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In a way, I cheat. Hunts makes a tomoato sauce that has some chili seasoning already in it, so I use that for an easy head start. I fry my beef in a pan with tons of chili powder, something many people inexplicably do not do. YOU MUST SEASON MEAT when you cook it, or it will be bland as all hell. Chopped green peppers, onions, and celery are of course added to the meat in the pan to get them started and also season the meat as well. Combine it all in the pot, then let it simmer for an hour or so, depending on the amount. Add the jalapenos, preferably fresh, not canned, and let simmer another hour. serve and enjoy.

I have not done it myself, but I want to try habeneros. I knew an old guy from Texas that made a pot for me with habeneros... he said he used half a pepper, and it was absolute 5 alarm. Some time, I am going to give that a whirl... but I know my falimy will have none of it, so I'll have to have the right audience.
I would give one, but I am not sure I have ever used the same recipe more than once. It is just throw stuff together until it smells and tastes about right. A couple of staples to my chilis are at least three different types of beans usually kidney, chili, and lima. I also always use chunky tomatoes, celery, and beef browned with a creole seasoning. Depending on who I am serving it to I will add other ingredients like onions, corn, bell peppers, jalapenos, and habaneros.

Perhaps my taste buds have been fried over the years, but I enjoy using jabaneros with several foods like the sauce for my buffalo shrimp and buffalo chicken. It is also very good with jellies and used as a rub over turkey, pork, or just served on a cracker.
2 big cans stewed whole tomatoes
1 big can tomato puree
1 small can tomato paste
1 white onion, baseball-size or larger, chopped
1 lb chuck roast, tenderized with a BFH and cubed
1 lb hot Italian sausage
2 Tbsp Penzey's chili powder
1 tsp Penzey's ground cumin
6-8 chopped Serrano peppers
2-4 chopped large garlic cloves

Brown the beef with half the chili powder, then dump it all in a big Crock-Pot and let it go for at least 24 hours. Add salt, pepper, and more heat as you see fit.

We grew Habaneros in the garden this past season and my wife made an extremely concentrated hot sauce out of them. (40 peppers made enough to fill an old "Cholula" bottle. Eeker) I like stuff pretty hot (and I do NOT mean the Minnesota definition of "hot", which is incomprehensibly wimpy, IMO), but one has to be very cautious with the use of this sauce. A tablespoon of it will turn your entire batch of chili into "chili starter", where you'll have to split it into thirds or quarters and start over.
I found a "like Chili Johns" recipe a while ago that uses chocolate. It's really good.

My number 1 rule is, NO BEANS!! I think I just got tired of "Wisconsin Chili" that was basically tomato sauce, ground hamburger, macaroni and a can of beans. On a good day, maybe a pinch of chili powder was thrown in there. But I prefer my chili sans beans.

MN Cheese -- that looks GREAT!!! *edit*(But, what's BFH)
As long as there are not NOODLES in it, I'm happy. Living in Wisconsin the past 5 years, I can't believe how many people and restaurants here try to put noodles (usually elbow macaroni) in it, and pass it off as Chili. THERE ARE NO NOODLES IN CHILI!! Smiler

The only exception I'll make is for cincinnati chili, which sometimes comes served over spaghetti, but that's a whole different animal in my book.

Edit: Looks like CoPackFan and myself like to complain! But, I definitely like beans in my chili! Smiler
Not crazy about beans in my chili, and I never add noodles. My mom did that too when we were kids. I suppose trying to feed 12 kids ya put filler in wherever ya can. My wife always wants beans so I put half of a small can in but filter them out when I scoop my serving.

Last year a friend of mine made venison chili. Was outstanding!
I'm like brosto and others that never make it the same way twice. Main ingredients are, of course, ground beef (sometimes 1/2 & 1/2 ground turkey) canned tomatoes from garden, green peppers from garden, and beans. I also use a few cans of either tomato juice or V-8 (depending on how large a batch I'm making and if I feel thick or thin. My kids don't like the dark beans, so I use the light kidney beans. (sometimes sneak in a can of dark).

Sometimes I cook meat with seasonings, sometimes jut put them in the chili as it simmers. Music, there are some who don't use meat in their chili, strange as it seems, so adding spice to chili after meat is cooked works. The meat isn't eaten separately from the chili anyway, so you can't tell if it is bland or not.

When I lived in Wisconsin and was hunting, I too used venison. I think that is GREAT!!!

I just keep adding things until it tastes right. Kids always say they love it. (But now, my daughter things her recipe with the chocolate surpasses mine!!!)
Last edited by Hauser
Couple special ingredients.

