If you want to win...use beef short ribs slowly braised rather than hamburger for your chili. Makes an incredible difference in flavor and mouth feel. Also, grind your own spices and use dried chilies (fry the chilies on a dry comal or skillet before grinding).

Have fun!

/tricia

It seems like they've devised a set of rules and restrictions and ingredients that are guaranteed to result in a bunch of batches of chili that are very similar and mediocre (at best). Are they also providing the pots? The cooking equipment? Its hard to imagine some portable cooking equipment being able to generate the heat needed to brown the amount of meat, to heat 10 gallons of stuff enough to cook the ingredients or even being able to keep a 10 gallon pot of chili warm enough to be "safe" without also burning the chili on the bottom.

The "Award Winning Chili" I make, doesn't have any hamburger, or green peppers, or stewed tomatoes, or tomato sauce, and would never ever ever have kidney beans. Furthermore given that they are providing 10 lb cans of these items, odds are they will be the cheapest brands available rather than anything with tomato flavor.

As for amounts, I've posted my recipe below which makes about 5 to 6 quarts of chili, and it calls for 5 1/2 pounds of meat overall.

Award Winning Chili

4 lbs Choice Angus Stew Beef
1 lb Smoked Sausage (chopped)
1/2 lb thick-sliced Bacon (chopped)
2 large Yellow Onions (chopped)
1 large Sweet Onion (chopped)
1 large Red Bell Pepper
2 Serrano Pepper (seeded and chopped fine)
1 Tbsp Oil
3 Tbsp Cumin
1 1/2 Tbsp Chili Powder
1 1/2 Tbsp Ancho Chili Powder
2 Tbsp Diced Pickled Jalapeno Peppers
1 Tbsp Crushed Garlic
1 tsp Black Pepper
2 15 oz cans Diced Tomato w/ peppers (drained, reserve liquid)
1 small can Tomato Paste
1 Tbsp Adobo Sauce
4 Chipotle peppers (seeded and chopped)
2 15 oz Bush's Chili Beans
3 15 oz cans Black Beans (drained)
1 15 oz can Small Red beans (drained)
2 12 oz bottles Dark Beer (porter or stout)
1.5 oz Lindt Dark Chocolate w/ Chili

Spread beef pieces on baking sheet and place in freezer for about 10 minutes. Place in batches in food processor and pulse several times until meat is coarsely ground. Next in brown meat in large shallow pan over high heat in smallish batches, deglazing pan with the beer between each batch, keeping seared meat and the deglazing liquid in a glass bowl for later.

Next smoked sausage until lightly browned, and remove that meat to another bowl. Then cook bacon until crisp, and remove to bowl with smoked sausage.

Then add the onions to the bacon grease and cook over medium heat until onion is softened and translucent.

Start large pot with oil over high heat, add red bell pepper and serrano pepper, stirring frequently until the peppers are browned and lightly scorched. The add onions to large pot and add chili powders, cumin, and garlic stir in well for a few minutes, then add tomato paste, pickled jalapenos, black pepper, chipotle peppers and adobo sauce, stir and cook for a few more minutes.

Next add the diced tomatoes, all of the beans and the two bowls of cooked meat, and any remaining beer, heat to simmering and reduce heat to low and simmer for about 1 hour until the meat is tender. If the pot seems too dry after it reaches simmering, add some of the reserved liquid from the canned tomatoes.

Remove from heat, stir in chocolate, refrigerate overnight.

Reheat the next day to a low simmer, and serve with shredded cheddar on the side.

10 gallons = 40 quarts

Get a couple of BIG stockpots.

There are 12 Cups (3 quarts) or 96 ounces in a number 10 can, by volume. Drained, the beans will be less, and I wouldn't want to have huge amounts of bean juice diluting the chili. Buy a can of them, drain it and check the volume.

Check the volume of each of the ingredients they are giving you and adjust to get to 10 gallons.

I would try to find a few other kinds of beans - black bean chili is good and you can usually get #10 cans in brine at a restaurant supply company. Drain and rinse, don't salt the chili until you add and cook the beans.

To thicken the chili, drain and puree some beans. No messing with flour and no chance of lumps. If you decide to go with the black beans, puree the kidney beans as thickener.

For maximum cooking time, take some skillets and hotplates, everyone has knives of someone brings a mandolin or food processor ... one person starts browning the beef ASAP while the others are prepping veggies and opening cans. If they will let you use commercial pre-prepped things, the chopped garlic in olive oil is great.

