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.

Lars - thank you for the response. I also got an email from CindyMac saying that she used the Siracha, and liked to double the sauce ingredients. In the end I doubled the sauce ingredients, but only used 1 tablespoon of the Siracha and 1 tablespoon of the garlic chili sauce - a good move, because it was plenty hot. But nothing that a glass of sweet and spicy Gewurtraminer couldn't solve LOL. We really enjoyed it, and I'll make it again. The only thing I'll do differently next time is to let the rice sticks soak a little longer than 10 minutes - they were still a little on the chewy side. Becky

Linda C, close your eyes. I guess I broke rule #1 "be sure you have all your ingredients before you start". I didn't have pickling spices, never, ever having made pickles. I have just been to 2 grocery stores plus Dollar General. What they have are pickling spices for specific pickles...dill, kosher dill, bread & butter and pickling lime by either Mrs Wages or Ball. If I had to guess I'd say bread & butter. This whole canning thing says stick to the recipe which I'm trying very hard to do. It's now 6:30, I have smooshed the tomatoes, chopped the onions, which I deposited on top of the tomatoes. Can I just cover the pan, refrigerate and start over tomorrow, when I can go in search of the elusive pickling spices? I hate to be such a pain in the rear, but I obviously need a little pickling advice Again, TIA. jude

Sorry I took days to get back to this. I had to go away for a few days and my personal life was at a stand still. Kay, that is exactly what I intend to do gram for gram...but I just wanted to ask if anyone already had some experience and for my very first round just keep things simple so that I get the ropes of the fermenting procedure itself.....thank you though! Dave, You know, when I was thinking how it could be possible that the calyxes if left on make a big perceptible difference in flavor to the sauce I thought it might be some special bacteria that reside in this tissue that produce some chemical(s) during fermentation that imparts the difference in flavor. I didn't this it would spoil the pepper mix. The calyx region is actually known to cause spoilage?? This recipe is an adaptation from the published and very popular Sriracha book, for all that its worth. A did read in a few places that you are suppose to use about 2% of the weight of the produce in salt. In the recipe I am using there is 1-1/2 lbs of peppers (675gms) to 2 tsp sea salt. I weighed this and it was 13 gms for me which is about 2%. There is no added water. Is that what you know to be correct? Today I read to add 3.3%. Well...maybe next time? And they say to ferment for 4-7 days, stirring once or twice a day, keeping loosely covered. They do say to stop the fermentation and move on to adding vinegar when you like the taste. That is vague for me! When am I supposed to stop? When it tastes 'right' or when fermentation is over? And how do I really know when fermentation is over? People say allow to ferment 1 week, 4 weeks.....you know all about that. Well things seem to be going OK. The fermentation did start on day 2, bubbling nicely, flavor changing very nicely. No mold or off flavors what so ever. This is day 6. I am letting it go on because I really don't know when I am supposed to stop. The fermentation (bubble production) is much slower now. I asked about this in a separate post also. Thank you so much. K.