[Urban]

The above recipe made my testicles ascend in horror. You are not to put beans in chili. Ever. As it happens I made chili tonight, and here's about what I used:

1.33 lbs ground beef
3 pieces of bacon
.5 lbs sausage (my grocery store sells "breakfast sausage." It's pork, it's seasoned, it's ready to be made into patties, and it's tastey)
2 shallots (finely chopped)
1 onion (finely chopped)
1-2 cups strong coffee
1 bottle beer (I used corona extra cause that's all I had on hand, but a good ale would be much better) ... an extra bottle for the chef is good
1 chipotle pepper in abodo sauce (not one can, one pepper, chopped fine. You can add more peppers for more heat if you like)
2 tsp coco powder
2-3 tsp honey
2 dried ancho chile peppers (deseeded and chopped fine. I grind mine in a coffee grinder.)
2 dried california chile peppers (deseeded and chopped fine, again I grind mine in a coffee grinder instead of chopping them)
1.5 tsp liquid smoke
1-2 tsp chili poder
2-3 tsp cumin
7 oz tomato paste
8 oz salsa

Grind bacon (i used a food processor). Season all meat with chili powder, salt and pepper, brown all meat in a 5 qt dutch oven (the only pot you need for this recipe). remove from pot and sweat (not saute) onions garlic and chile peppers over med-low heat until onions are soft. Add everything else, slap the lid on and let it sit on a low flame for for 3-4 hours, stirring every 30-40 minutes.

It's chili, it's manly, and it's not this foo-foo turkey chili and kidney bean stuff. It seems like a big list, but mostly chili is a concoction of shit you have around your kitchen (salsa, chlli powder, chile peppers, tomato paste, honey, coco powder, beer, coffee, onions, cumin and shallots were all things I had just sitting around. You can do well with a lot less). In fact, real chile con carne is defined only by three ingredients: meat, cumin, and chile peppers. Chili is about the chile peppers, the sooner you recognize that, the better off you'll be.