Brown the beef, dump it into the stock pot as it cooks, then use the drippings to brown the onions and garlic, adding some olive oil if you need it.

Super secret ingredients for Mexican-style black bean chile:
Leave out the green peppers. They will mess up the secret.

Finely ground dried shiitake mushrooms, on the other hand, would be wonderful.

Dark chocolate, cinnamon and powdered chipotle chiles (mild) ... Take some of the fat from the ground beef after you have browned it and blend in about 1/4 cup dark chocolate, a teaspoon of cinnamon and a tablespoon of the chipotle powder ... cook on low and blend until it's smooth and then stir it into the chili. Simmer the chile a while, then stir it and taste it.

It should have a rich, slightly mouth-warming feel to it, not scorching hot.

I am also wondering if they are providing pot s or a heat source. We did 5 gallons for a cookoff -- and that's a lot of chili and can be challenging to get appropriate cooking heat. We actually cooked ours at home and only had to keep it hot on site.

Do you have to use all the ingredients provided? Are the green peppers bell peppers? jalapenos? New Mexico chilies? Something else -- can make a huge difference. I wouldn't want to use them if they are bells. I also use beans (black and seasoned pintos) but not kidney beans.

I can't give you a recipe to try -- I have never measured what I use to make chili -- it just goes together. But Bob and I would agree that depth of flavor is important. Anyone can make a chili that has a lot of heat, but it's the layers of flavor that excite your tastebuds and warm your soul. I want to taste the chili, not have my mouth on fire. Since you are in New England, I would think a mild to medium heat with rich flavor would be a good approach.

I sometimes use beer and I do use chocolate, but I use unsweetened cocoa powder (start wit 1 tsp per gallon but you may use more). I use diced and crushed tomatoes but no paste (some folks say no tomatoes in chili as well as no beans).

I also use an assortment of chili peppers. One I don't see in Bob's is pasilla negro. I order it from Chimayo to Go and love the sweet, dark flavor. That and your ancho are almost no heat, but give rich flavor. I use guajillo or chimayo red for more heat as well as a blend I buy locally for rounding out (Fiesta fancy light chili powder). I usually add a bit more cumin though it is in that blend (along with some Mexican oregano).

I would have salt, pepper and garlic powder on hand in case you need to adjust the seasoning. If you need to thicken the chili, in general, but also with time constraints, masa or corn meal will do the trick.

Good luck -- with the chili and the cooking. I hope you have a huge turnout. We had leftovers with 5 gallons. They might want to have to go containers and sell the remainders.

Minimum 20 pounds of onions, ... use the tomato paste and tomatoes as liquid, add beans as the "filler".

Spices for black bean chili ... as well as the chocolat/chipotle mix, the garlic, a few bay leaves and a tablespoon or so of oregano. No cumin, no soy sauce (unless you can get "black soy" which tastes like mushrooms) ... it's not the traditional Tex/Mex flavor.

After you get the meat and onions sauteed and in the stock pot, add the tomatoes and stir ... add more tomatoes if you think it's not 'red' enough.

Then fill it with the drained beans and add enough bean liquid to let it simmer ... as it cooks down, add more juice from the beans.

It's supposed to be thick, to be served over rice.

I planned on using tomato powder to help thicken. Never thought about mushroom powder, great idea! I thought about adding chocolate or cocoa powder but I have never added it so I will have to experiment. I always put beer in my chili but I'm not sure alcohol is allowed so I have emailed the Chairperson to ask. There's no rule stating I have to use the ingredients they provide but I can't use pre-prepped items like the smoked pork from our pig roast. (It makes an awesome chili!) Short ribs would be great but I'm not sure they would cook in time. Outdoor cooking is always a challenge in New England especially in the fall. It might be windy, rainy or even snowing!

To answer some questions:
No they are not supplying cooking source or pots. I have two turkey fryer propane burners, two 60 qt stockpots and a 24" cast iron fry pan that's 3+" deep. I also plan on borrowing one more propane burner. We have a 10 X 10 pop up canopy with sides so if it's windy we can close the windy side to keep the burners at efficiency.

I just found out about this yesterday and the event is Oct. 5th so I'm playing catch up. I figured I will do the cutting since my knife skills are better than DD & DS. They can cook the meat, saute the veggies etc. I will bloom the spices and add them to the pot. I plan on splitting the chili between the two pots because trying to keep 10 gallons of chili at the proper temperature without scorching will be a challenge. I plan on bringing instant read thermometers to keep an eye on the temperature.

