Do you want to start an argument about chili? Is it “chili”, “chile”, or “chilli”? Are we talking about a country, a type of pepper, a seasoning, or a dish?
There’s all kinds of camps that will jump at the chance to argue about chile, chilli or chili. I’m not talking about the South American country, that’s a whole other definition and word origin. When we’re on food, first there’s a question about the proper spelling of the word and whether it relates to a meaty, delicious, sometimes burn your mouth, food item also called chili con carne by some. Or, are we talking about the pepper or a particular type of spice or seasoning?
I’m not going to get into that fight. I’m simply going to use the word that is most commonly used in the United States as it refers to cooking competitions of the stuff that sometimes melts your mouth; the famous chili cook-off and official official state dish of Texas, chili.
Once we get past the spelling, there’s a whole argument about recipes and contents. In some parts of the country chili is a meat and spice only dish. Other parts of the country, (certainly not Texas), some folks add beans and still others choose to eat this as a topping for spaghetti noodles.
Again, I’m not entering into any arguments here either about what is authentic or the best way to make real chili. I will tell you how I do it and we’ve never had complaints or had to throw out leftovers.
When I make chili, I go for extra lean ground beef, tomato sauce and a pile of various seasonings. Before I decided on the blend of spices that I currently like to use, when we would use a commercial seasoning, it would usually be Wick Fowler’s 2 Alarm Chili.
I mentioned getting in arguments at the beginning of this conversation and chili heat is one of those arguments that I prefer not to fight too. For some tastes in our household, “2 Alarm” is too much. One thing about heat, you can always add more but it sure is hard to take it out. With that in mind, the recipe that I’m sharing today is one one we call Cindy’s Favorite, Barely Alarming Chili in honor of my wife’s temperature sensitive taste buds. If it’s not hot enough you can always increase the Red Pepper or feel free to throw in some jalapeños, serranos, or even some Tabasco Sauce at the end.
The cooking process is not complicated, however, where the real nuances are found among chili chefs is in the various spice mixtures that come into play.
The basic steps to making chili are browning the meat, adding the spices, adding tomato sauce and other liquid, and then thickening the sauce.
The coals are ready, a bit of oil in the pan, time for the meat.
Unlike much of the Dutch oven cooking that we do, we don’t have to worry about counting coals or properly arranging them on the lid as well as underneath. Chili, like soups and stews is really a bottom heated dish.
We start off by browning the ground beef.
Once browned, if using fresh veggies, remove the meat from the pot and dump in the chopped onions and minced garlic. Our objective here is to soften the onions and cook the garlic but not to brown them. Once the onions are soft add the meat back in to the pot.
No time to chop or mince? Don’t worry, we won’t take off points for garlic powder or dried onion flakes, in fact that’s what we’ll list in the recipe below. You may notice we did not drain the grease from the pot. That works because of the use of extra lean ground beef. If you are using a fattier blend, go ahead and drain all but a few tablespoons prior to putting in the seasoning.
Add the spices and stir until it’s blended thoroughly. From there it’s time to add the tomato sauce, a bit of water, put on the lid, and simmer for 30 minutes to incorporate the tastes throughout. For thickening the sauce, add masa harina to some hot water to form a paste. Add the paste back into the pot and stir. Now set the timer for another 15-20 minutes of simmering.
Make a paste of Masa/Corn flour and water 
Paste of Masa Harina and warm water added as a thickening agent. 
Masa added, let the thickening begin.
If you haven’t been sampling as you go, now’s the time for a taste test and if it passes, start serving.
For some folks it’s time to eat and for others it’s time for some toppings. We sometimes have grated cheese, chopped onions, Sour cream, cornbread, oyster crackers, or saltine crackers. Other times it goes on top of Frito’s with some added cheese for Frito Pie. Any way you go, chilli is a great way to warm up on a cold day.
CIndy’s Favorite Barely Alarming Chili (Servings 6)
Ingredients
2 lbs ground beef, ground for chili
1 can tomato sauce, 15 ounce
1 ½ tomato sauce cans of water
2 t paprika
4 t cumin
1 ½ t salt
1 T dried onion flakes
1⁄4 t garlic powder
1⁄2 C chili powder
¼ t ground red pepper
2 T masa harina (for Whole30 and GF, I go with Almond Flour)
1⁄4 C hot water
Directions
1. Brown beef & drain.
2. Add tomato sauce, water, paprika, cumin, salt, onion flakes, garlic powder, chili powder, and ground red pepper.
3. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Dissolve masa into hot water to make a thickener mixture.
5. Add masa mixture to chili.
6. Add beans – NEVER. This is chili, not stew or soup.
7. Cover and simmer another 15-20 minutes.
8. Dig in.
