At the risk of opening a whole new can of beans... I just made my NEXT best batch of "chili" (in quotes out of respect to the purists... )
This is not a recipe and does not include pictures. The thing is, when I make chili, it varies... depends a bit on what is on hand, a bit on my mood, and mostly my not so good memory... . The fun part is tasting as it goes, adjusting spices and flavors and seeing where it ends up - at least it's fun for me.
So today I had about 1&1/4# of ground beef that had to be cooked. I also had another 1&1/4# of ground poprk that should probably go in a pot soon. Traditionalists - stop reading now - fair warning.
I diced (very small) some onion and celery - about 1/2 cup of each. Another 1/2 cup of a fine diced green pepper (was a chunk that needed to be used.) The holy trinity. Tossed with a couple cloves of miced garlic in a med hot pan with some olive oil and kosher salt for a sweat. Pulled and put in the slow cooker.
Put the beef in the pan and browned with some salt and pepper. As it browned I added some chili powder (hot & mild) - I get my spices mail order from The Spice House in Milwaukee, WI. They are excellent. Added some of their various hot and mild dried peppers. The - I added a package of McKormick's chili seasoning. Why? I have found their blend to be a very nice addition to my other spices... not enough on their own but a nice addition.
Took the beef from the pan with a slotted spoon and added to the slow cooker. Put the pan back on the burner and added the pork. While the pork cooked I added a 15oz can of diced tomatoes (I like Hunts) and an 8oz can of diced fire roasted tomatoes. Another 8oz can of tomatoe sauce and a can of water to rinse the can. Two cans of drained and rinsed kidney beans (I warned you to stop reading...) All added to the slow cooker.
Now added the pork. Mix it all up - take the first taste for seasoning - always needs more of the chili powders and dried chilis...
Cook on high for a couple hours and then turn down to low. I should NOT open the cooker while it is going, but I have to try a small bowl at about 3 hours... Dang it is good! A bit too sweet yet, will need to adjust the heat in a few hours, but it is coming together.
I know this is NOT Texas or competition chili - but dang, it has hot, sweet, front heat, back heat, all the stuff, and it is good. The onliest problem - once again, I have not really written down how much of anything I used...
For me, chili is a fun and unique experience everytime I make it.
David