Since it's out first year and the event is on it's 10th year, I don't expect to win but it would be nice to turn out a respectable product, help raise funds and of course have fun. That being said, both DD & I are extremely competitive so...

Thank you for all the great ideas and recipes! I have sent an email to the Chairperson asking what defines pre-prepped items so I can get a better idea of what I can and can't use. I will keep you posted.

When I make the above chili, at the point when it is finished cooking, it is too sharply hot, which is why one of the steps is refrigerate overnight and reheat. After resting overnight, the flavor mellows and deepens, and the spiciness profile broadens so that while the heat lingers, it doesn't rise to the level of painfully hot.

There may be shortcuts that will allow you to get some depth of flavor in the amount of time you have, but I will bet that the winners will find some way of "cheating" within the rules, perhaps a homemade custom chili powder, or a homemade diced cooked pepper melange or something.

If you are allowed to bring "spices" from home this one of those ideas might help, if you are limited to the spices and ingredients they provide, I think its hopeless.

Note when I wrote my chili "would never ever ever have kidney beans." Its not because I'm a "no beans in chili" purist, simply that IMHO other beans work better in chili than kidney beans.

IIRC the last time I made the above chili I used a 3 1/2 lb bottom round roast diced into 3/8" cubes instead of doing the food processor method in the recipe. It needed about 2 hours of low simmering for the meat to become tender, but I think it worked as well or better than the recipe as written.

Please tell me that at least they are providing coarse ground beef rather than standard hamburger grind.

To me it seems like they are putting on an art exhibition, but then are telling the artists "you only get this 4 pack of crayons and you have to color in the picture on this placemat."

This post was edited by bob_cville on Mon, Sep 15, 14 at 18:29

Bob, I agree with you. The OP asked about ingredients, so I am understanding that they are given basics. If they have to use all of the provided ingredients, it is going to be very limiting. If they can't bring additional ingredients, well, why bother?

We can bring additional ingredients but none pre-prepped. For example I can bring dried mushrooms but I will have to grind them at the competition. One of exceptions is we can bring premixed spices. What would you suggest for a mixture?

Hmmm...........tomato paste and tomato sauce?

Whose idea of chili is this, anyway. Sounds more like spaghetti sauce.

I would never add those. Canned or fresh tomatoes, sure.

It will be fun following this.

Guess it's a Northeastern idea of chili.

You sound really committed to this. Good for you. Hope your team wins.

Could ground dried mushrooms be a part of one of your pre-mixed "spice blends"? Or if you are allowed to bring a jar of diced pickled jalapenos, could you add other diced peppers to the jar?

Ok so I have more info. We do not have to use the ingredients provided. We do have to cook the chili on site. We can bring whatever ingredients we need. They are pretty flexible as long as we do most of the prep on site and not flagrant in what we pre-prep.

I found this list of recipes from the winners from the International Chile Society Cook-off. I've been looking to up the ante on my chili and was hoping to find the secret ingredient among the winning recipe. The recipes I read look basically the same. What am I missing?
http://www.chilicookoff.com/Recipe/Recipe_WCCC_Recipes.asp?Cat=1

If you do not feel like it is within the rules to grind dried mushrooms at home prior to the event, you can purchase mushroom powder on Amazon.

I was going to give you hints on how DD's sorority won the chili cook-off at her school every year (Biggest Hint: one dad was a chef), but most of their prep was done the night before. Chef Dad had the girls finely chopping TONS of beef the night before...no ground beef. However, that won't fit within the rules of your contest.

This is very interesting. I can't wait to hear how it comes out. Good luck!

Moosemac, in that case, I'd plan on bringing everything I know I will need, perhaps minus some onions and beef.

What style of chili do you want to make? Red beef and beans? Chicken? Verde? Vegetarian? Something seasonal (using butternut, pumpkin or sweet potatoes)? Can you get the chili beans Bob uses or Ranch Style Beans (that's a brand)? If you can, I would use one of those over the beans they are providing -- they are going to have more flavor, and add black beans.

If you want to buy a chili seasoning for a shortcut base that you can add to, Wick Fowler's 2 alarm chili seasoning and Fiesta's Fancy Light Chili Powder (both available on Amazon if not locally) are two I've used. I suspect most folks will have at least one blend in their bunch -- it's only been in recent years that you have been able to find so many single varieties. You may not need more heat in the NE, but I would plan on adding ancho or pasilla negro for mild depth of flavor. Have additional garlic, salt and pepper available and something for adding heat as needed. I've never used pickled peppers in chili, or had them that I know of. Id have a hotter ground pepper or some diced roasted green New Mexico chilies.

