The worst part about making chili, real fire house chili, is cook'n up those beans. I prefer black beens or dark kidneys as they don't get as mushy as those lighter beans that they make refried beans from. Lentils are a favorable substitute that I have done before. Anyhow, you typically have to start by soaking the beans, to both rinse them and get them started taking on water. Boil the water and let soak again over night. This could go on for about 2 to 3 days to get things done. Stir often to keep the thick bean broth generated from burning to the bottom of whatever your cook'n the beans in. Don't cook overnight, just let sit. You don't need midnight surprises that the fire department actually needs to come out and give you tips on your firehouse chili for. Don't pour off that brown water, its gonna contribute to the sauce! My ingredient list is simply added after the beans are done cook'n. They include ... Roma Tomatos They are thicker and meatier Aneheim Chilis Hot, but not overwhelming. Sorrano Chilis Hot and zingy. Habneros ( If you really want firehouse flavor ) Onions and lots of 'em. Paprika Chili Powder Cinnamon Not necessary, but you can experiment Cilantro Some people like to add some form of sugar, like molasses, etc., but I don't. Here are some tips ... 1.) Cut up Tomatoes, Onions and Peppers so they form long strips. Don't dice 'em. 2.) Go find some real earthy chili powder. New Mexico and California have some really nice varieties that range from a ocre red to more brownish and they have flavor that'll make your chili ... chili! 3.) Where's the beef? Oh, I don't put it in mine. But when I do, I like to do what I do with spaghetti sauce and add both beef and pork. Cut up something like stewing beef strips and center cut pork chops. 4.) My old friend balsamic vinegar can add an interesting change to your chili. 5.) OK so you don't like reall hard core chili - eh? Well, don't use the habneros and add celery to mellow things out. Use less chili powder. 6.) If your chili is really thick, make sure you drink alot. You can either thin it down before hand or afterwards ... it's your choice.

An update - popped open a jar of our tweaked chili sauce tonight (we're calling it our "North of the Border" chili sauce - did another batch tweaking the spices to make a "South of the Border" flavor). DH's comment - "Don't you dare change a thing - it's gooood". I think it just needed some time to meld all the flavors back together. Weird how that happens - in the future I certainly won't start making notes on what to change without tasting it after being on the shelf for a couple of months.

If you have a PC I would use that, that way you're not throwing off the taste by adding more vinegar. The thing is finding a similar recipe to get the processing time from. Since it's a small amount of vinegar, even though it's a small amount of pepper too, how about using a PC recipe for plain (in water) peppers from UC Davis? You're not really concerned with the small bits going mushy, though I'm not sure what the high temps would do to the sugar. It might end up tasting a little caramelized. But if you increase the vinegar to 50:50 ratio, then you could safely BWB as in the sweet pickled pepper recipe, 1 Tbsp garlic is about 6 cloves, that's a lot for 1half pint (?) of sauce but you don't have the 7 lbs of peppers either. Maybe cut down the garlic? The Ball recipe uses 36 cloves for 9 half pints - not as much as the recipe above. Do you object to the red pepper flakes and prefer to use fresh chiles? Or is it too vinegary? As malna said, the garlic is the thing that makes it hard to acidify. Ball Thai Chili Sauce (from freshpreserving.com): 1/2 cup finely chopped garlic (about 36 cloves) 1 Tbsp salt 6 cups cider vinegar 6 cups sugar 1/2 cup hot pepper flakes 9 (8 oz) half pint glass preserving jars with lids and bands Directions: PREPARE boiling water canner. Heat jars and lids in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set bands aside. COMBINE garlic and salt in a small mixing bowl. Set aside. HEAT vinegar to a boil in a large saucepan. Add sugar, stirring to fully dissolve. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add garlic mixture and hot pepper flakes, stirring well. LADLE hot sauce into hot jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe rim. Center hot lid on jar. Apply band and adjust until fit is fingertip tight. PROCESS in a boiling water canner for 15 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed. I'm hoping Dave will weigh in. This post was edited by ajsmama on Thu, Sep 18, 14 at 17:04

Now I understand so many things. I know why these little bundles are a family affair on New Year's Day! Yes, Woodie, I'll say they're a lot of work...I need a Margarita. My recipe made 50, and I had some pork left over so it looks like I may be making burritos soon. (I'm not complaining.) I froze half of them without steaming, and will try freezing some of the steamed ones to see which is preferable. For some reason, I really want to add a big mess of carmelized onions to the pork mixture, but I thought I'd do it according to the recipe the first time. I did have to strain the chili sauce, so if you try these, add that as an extra step! The official taste test is tonight...