Chili... your secret ingredients

[Rainmaker]

Chili is one of my favorite cold weather dinners. Hearty, with some good corn bread, mmmmmm. But I have yet to make a batch of chili where I said "oh yeah, now that's the stuff!" I'm just following typical cookbook recipes most of the time. I try to throw in something different each time; cinnamon, sausage, beer.... but haven't found my "secret" ingredient yet.

What's your secret ingredient?

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

1 single a**hole hair

[NONOBLITUS]

That was a real and true LOL for me.

[William the Third]

[NONOBLITUS]

I also am a huge fan of Chili. I like to roast and peel my peppers first before I put them. Kind of adds a different flavor.

[Grendel]

'the Secret" - Hot Italian Sausage (~ 1/3 of the total meat weight) de-cased, broken up and fried. Sausage set aside then remainder of the meat (coarse ground chuck) is browned in the sausage grease. Sausage and meat added to the base for slow cooking.

[Knuckle Dragger]

I season and brown my cut meats with bourbon, salt, garlic, peppers (whatever peppers you prefer) and a dab of honey. Then dump everything in the pot and cook down for a couple hours. I also cook my beans in a pressure cooker first, then add later so I don’t have to worry about grainy beans. My recipe is pretty simple and hearty.

I’ve been thinking about doing a pot of chili since it’s cooling down, thanks for solidifying my decision.

[flyweightnate]

Interesting on the beans. I've never had a chili with good beans in it... how do you know they're "right"?

[Knuckle Dragger]

flyweightnate I quick soak them (boil for 5-10 minutes and let set for an hour) then cook them in a pressure cooker around 20-30 minutes with onion, salt and garlic, then let rest until it’s time to dump in the pot. I use garbanzo, black and Peruano beans in my chili. They’re my favorite mix, but you have to like beans.

[glaman5266]

Sweet corn. NOT the canned stuff. Must be frozen or fresh.

Not exactly a “secret” ingredient, but it’s not something I usually see people put in chili.

[BigRed]

Sneaking corn into recipes makes me think of the Fat Bastard line from Austin Powers...Corn? I dinnae remember eating corn!

[Jonnydread]

Maple sugar and a variety of hot pepper forms (fresh, dried, smoked)

[JeepDVLZ45]

Cream cheese! Yup, you heard that right, Cream Cheese (none of that low fat stuff though...)

Toss a block into your favorite recipe. I’ve won 3 out of 4 competitions so far - keep in mind, I’m in the North East — I don’t want to piss off the Chili Gods

(I came in runner-up in the one I didn’t win)

It’ll come out looking like dog vomit, but it makes the chili creamy, smooth and filling. Pairs perfect with a good SPICY chili

[Jellyghost]

I would use leaner ground beef with this idea.

[flyweightnate]

The cut of meat is important - I make a pretty lean chili, but with hot Italian sausage thrown in. Ground chuck will ruin it - just too greasy.

I've found cumin is a really solid addition, and recently started putting allspice in meatballs, so it's going in my next batch of chili.

Ancho chilies are the flavor backbone, but green chilies, habanero, scotch bonnet, and cascabel chilies often find their way in.

Oh, and I hate beans. They're always the wrong texture.

[Jellyghost]

When people talk about making Chili without Cumin, I wonder if they are actually making chili.

[latches109]

ground Wild ELK - tastes even better if you hiked at least 30mi to get it

[Junglepeanut]

One thing I love is some finely chopped red/yellow/orange bell pepper. Adds a great sweet flavor to it

[Ecapnation]

Adobo sauce...

[coyote]

I like using short ribs or oxtails meat wise.

[Hellion360]

It's not a secret, but I use garbanzo beans in mine.
They are hearty and hold their shape and texture well.

I also use corn.

[Ecapnation]

Way underrated!

I use both when I make my vegan chili....that and the aquafaba (bean juice) is a fantastic thickener

[Hellion360]

yes the aquafaba is very useful

[autococker04]

I put a whole fan of these little guys in, I chop them up first. Makes it spicy and smoky.



the real secret one is zucchini’s. They don’t actually add any flavor but they bulk it up a lot and no one has noticed yet.