What is your idea of "perfect" chili?

I'm sure I will be laughed at for this but, when I was younger, I never realized that chili was not meant to be a perfect accompaniment to pasta. My mother always made chili served upon pasta. It was delicious and we naturally never thought otherwise of it.

I now know that chili is not intended as a "topping" but a creation all unto itself! I now enjoy it that way when eaten outside of home. Being a meat guy, I do enjoy thicker chilis. I suppose spiciness is what can either accent or break chili, to my taste. Being a mild kinda guy (in more ways than one...haha), I find that overly hot seasonings "distract" from the wholesome substance of the chili itself. Yet I'm sure some might find their taste for it to be just the opposite.

So what "makes" chili for you? Is it the consistency? A particular proportion of ingredients? Secret beans? A secret spice?

Grabbing a spoon and licking my lips...

Jeff

Chili, like BBQ, is a topic more likely to lead to sectarian strife than any other culinary topic, I think. For me, the defining quality of chili is the seasoning. I can forgive many sins in a chili if they get the spicing right. And, yes, me likes it HOT.

Mark Lipton

I enjoy a wide variety of chili styles. My current favorite is one from a book I have called "Best Soups and Stews" from the folks at America's test kitchen. I could type in the ingredients list if anyone is interested but from memory, with four pounds of cubed up beef you want something like 3 tablespoons of New Mexico red chili powder (I often use Chimayo), and 3 tablespoons of Ancho chili powder. Of course there are several other ingredients but the flavor really comes from the meat and the chili powder. If that sounds like way too much chili powder, let me point out that Ancho chilis are dark and sweet and not very hot at all. The Ancho chili gives it a depth and richness. The Chimayo gives it a brightness and some definite heat. I think that for years I thought of the chili powder as only a way to make it hot, but really that is what makes chili taste like chili.

If you are going to get serious about chili you need to learn how to use the whole dried peppers that you can find in Mexican groceries. There are a variety of ways to proceed, but I usually heat-dry them and then grind them to a powder. I think "real" Mexicans nearly never do that, they soak or boil the peppers in the dish and either just take them out at the end or scrape off the pasty surface and use that.

All meat chili is absolutely delicious and a luxury. I don't like the fact that THAT much meat and THAT much effort is gone in a couple of meals, so I may desecrate the chili with beans just to stretch out the experience of eating it.

FWIW this same cookbook also has my favorite all vegetarian chili -- using several kinds of beans, and some tempeh seared with canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce to give it extra heat and a bit of meaty chew.

Jeff - when I was in the Marines, chili was not served over pasta, but rice. A few years ago we had threads about chili, and the big debate was whether or not real chili has beans. Here is a link to one such thread: Chili.

Howie, Hi...

When I was in the Marine Corps, I had the good fortune to be able to dine in the dining room of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Chili there was served in deep bowls on absolutely nothing, nada, de rien, clum, efes. And it was always served in three versions - hot, very hot and so damned hot that you want to go to war after eating it. It was one of the most often discussed dishes among the general staff of the Armed Forces. I can also vouch for the fact that when Eisenhower, who was the president at the time served chili at the White House it was always on the mild side.

Best
Rogov

Jeff - when I was in the Marines, chili was not served over pasta, but rice. A few years ago we had threads about chili, and the big debate was whether or not real chili has beans. Here is a link to one such thread: Chili.

I remember Robert J. the "Muffin Stud" and his obsession with all meat "Texas" chili. He hasn't been around here recently...

I went to college in Texas, and I never saw chili without beans. But that was Houston, and eating at the diner counter in Houston. The chili was excellent but beany...

Here is an article that tells the history of Cincinnati chili, which I love.
Did you know that this type of chili does not use browned hamburger, rather it is put into a pot with the liquid?

