Some folks will say that if chili has any beans, it's not real chili (Texans). Others would argue the reverse (many non-Texans). I think the whole argument is a bit silly. When I make chili, I make it how I like to eat it, just like everything else I cook, chili tradition be damned.

I put together a batch that was enjoyed by a bunch of the boys at the club, with almost nothing leftover. Probably 20+ guys dug in. Wasn't really planned but since no one else had volunteered to toss together a meal for the night said I'd whip something up. We just got heavy snow, gusts to maybe 60 and coastal flooding along with freezing rain pushed in by a nor-easter, so chili con carne was about the perfect food. It came out fantastic, if I do say so myself.

I like my chili with just a smattering of beans, and served over or on the side with Japanese style rice all piping hot. And I do mean a smattering of beans. I used about 10 pounds of meat. 3 lbs 80% lean ground beef, 2 pounds ground moose (waves at Ptarmigan), a pound or so of ground caribou (waves at DaninAK) and about 3 pounds of London broil steaks. Two cans of kidney beans, one red one white, and all the other ingredients. As I wrote, just a touch of beans.

I'll run with my usual picture story. Note: not all of the meat/ingredients are pictured at once. I had a finite amount of counter to work with, and with that much meat going into a single dish, had to work in stages.

Happy spring, y'all.

Lord have mercy.

Looks plenty good.

If it doesn't have beans, it's just s meat sauce looking for something to put in it or put it over......in Kentucky, anyway.

Looks good, truth be told I don't mind beans but I do enjoy f-cking with people online about it.

Good man.

I never thought about putting chili on rice before...but then I aint a Chinaman neither.

Looks pretty tasty to me Kamo!

Ron

Bean stew looks pretty good! .

Fck me running! Looks deelish.

Oh man…… con huevos Fritos

Looks friggin great 👍🏻

Take any leftover chili and white rice (Uncle Ben's is about right for you, I reckon). Heat up a pan in a little oil and get the chili tossed in and get it bubbling hot. Toss in about as much rice as chili. Mix and stir, mix and stir until steaming hot. Looks something like this. Toss in as much added heat as you want. Referred to in many places as Spanish rice.

https://www.fromvalerieskitchen.com/spanish-rice-with-ground-beef/

Stick around a bit and you just might learn something--and then maybe pick on the sp_cs for a change.

Chili with beans = main course.
Chili without beans = condiment.

Both good when applied properly.

OK, I’m drooling here!

Its a really good idea.


We eat a lot of rice. Buy it in 25 pound sacks.



Not ashamed to say we have a nice rice cooker.


Gonna try it next time.

I use Wal-Mart Great Value Chili Beans (I think they're better than Ranch Style beans) added to my moose/pork/caribou chili - and serve over Cajun medium grain rice. Haven't heard any complaints yet or had much leftover.

My chili recipe:

4 - Tsp. Cooking Oil
3 - 15 oz. Cans Pinto Beans, Drained and Rinsed
3 – 15 oz. Cans Northern Beans, Drained and Rinsed
1 - 15 oz. Cans Northern Beans, Drained, Rinsed and Pureed
4 - 14.5 oz. Cans Crushed Tomatoes
1 - 8 oz. Can Tomato Sauce
4 - 4 oz. Cans Mild Green Chilies, Diced
1 - 1 lb. Package Bulk Italian Sausage, Hot, Mild, or Sweet
1 – 1 lb. Package 85% Lean Ground Beef
3 - Cloves Garlic, Crushed & Chopped
1 - Large Sweet Vidalia Onion, chopped
2 – Bunches Green Onions, chopped
3 – Bell Peppers, chopped
2 - Tsp. Chili Powder
3 - Tsp. Ground Cumin
1 - Tsp. Black Pepper
1 – Tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1 - Tsp. Salt

-- NOTE -- You might want to try 2x 4 ounce cans of mild diced green chilies the first time that you try this recipe. If you want it hotter, add 2 more cans of mild green chilies.

Serve with Fritos or saltine crackers and a dollop of sour cream if that moves you.

Used to be part of the “ no beans “ mob, but have mellowed in my old age. Also used to despise ground meat. Now I often make what I refer to as “East coast” chili with ground venison and beans (pintos not kidney beans) one 15 ounce can per 3 pounds ground venison. Also make my own chili powder from ( what I refer to as) a “ carefully curated” blend of dried chili peppers and other select ingredients. Very well received by wife, kids, friends and relatives.

Almost always served with white rice and cornbread; sometimes northern style cornbread, sometimes southern style.

Looks good!

Just got a few bags of ground chile, red and green, from these folks.

https://thefruitbasketabq.com/shop

That's the best part of the bean/no bean argument



This will really mess with your head: Chili ramen...

I live in Texas, and put beans in my chili…but only dark red kidney beans.

I only use chunked meat (cow, elk, or deer). I can’t stand a chili that’s made with ground meat - even if it is course ground.

Hey L,

those are pretty good proportions if one insists on putting beans in chili.

7th picture down, first post. What type of meat? It looked as tho it was beggin me to try some the way God made it.........in other words just as it is there.

Conrad, Interesting comment as I grew up eating it served over rice. With raw onions and grated cheese to sprinkle on top. Wife just makes it (with black beans usually) and eats it as is.

Ate chili mac more than once when camping with Scouts.

I can still put a hurt on a bowl of chili over some sort of noodles.

Santa Maria !