Looks like most or at least many of the champs use a similar approach of adding spices at two or three different points in the cooking. That probably adds a different kind of flavor layering (one being the complexity of different kind of chilies or dried powders along with a little herbs, the second being having them slow cooked, medium cooked and then more freshly added). If you do that, you need to make sure you pace yourself so you don't overdo it.

I don't think bringing ground mushrooms in a jar would be something most folks would think of as prepping ahead -- who would know they didn't come that way? If you use masa or finely ground cornmeal, I'm sure that wouldn't be considered prepping ahead. Masa is traditional -- look at some of those championship recipes, Wick Fowler's 2 alarm chili seasoning (you can see it on Amazon along with Carroll Shelby's). If you haven't used it or noticed it, consider that chili and cornbread, chili and tamales and other chili/corn combinations are traditional.

I'd get an idea in my head about what kind of chili I wanted to make and then test a recipe or two this weekend and again next weekend so you can fine tune and get your quantities figured out. You aren't going to want chili for a while after this anyway.....

I think there are two ways to look at this: A friendly competition/fundraiser or an all-out throwdown.

For the former, I'd use the ground beef and tomato product provided and do the best I could with that and any additions I bring. Might conveniently forget about the beans.

For the latter, I'd do all I could to bend the rules, including having the butcher prepare and sell me chuck hand cut to 1/2-3/4 inch cubes for me to BUY.

I don't have a ton of experience with chili, but based on what I've bought in numerous North-East ski resorts over the years I'd venture a guess that what's expected in the North-East is, yeah, thick spaghetti sauce with Tex-Mex flavors. The provided ingredients would support that thought, I think. Chunks of beef in a brown sauce might be considered beef stew?

After much research and the suggestions from this forum, I've decided I'm going to use a very loose variation of bob_cville's recipe. It has some similarities to the New England Pantry Chili I make which has Boston Baked kidney beans in it. Yup it's New England so it can't be too hot and it must have beans so it's basically a sacrilege to call it Chili LOL.

I spoke with the organizers and they said there are definitely two camps, the ones there for fun and the competitors. Since this is our first year, I'm going with the philosophy of a friendly competition/fundraiser. I just want to turn out a popular enough product to keep the attendees happy. Next year might be different!

So my starting point is bob_cville's recipe. I assumed it made 1.5 gallons of chili. I put it on an excel spreadsheet then created columns for making 10 gallons and added a formula. I now have the quantities I need.

My nephew manages a butcher shop and he is on the team so we will have 1/2" diced meat to work with since anything store packaged is allowed. LOL It's not against the rules so I'm probably not going to use most of the ingredients they give us. I will donate them to the local food bank next door to the event.

DH is going to set up a generator so I can run a couple food processors. That should buy us some extra time.

I did see many winning recipes add the spices at multiple different times. I may try this but it will depend on how quickly everything comes together. I plan on a test run the weekend before the event.

I have a question about chocolate in the chili, should I use bars of chocolate or I was contemplating dark cocoa powder and blooming it with the chili powder mix. Your thoughts?

For mushroom powder I was thinking a mixture of Shitake and Porcini or????

And then...I was thinking about using tomato powder in lieu of paste and maybe adding some sundried tomatoes to deepen and round out the tomato flavor since I won't have the option of resting and reheating it.

Can you tell I'm thinking out loud?? LOL

Since you are in the northeast, maybe you can find black trumpet mushrooms, AKA black chanterelles. I found and used some on a recent trip to Maine, and they are now my new favorite thing. Although I guess to make 10 gallons of chili you'd need quite a few.

For chocolate, if you can find it, I recommend using Lindt Dark Chocolate with Chili

bob_cville,
I found the dried Black Trumpet mushrooms but they are out of the budget when making 10 gallons of chili.

Also I can get the Lindt dark chocolate with chili. I'm only a few miles from the Lindt factory in NH.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dried Black Trumpet Mushrooms

Yikes, I had heard they were pricey but ... wow. When I wrote "I found and used some ..." I literally found some growing wild, picked them, conclusively identified them, cleaned them and cooked them in a risotto, so I had no idea of their price.

I have a question about chocolate in the chili, should I use bars of chocolate or I was contemplating dark cocoa powder and blooming it with the chili powder mix. Your thoughts?

