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The Best Chili Ever Recipe A methodical approach to perfecting classic beef chili.
serious eats ^

Posted on 01/31/2022 3:17:16 PM PST by mylife

gotta admit up front: The title of this article is somewhat misleading. Yes, we will discuss chili, and yes, it's the best chili I personally have ever made.

But! To call something "the best chili ever" implies that the recipe is perfect, and perfection implies that there is no room for improvement. I can only hope that others will continue perfecting the chili work that began on the Tex-Mex border, and that I continue testing, well after the last rich and spicy remnant is licked clean off the bottom of the bowl. With that disclaimer out of the way, let's move on to the testing.

My first step was to set up some parameters that would define the ultimate chili. Certainly, there are disputes in the chili world as to what makes the best. Ground beef or chunks? Are tomatoes allowed? Should we even mention beans? But I think we can all agree on a few things.

The ultimate chili should:

Have a rich, complex chile flavor that combines sweet, bitter, hot, fresh, and fruity elements in balance. Have a robust, meaty, beefy flavor. Assuming that it contains beans, have beans that are tender, creamy, and intact. Be bound together by a thick, deep-red sauce.

To achieve these goals, I decided to break down the chili into its distinct elements—the chiles, the beef, the beans, and the flavorings—perfecting each one before putting them all together in one big happy pot.

The Chiles: this important, as is the meat, i add beef chorizo as well

(Excerpt) Read more at seriouseats.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Food; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: chili; food; recipes
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To: carriage_hill

Use brown sugar in spaghetti sauce too.


141 posted on 01/31/2022 7:48:09 PM PST by caww ( )
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To: slouper

there are several chili contests with different rules even in TX

know the rules


142 posted on 01/31/2022 7:48:21 PM PST by mylife (France? what can you say? How do you rule a land with 246 kinds of cheese?)
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To: laplata

Vietnam. I bought the MRE’s as an emergency food supply, but after a decade plus I decided they had to have some sort of definite shelf life. They still taste fine to me, but my wife is not so sure.


143 posted on 01/31/2022 7:56:57 PM PST by Retain Mike ( Sat Cong)
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To: mylife

A family friend headed a Marine sniper team in Iraq. I sent him the traditional spam in every care package I got together for him. I told him I did not expect him to eat the stuff, but his team should cook it and dip their bullets in it and let the local Iraqi’s know. That way when they shot one of them he would go straight to hell because of the pork fat and never even be able to wave to the 72 virgins as he went by.


144 posted on 01/31/2022 8:04:45 PM PST by Retain Mike ( Sat Cong)
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some Tx chili rules are confounded stupid, you gotta make it on a wood fire in 3 hours.

no sir I wont be doing that, it will be crappola

but thems the rules in some tx competitions


145 posted on 01/31/2022 8:07:47 PM PST by mylife (France? what can you say? How do you rule a land with 246 kinds of cheese?)
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To: Retain Mike

I sent baby wipes and spices, jerky, batterys


146 posted on 01/31/2022 8:09:42 PM PST by mylife (France? what can you say? How do you rule a land with 246 kinds of cheese?)
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To: Retain Mike

we should have never tried to occupy Afghanistan, and should have never given up Iraq

hat tip


147 posted on 01/31/2022 8:12:38 PM PST by mylife (France? what can you say? How do you rule a land with 246 kinds of cheese?)
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To: mylife

LOL I use McCormick’s mix and add some stuff to give it more taste.......we like it. Don’t have time to cook real chili.


148 posted on 01/31/2022 8:13:04 PM PST by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite its unfashionability)
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To: Some Fat Guy in L.A.
not bad, I omit the masa and a lot of the salt... works in a pinch


149 posted on 01/31/2022 8:25:15 PM PST by mylife (France? what can you say? How do you rule a land with 246 kinds of cheese?)
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To: BiglyCommentary

Its a really mild chili...we can’t take a whole lot of spices anymore.
Just brown a pound of lean pork sausage (Jimmy Dean is good).
Add chopped onion and some chopped green pepper (to taste).
When onion is translucent, add:
1 can diced tomatoes with juice
1 small can tomato sauce
1 can chili beans with sauce
1 cup strong black coffee
1 tablespoon brown sugar (or to taste)
Simmer at least a half hour.
If you want to punch up the heat you can use hot sausage and add extra chili powder. If you like your chili thick you might have to thicken it or cook it down some.
The sausage and coffee add a depth of flavor that we like.


150 posted on 01/31/2022 8:31:55 PM PST by chronicles
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To: Zuriel

“No silf-rispectin Tixen puts baynz in thar chilluh.”

Sho nuff.


151 posted on 01/31/2022 8:41:45 PM PST by LastDayz (A blunt and brazen Texan. I will not be assimilated.)
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To: reed13k

“.... I also put in macaroni noodles...and I like it.”

Elbow macaroni’s eh.... small or large?


152 posted on 01/31/2022 8:45:48 PM PST by LastDayz (A blunt and brazen Texan. I will not be assimilated.)
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To: reed13k

“I also put in macaroni noodles...”

You’re making Stovetop Helper, not chili.


153 posted on 01/31/2022 8:51:30 PM PST by BiglyCommentary
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To: Retain Mike

I thought I recognized your methods.

I was a grunt in Nam, too. When in the rear we’d take condoments from the mess hall and spice up our C rations in the boonies. We only got a limited amount of MREs because they were new.

C 1/501 101st Airborne (Airmoble).

Welcome Home!


154 posted on 01/31/2022 8:52:15 PM PST by laplata
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To: dfwgator

“..... to go to the Terlingua Chili Cookoff ....”

A worthy bucket list item indeed. Thanks for the idea. Just hope I don’t end up behind a Frank.


155 posted on 01/31/2022 9:04:17 PM PST by LastDayz (A blunt and brazen Texan. I will not be assimilated.)
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To: laplata

ham and mfu**ers..


156 posted on 01/31/2022 9:28:03 PM PST by mylife (France? what can you say? How do you rule a land with 246 kinds of cheese?)
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To: mylife

That’s right. A little c 4 to cook off the fat . drain the fat, add some tabasco and chow down. Some hot coco for desert.


157 posted on 01/31/2022 9:46:55 PM PST by laplata
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To: laplata

A couple times we took Marines from Danang to Okinawa. The Marines liked the Navy chow. Our sailors broke into the cases of C rations we were taking back to Okinawa with the Marines. Go figure.


158 posted on 01/31/2022 10:21:13 PM PST by Retain Mike ( Sat Cong)
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To: Retain Mike

They probably wanted something different to eat.


159 posted on 01/31/2022 10:28:55 PM PST by laplata
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To: mylife

.


160 posted on 02/01/2022 12:15:50 AM PST by redinIllinois (Pro-life, accoountant, gun-totin' Grandma - multi issue voter )
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