Mrs. Renfro's Habenero salsa
Sweet Cherry peppers
Lots of meat, not too much beans (mostly chili beans, maybe a little kidney beans.)
You're all right. There is NO macaroni in chili.
Brown sugar
Tomato soup
I'm going to try pumping some Jack into it for our next tailgate.
Let it sit for a long time and build up that crust on the top and the sides and then mix it into the chili.
quote:
Originally posted by Hauser:
_Music_, there are some who don't use meat in their chili, strange as it seems, so adding spice to chili after meat is cooked works. The meat isn't eaten separately from the chili anyway, so you can't tell if it is bland or not.

Oh yes you can... if you have "the taste". I can instantly tell if someone does not season their meat in chili. It is a sin, IMO.

There also should be no such thing as vegimatarian chili... MUST... HAVE... MEAT...
Gunpowder Stew! It's not chilli, but it's a nice spicy "stew" for coooollllddd days. We came up with it out predator hunting one day. Snowing, cold, not much in the truck. Everything kind of got thrown in the pot, and "Gunpowder Stew" as we call it was born. It has been a camp favorite ever since, and everyone that tries it loves it.

2 large cans pork and beans
1 can kidney beans
1 package thick ham (honey ham works great), chopped into 1" squares
1 package bologna chopped into 1" squares
1 large sweet onion
3/4 to 1 bottle or so of La Victoria Salsa Jalepenio (the red hot stuff).

Cook over low heat for at least an hour.

Doesn't sound like much, but it is GOOD! And, it will surely keep you warm on a cold day.
I also do not have a set recipe, but to me, it isn't chili unless it has beans in it. I primarily use hamburger, but I have used white meat chicken with hot italian sausage (an idea I got from TitleTown Tailgaters). I use a lot of red kidney beans but also use chili beans. Peppers are the most important ingredient, and good chili will have more than one kind. I like to use a combination of bell peppers, jalapenos, red cayenne, and habaneros. Good chili also has garlic in it, and I love to add a LOT of fresh minced garlic. Of course there is chili powder and cumin added, but I also add black pepper, some basil, and some oregano. For a soup base, I use tomato juice rather than tomato soup (less sodium). I know a lot of people do not like macaroni in their chili, but I generally add it.

For those who aren't used to cooking with habaneros, watch out! For my first attempt at using habaneros in chili, I ended up putting in too many. Instead of the 20 peppers I put in, I should have only put in four or five. devil It tasted great, but I ate a lot of cornbread in trying to douse those flames!
Another tasty thing to do if you have a spice grinder of some kind is to buy your cumin seeds whole, roast by rolling them around in a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat until dark brown (~the color of light-roasted coffee beans), then grind them up to add to the chili.

Adds a smoky flavor that's very good.

Hauser...I've had "Vegetarian Chili" before, but it was only because I was in a vegetarian restaurant (not my idea) and it was the only thing on the menu that looked like it might approximate food for humans. It wasn't terrible, but it sure wasn't real chili. Blech.
Here's one of my favorite recipes:

3 pounds cubed sirloin (you can use good ground beef but this chili rocks with cubed)
2 tablespoons oil
4 chopped onions
1 Â― teaspoons garlic powder
14 ounce can chicken broth
14 ounce can beef broth
1-8 ounce can tomato sauce
6 tablespoons Gebhart’s (or other) chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons salt
2 fresh green serranno or anaheim chili peppers (chopped)
4 fresh jalapeno peppers (diced)

Brown beef in oil. Put in large chili pot and simmer with onion, garlic, and broth 1 Â― hours. Add tomato sauce, spices, and peppers. Add half a beer and drink the other half if you need more liquid. Cook on low heat 1 hour and 15 minutes (until beef and vegetables are tender-using ground beef instead of cubed decreases the cooking time required).
This is my favorite recipeâ€Ķyou can add a couple cans of pintos (rinse the beans before adding to the chili) if you prefer. For less heat you can remove the seeds and white fiber from the jalapenos or use Anaheim peppers which are milder. You could also just use 2 jalapenos and 2 Anaheim’s. You’ll have to experiment with your family’s palate; one thing I have noticed is not all jalapenos are equally hot, seems to make a difference with the scoville rating (how hot) as to the season or perhaps where they were grown. My kids like a dollop of sour cream in their bowl, and we usually serve with corn bread muffins. This is good stuff!
quote:
Originally posted by antiworst:
quote:
Originally posted by Hauser:
My daughter puts chocolate in hers. She said it's great!!


