Good Chili Recipe

I live in the Midwest and was brought up eating chili. If it was Sunday and a football game was on we were going to be eating chili. That was just how it worked in my house. It didn't help that my Dad didn't know how to cook anything besides frozen pizza and chili.

Over the years, many Sundays have gone by and so have many giant pots of chili. I have had good ones and I have had bad ones and overtime I have learned what works and what doesn't work. Below is my personal recipe for chili that is sure to impress.

Chili is a unique dish because you could ask 10 people to make it and each person would make something very different. This is a great recipe to get you started, but I recommend that you experiment with chili and try different ingredients.

Preparation of Chili

1. You will need to dice your carrots, onion, celery and green pepper.
2. Then mince you jalapeno pepper and garlic cloves.
3. You can also go ahead and measure out your chili spices. Place the cumin, chili powder, oregano, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper in a bowl.
4. Open the kidney beans and wash them under cold water to remove the juice from the can.
5. I like to open all the canned goods as well, so they are ready to be used.
6. You should also be certain that your meat is completely thawed and not frozen.

Cooking the Chili

1. Set up a large saute pan on one burner and a large stew pot on another burner. The saute pan should be set to medium heat and the stew pot should be set to low heat.
2. Add the pork sausage to the saute pan.
3. Then add the canned tomatoes with juices, tomato paste, and chicken stock to the large stew pot and stir.
4. When the tomato paste is mixed in well you can add the beans and stir. Try not to break the beans when you stir.
5. After the beans you can add the dry chili spices and stir carefully until the spices are mixed in well.
6. When your pork has browned in the saute pan you can add it to the stew pot. Do not worry if it is not cooked through, it will continue to cook in the pot. Keep the grease from the sausage in the saute pan.
7. Now add the beef to the saute pan and cook till it is browned.
8. When beef is browned, add it to the stew pot and stir.
9. Now add the onion, carrot, and green pepper to the saute pan. If there is too much grease in your pan you may get rid of some, but it is a good idea to have some grease in the pan. If you do not have enough grease you can add some vegetable oil to the pan to ensure your vegetables do not burn.
10. When the onions begin to brown add the celery, garlic and jalapeno pepper. Mix the ingredients together and transfer to the stew pot.
11. You will no longer need the saute pan and will need to let the stew pot cook for 1 hour while covered. You may stir every 20 to 30 minutes as the liquid comes to the top.
12. When the chili is done, you can serve it right away with sour cream, cheddar cheese and Fritos. However, you could also store the chili in the refrigerator and eat it the next day. Chili is always better the next day.