Dark cocoa powder ... if "blooming" means frying it up or simmering it with some broth before adding that's a VERY good idea. Blend it with the powdered chilis, then make a paste of them with a bit of water or oil and gently fry it in a small skillet. Totally different flavor than dumping it into the big pot.

Don't use chili seasoning mixes unless you absolutely cannot find individual varieties whole or dried ... the mixes tend to make everything taste like cumin with heat. Using "bloomed" or skillet toasted and pulverized (mortar and pestle or spice grinder) individual varieties gives you better control over heat and flavor.

Four ingredients that are a must in my chili:

Cocoa powder (I use 2 tablespoons for 1.5 lb hamburger)
Beef base (I use 1 tablespoon for 1.5 lb hamburger)
Cumin seed freshly ground (I use 2 teaspoons for 1.5 lb hamburger)
Chili powder (I use 1 teaspoon for 1.5 lb. hamburger BUT could make your own with freshly ground dried chili peppers)
Recipe:

1.5 lb ground beef
2 16 oz. cans Bush's chili beans
1 10 oz. can Rotelle Tomatoes w/green chilies
1 14.5 oz. can Hunt's fire roasted diced tomatoes (pureed in blender)
1 chopped onion
3 cloves crushed garlic
1 chopped bell pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
2 teaspoon cumin (freshly ground seed is best)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon beef base
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 of a 6 oz. can of tomato paste
2-3 cups water

Brown the beef, onion, bell pepper and garlic.
Add spices and toast with beef mixture. Add beef base and combine.
Add chili beans, tomatoes, tomato puree, paste and water.
Simmer for ~ 30 minutes or until flavors are blended and desired consistency is achieved.

This recipe sounds really good. Some purists scream at the idea of using beans. I love them in chili.

One thing I do is lightly roast the cumin seeds in a cast iron skillet, let cool, then grind. Freshly ground cumin is amazingly good.

As a 'born and raised in Texas' gal, I'm more of a 4 alarm type. If you want a hotter chili, just set some aside and spice that more to taste.

Looking forward to more posts.

Chilihead Rosie in Sugar Hill, GA

Oh my I hadn't thought about adding beef base!

I do plan on toasting the fresh ground chili's and cumin aka blooming them the day before.

If I have time, I'm gong to test cook a small batch this weekend to see what I like. If not, then we will ad lib.

The team has evolved into myself, the nephew/butcher, DD's BF who is a foodie/hobby chef, and one of DH's employees who is a former butcher and chef. Isn't it funny how DD & DS volunteered for this and managed to work their way of the front line? LOL They are going to be the go-fers. Should be fun!

I've no suggestions, sorry, but wanted to comment at the number of folks here who are familiar with using cocoa/chocolate in the chili. Of course there is mole sauce, but outside of that (and no one in the Midwest/northeast had heard of that either) when I was a child I believe the only place one would find cocoa/chocolate and cinnamon in chili was Cincinnati!

Thank you all for the suggestions and support. The event was fun and though we didn't win, it was a learning experience.

bob_cville
Thank you for the recipe. It gave me starting point and I used a lot of your ideas.

suzyqtexas
I used your dried mushrooms idea.

LKZZ
I used your ideas for the cocoa powder, beef base and Rotel tomatoes.

We made about 12 gallons of chili and had about 3 cups left at the end of the day. There were about 1,500 paying tasters plus all the teams and volunteers. The host guesstimated just under 2,000 for a final head count.

We set up at 6:30 AM and started dicing, slicing,cooking, etc. at 8AM, by 10AM everything was together and simmering. The gates opened at 12 noon and we finished serving at 4PM.

A few things I would do differently next time:
* I will not use maple flavored bacon. I will use a basic applewood or hickory next time. The maple flavor was too much.
* Cut back on the cocoa powder. I only used about 1/4 cup but we had several people pick right up on the cocoa flavor.
* Add more chili peppers. We used Chipotle's in Adobo, dried Ancho, Chipotle, Guajillo, and Cascabel chili peppers. The flavor was great but I seeded all the dried peppers before grinding them and there was not enough zing to the chili.
* Not use Baked Kidney beans. The molasses added too much sweetness. (This is a family thing so I stuck with it. Though I didn't use too many baked beans, ours was the only sweet chili so the molasses really stood out when compared to the other entries.)

I did use dried Wood Ear and Shitake mushrooms which I ground into a powder and used tomato powder which really rounded out the flavor.

One thing I did not take into consideration was that tasters would be doing a direct comparison. The other 14 entries were similar in flavor profile. Ours was very different.