That would be "Cincinnati Chili", where they melt chocolate chips into their chili and serve over spaghetti.


Actually, I think it is called Skyline Chili (from Cincinnati, of course). There have always been debates as to who has better chili: Skyline Chili or Real Chili.
This one is my favorite although I do not follow it exactly. I like to use fresh Jalepenos rather than the Rotels. The beans are optional and you add the chili over the beans after everything is cooked;.

---

CHILI

1 1/2 Ib ground beef
5 tennis ball sized onions
1 15 oz can stewed and peeled tomatoes
1 can extra hot rotels
1 can regular rotels (if you like it real hot use two of the extra hot)
3 Table spoons crushed garlic (or 1 bulb fresh garlic, diced)
1 tea spoon cumin 1 table spoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt

brown the ground beef in a fry pan dice the onions add the crushed garlic, pepper, and cumin to the ground beef put the stewed tomatoes and rotels in a large kettle. When Hamburger is brown add to the tomatoes etc.


Bring to a boil for 15 minutes then lower the heat until chili just barely bubbles. Cook to the consistency of Spaghetti sauce for about two or three hours on the low heat.

Taste and season to your liking. You can also add jalapenos if you like.




BEANS

1 pounds pinto beans (raw)(more depending on how many you are going to feed)

3 slices regular bacon diced

2 onions diced

2 table spoons crushed garlic

1 teaspoon black pepper

soak the beans over night. The beans will soak up much of the water so make sure you check before leaving them for the night to see that they are covered. When you start to cook there should be about a 1/4 of an inch of water covering the beans.
Add the other ingredients and bring the beans to a rapid boil stirring frequently to keep from sticking to bottom. Lower the heat to a medium to low heat maintaining a good boil for aprox 1 hour. Lower heat to low and simmer for oneto two more hours. The beans should get thick so don't worry if they boil the water off The beans are done when they get soft and thick.
You can then add any salt that you want. Doing it before then the beans will get hard and you will never get them to soften up.
MC,

I had to tell you - yesterday after work I stopped and got the ingredients listed below. Whipped it up and threw it into the crock pot. It steeped for 24 hours, filling the house with chili aroma all day. I used 8 serranos and one jalapeno. I only used 1 can of stewed tomatoes, though, but I added a cup of beer to make up for the liquid. Other than that, I followed the recipe.

Finally, we dug in for dinner tonight. Delicious!! Fantastic flavor! Thanks for posting this!



quote:
Originally posted by MN Cheese:
2 big cans stewed whole tomatoes
1 big can tomato puree
1 small can tomato paste
1 white onion, baseball-size or larger, chopped
1 lb chuck roast, tenderized with a BFH and cubed
1 lb hot Italian sausage
2 Tbsp Penzey's chili powder
1 tsp Penzey's ground cumin
6-8 chopped Serrano peppers
2-4 chopped large garlic cloves

Brown the beef with half the chili powder, then dump it all in a big Crock-Pot and let it go for at least 24 hours. Add salt, pepper, and more heat as you see fit.

We grew Habaneros in the garden this past season and my wife made an extremely concentrated hot sauce out of them. (40 peppers made enough to fill an old "Cholula" bottle. Eeker) I like stuff pretty hot (and I do NOT mean the Minnesota definition of "hot", which is incomprehensibly wimpy, IMO), but one has to be very cautious with the use of this sauce. A tablespoon of it will turn your entire batch of chili into "chili starter", where you'll have to split it into thirds or quarters and start over.
I stumbled on to my recipe last year by experimenting.

I start out with 2 bags of 15 bean soup mix
Add 2 cans of whole tomatoes
1 whole onion
3 packages of chili seasoning
Garlic salt and pepper to taste
one half bottle of quaker steak and lube wing sauce (hot)
2 pounds of ground beef

My wife abolutely hates it when I eat this chili for obvious reasons.
Here's mine:


1 1/2 pounds ground beef -- salt and peppered, browned and drained
2 28 oz cans whole tomatoes -- coarsely chopped
1 46 oz can tomato juice
2 16 oz cans hot chili beans
1/2 onion -- diced
1/2 green pepper -- diced
1 teaspoon cumin
12 whole fennel seeds -- crushed
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon basil leaves
2 ounces jalapeno peppers, canned -- diced
Additional Hot peppers per your preference
6 cloves garlic -- crushed
1 pinch celery seeds
3 whole bay leaves
1 can beer

Brown and drain ground beef.
Add all ingredients except beer.
simmer until starting to thicken.
Add beer, simmer until desired consistancy.

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