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Beef/CincinnatiChili.htm

Aside from that, I have never met a chili I did not like. I make all types, meat only, with beans, white chili, and even the very popular Chasen's Chili which has a history of it's own. However, my go to chili to make on a lazy winter day is simply this. Browned hamburger with onions, garlic and celery. A can of chopped tomatoes, salt, pepper, and loads of Grandma's Spanish Seasoning. A generous amount of red kidney beans thrown in, then cook slow until the flavors come together.
I also like using all types of additions such as fresh lime juice, cilantro, raw onion, sour cream, crackers, red pepper flakes, hot sauces (never salsa) cinnamon, pickled jalapeños. Chili is so versatile, and so much fun to play with. I could never settle on just one way to make it. Our RV group has a huge chili cook-off every year. I have made the rounds, tried them all....never have found a reject.

Jeff - when I was in the Marines, chili was not served over pasta, but rice.

Don't know if things have changed but when we lived in Hawaii in the mid '70s chile on rice was the island's favorite fast food. They even served it at McDonald's.

I'm more or less with Mark on this. To me, the defining quality is the spicing. I'm not into wildly hot chili, but it has to have that chili powder flavor, along with at least a bit of cumin and a few other odds and ends.

If the spicing is right, then I'll deem it "chili", whether it has beans or no beans, meat or no meat, etc. (although the vegetarian versions admittedly stretch the definition pretty far).

I buy oregano at the local Mexican grocery -- Mexican oregano really does taste different.

And I pan-toast the whole cumin seeds before grinding them.

Louise's favorite variant though is when I put in a bottle of chocolate stout. Chocolate flavoring in a savory dish is very Mexican but I don't think chocolate stout in chili is at all traditional. Tastes good tho.

If the spicing is right, then I'll deem it "chili", whether it has beans or no beans, meat or no meat, etc. (although the vegetarian versions admittedly stretch the definition pretty far).

Agreed. (I'm not a fan of red beans so I prefer the meat-only version but to each his own.)

Jeff - when I was in the Marines, chili was not served over pasta, but rice. A few years ago we had threads about chili, and the big debate was whether or not real chili has beans. Here is a link to one such thread: Chili.

I remember Robert J. the "Muffin Stud" and his obsession with all meat "Texas" chili. He hasn't been around here recently...

I went to college in Texas, and I never saw chili without beans. But that was Houston, and eating at the diner counter in Houston. The chili was excellent but beany...

Cowboy's chili is about as close to perfect as I've ever made. Just sayin'.

Jeff - when I was in the Marines, chili was not served over pasta, but rice. A few years ago we had threads about chili, and the big debate was whether or not real chili has beans. Here is a link to one such thread: Chili.

Thanks Howie. I'll have to check that out.

Jeff

I can also vouch for the fact that when Eisenhower, who was the president at the time served chili at the White House it was always on the mild side.

Best
Rogov

It sounds like I might have enjoyed Eisenhower's "chili parties"...

Jeff

Cowboy's chili is about as close to perfect as I've ever made. Just sayin'.

I think a lot of Texans would consider Houston a "special case" -- a little too cosmopolitan, a little too connected to the rest of the world! Certainly that would be true of Rice U.

I buy oregano at the local Mexican grocery -- Mexican oregano really does taste different.

And I pan-toast the whole cumin seeds before grinding them.

Louise's favorite variant though is when I put in a bottle of chocolate stout. Chocolate flavoring in a savory dish is very Mexican but I don't think chocolate stout in chili is at all traditional. Tastes good tho.

Frank,
You're a man after my own heart. Do you also toast your oregano leaves? If not, you should: it adds an extra degree of complexity to the flavors. I wouldn't say that chocolate in a savory dish is very Mexican. Apart from mole Poblano, the purported creation of a Spanish nun in 17th C Puebla, there's very little chocolate in Mexican savory dishes. There is, however, plenty of chili pepper in Mexican chocolate, along with cinnamon, nutmeg and other goodies.

Mark Lipton

I buy my Mexican oregano from Penzey's Spice and I agree that toasting it, along with some of the other spices takes the chili to a different level. Now I'm hungry for chili and it is climbing into the 80's here. Dang!