How do you make chili? Do you use beans? What's your best recipy?
Here's mine: You can add beans and you can add a tomato or two, or even a bell pepper, but you don't have to. Chili
Cube the meat (1 in.) and brown it in the animal fat. When the meat has released its juices (DO NOT DRAIN!), add the onion and a whole lot of that chili powder and some cayenne if you like it hotter. You want to add enough to coat the meat and create a smooth mixture with the moisture released from the onion and the liquid fat. Keep tasting it to see how much. A tablespoon of oregano should do. Cook on the lowest setting for about 4 hours. 4 lb meat (with lots of connective tissue-- stewing beef or neck works well)
4 oz animal fat
Garlic
2 large chopped onions
Chili powder
Cayenne pepper
Oregano
I cook some ground beef, then toss in whatever I have on hand that has tomatoes in it, along with some corn. If I have chili powder I'll put that in as the beef cooks, if not, I'll use hot sauce. Results vary from bland to okay. I should probably add beans sometime.
I really can't imagine chili without tomatoes or beans. I am used to both. Last night as I believe I mentioned I made chili - I tried this recipe for the first time
4 pounds of meat, cubed, not ground. I use 2xbeef, 1xpork, 1xlamb. If lamb is too expensive, make that 2xbeef and 2xpork. Cut the meat into bite-sized bits.
Kidney beans, black beans and pinto beans. I use two cans of each, include the liquid in the cans.
1 big can of cubed tomatoes. drain this first.
1 onion, cut into 1/4's
Garlic to taste (I love garlic so I sue a lot of it.
Seasoning depends on my mood, but usually chipolte pepper, cayenne and paprika. If I can swing whole peppers, I cut them into bite-sized bits while remove the seeds and white fibre inside them.
A good bottle of beer, I prefer an IPA, you do what you like. Throw all of this into a crockpot with the meat on the bottom. Set it to high. In an hour, taste test the chili. Season very lightly and add some salt to taste, then set the temp to low. The longer you cook this, the better it all mixes together, but I find that 3-4 hours at low works great. And it makes the house smell awesome. If the chili is still to soupy an hour before you want to eat, take about 1/2 of a potato (about 1/4 a cup tops) and cube it to about 1cm on a side. Dump that into the chili and stir until the cubes are all throughout the chili. These will dissolve for the most part and thicken the dish. Serve with cheese, sour cream and the hot sauce of your choice.
I realized today that I expressed opprobrium when you mentioned "Texan chili" the other day, even though I am Texan. The reason is that I only eat vegetarian chili, so if you take Texan chili and remove the meat you are essentially eating paste. My chili is slowcooked, and involves a lot of pinto/black beans, a lot of diced onions, a lot of chopped bell peppers, a lot of chili powder, cumin, basil, salt, pepper, etc, a few carrots, garlic, and whatever the hell else I'm forgetting. Then I slowcook it all together for like 16 hours, the longer the better. I'm not certain you can call that chili but it is extremely good and makes like 9 servings at once.