Lastly I definitely will get one 80 qt. SS pot for next year. My 60 qt. aluminum pots went MIA. I think I loaned them out and never got them back. I used 30 qt and 40 qt. pots both aluminum. Using 2 different size pots was challenging and I do not like using aluminum especially with tomatoes.

Overall our chili was the children's favorite because it was milder than the rest and had a sweetness to it.

Once I take inventory and find my notes, I'll post the final recipe.

Again, thank you to everyone for your help.

Thanks for posting a follow-up. I was just telling my sister yesterday about your adventure. She made venison chili last week and found it too game-y. I thought about this thread and wondered if chocolate could help with the gameyness.

That's a thought - does anybody have any experience with game meat in chili? My uncle just gave us about 1 lb of ground moose and 1 lb of cubed moose. I don't tend to use ground meat in chili, or much at all in fact. I guess I could make meatloaf or meatballs (with grape jelly, would that cut the gamey taste?) with that but wanted to try the cubes in chili.

My secret ingredient - Annie's salsa!

I've just had moose for chili once, and could taste the gamey flavor.

I'm neutral on venison, like elk very much (I'd rather have ground elk than ground beef), but didn't have a good experience with the moose.

But let me add that it was acquired from a friend who went on an out of state hunting trip. My thought is that it wasn't aged consistently, but more likely exposed to a range of temperatures rather than a steady chill in my hunting friends travels. Most wild meat and beef available to me has been appropriately dressed and hung immediately in a controlled meat cooler (at my BILs farm) and has not taken a long road trip in between ;)

And I sometimes add a jar of salsa to chili too! Also recently to a thrown together baked beans dish for an impromptu tv/football gathering - I looked up and had about 5 hungry guys in front of the TV with DH - and had lots of compliments on the beans.

Hmmm, wondering about the moose now since it wasn't local.

I used to use Carroll Shelby's mix, but have been just making chili with a can of stewed tomatoes added early on, and a cup of salsa at the end, for about 20 years. Started with Pace and then moved on to Annie's, though if we're running low I will resort to storebought for the chili and save the homemade for chips or tacos.

I never use ground meat in chili, I dice London Broil very small, but I do use beans (a mix of pinto and black) and serve it over pasta or rice to stretch it even more.

Zabby on Harvest turned me onto salsa soup, though this weekend I was making it for a crowd and did it from scratch rather than opening the one batch of Annie's I made this year (made another one this morning). Lots of compliments on that ( see the white tomato thread) as well as the other, both were "what do I have to work with?" dump-everything-into-the-pot concoctions, and the salsa soup was, uh, charred (so I threw in chipotle grill seasoning to just go with the smokey flavor). And both had to be vegan.

Here's the chocolate I use in chili...

BTW, I'm in Mystic now but am a CA native. Can't do it now but will post my full chili recipe tomorrow. I know it's after the fact but you can compare to the others for next year.

Glad everybody had a good time. I've been following your thread and it sounded like a real challenge, to me. Thanks for posting a follow-up.

/tricia

Edit: Correction to spelling

Here is a link that might be useful: Mexican Chocolate

This post was edited by triciae on Mon, Oct 6, 14 at 17:05

Moosemac, glad you hand fun. I never would have used those sweetened beans or the maple bacon, but my Texas idea of chili (beans or no beans, I don't care) was losing out to the NE approach. I figured I had no idea what you were going for and just needed to stay out of it.

The chocolate may have been emphasized by the sweetness, I have used a tsp or two up to a Tablespoon or so to 5-6 qts. The unsweetened cocoa should just add a depth and a richness to the chili flavors without adding sweetness or being readily discernible as chocolate. With 1/4 cup or 4 T, that was just 1 tsp per gallon. I don't think that was too much and might not have been enough absent all the sweetness. No matter -- you can always start with less and add more. You can't take it out. I'd play with it over the year. And hope you get your pots back.

Ajsmama, I have a book with recipes for beef, chicken, venison, and even armadillo chili (seems I remember seeing rattlesnake somewhere but maybe it wasn't the same book), but no moose. Seems the only "moose" we get in Texas is chocolate. ;)

This post was edited by lascatx on Mon, Oct 6, 14 at 20:48

Dh is from TX, and I don't think you have "meese" there. But the horns on the cattle are big enough!

My dad found 1 antler on his property last year (it's driving him crazy he can't find the other) and just last week there was one spotted in our town, but my uncle had to go north to hunt.