from Unibroue in Quebec. Right now, I'm enjoying a Samuel Smith Old Brewery Pale Ale with some Poblano chili's stuffed with tofu, cheese, pine nuts, etc., covered with a fairly hot mole sauce. And a couple of whole wheat tortillas.