Chili over rice yup, good.

Try cilantro lime rice or unsweetened canned coconut milk rice with your choice of chilis.

While I appreciate the ability for one to fully customize their chile... if you have access, Costco deli chile is at rotisserie chicken - tier. Like the rotisserie, it gets a lot of the work out of the way and you can season / adjunct it further from there. You're welcome, gents.

I dont buy into the if it has this or doesn't have that it isn't this mentality. To me , Chili is a generic term like stew or casserole. I make chili 20 different ways. Its all chili in my kitchen.

Looks gud KG...

Try an oyster, scallop or shark chili sumtime... ya might like that.

🤤🤤

When you know, you know.

Chili looks great KG

Dam that looks mighty good!

Yeah, that stuff that comes already powdered, sits on the store shelf who knows how long, contains who know what???? That’s right down there with using pre-ground coffee…okay I guess, nutritionally, but best left to those who’ve long since burned out their olfactory senses sucking on cigarettes, drinking cheap whiskey and lite so-called beer

Looks darned good kg I'd eat that any time. Will try the over rice deal, looks like a good way to stretch it out and make it go farther. I like to occaisionally make chili Mac as well. I find it best with beans but I try to never exceed a 1 to 1 ratio of beans to meat by weight to keep it gas free. I never really make enough anymore cause it's allways gone by the time the flavor is at it's peak..mb

What is apparent is that when kg "throws something together" it is memorable. You're a talented man, sir.

You're not bad with a camera, either.

Beans and or rice in chili is a way to stretch the meal. During the depression putting slaw on hot dogs was a way to add to a cheap meal. Now it's a staple food in southern WV.

This!

Looks great but I'd have to top it off with a Zantac.

Bingo !!!

It's how I do the rice for our steamed or poached fish, with Thai sweet chili sauce.

First rule of internet conflict club: Don't talk about internet conflict club.

Awesome, my Man !!

I concur !

I never use a recipe !

Mine, always has beans !

If you didn't put chili power in wouldn't you call it Brunswick Stew?

One of the things I enjoy when I go to Leightons is the food.

Kamo Gari, looks good. When ever I have had Chili with people from New York City, they always served it over rice.

Looking very good!

I like chile in my chili, and I wouldn’t be a very good BeanMan it it didn’t have some less than year old pinto’s in it.

That dog'll hunt! I'd do rice way before I'd do it Cincinnati style over spaghetti noodles.

Yup.

Chili con carne, chili con frijoles, it’s all good!

Nice spread there KG.

I could put my lips around some of that in a hurry, and yes it has to have beans.

When I grow up, I want be Kamo Gari

Sum a y'all gonna be the ruinayshun of Murican sivilazayshun.

Chili ain't stew, in now way shaper form.

I do love a good chili with beans, but recently, I have been making “chili with beef” without beans or tomatoes. I am using dried Guajillo chiles. Clean off the stem, seeds and veins, toast, soak in hot water, blend, strain, cook down into the same consistency of tomato paste. Brown boneless beef short ribs, add onions and lots of garlic, bay leaves, a small cinnamon stick and cumin. Add the sauce from the chilies and slow cook for several hours. Different from the traditional American chili with beans and tomatoes, but very delicious.

@OP. Every one of your food threads makes wish I was there. Looks delish. I typically cook chili with beans. But can go either way if someone else is cooking. Here locally, chili over spaghetti is thing. Topped with copious amounts of fresh grated sharp cheddar cheese. Just finished lunch and now I have a hankering for chili....

scoony's version is a good genuine chili.

Wednesday night I made some home made ravioli filled with pulled pork (smoked a pork shoulder for several hours Saturday while I was gone to work day at the gun club), served with barbecue sauce. Could have gone either way with my wife (she can be kind of funny about some of my fusion culinary innovations) but she liked it. I told her the next effort was going to be ravioli filled with chili. She and the kids are anxiously awaiting that. Got a couple of chubs of ground venison out of the freezer today to make chili with this weekend. I think chili filled ravioli might be good with enchilada sauce. I think I might shred up some cheddar to mix with the chili as well.

Slices of one the the London broil slabs that I just seared before slicing. Those cuts went into the pot right after the ground was browned and before all the wet ingredients were added. Cook time after all was said and done was maybe 3-4 hours. Like most soups and stews and the sort, I find that with any subsequent days (doesn't happen too often), the flavors just keep improving and getting more robust as time goes on. Spanish rice, as a huevos rancheros type deal, chili dogs and just plain chili are always a win with leftovers. All simple and hit the spot.

Enjoyed reading about some of the other techniques and ingredients folks use, and like many, I never operate off any set recipe. For this one, I used poblano, jalepaño, dried Vietnamese chilis and Korean ground red pepper. Also lots of cumin, smoked Spanish paprika, a little beef bouillon and a couple of Goya sazon packets.

Thanks for the input and words. Good grub is pretty universal, though there's always a couple of folks who you just can't please...

Had chili with beans over spaghetti last night, and it was good.

Thanks L,

there's been many a London broil, and other "steaks", that never made it to the grill, fry pan, stew pot in their entirety. Seems they always had a slice or six missing.

That's good stuff

It's a Mexican/Tejano version of


pasta fazool (pasta e f a g i o l i in real Italian)

I like elbow or ditalini in my fazool.

Not spaghetti.

I have seen Cajuns mix rice and chili.

In my limited experience, cajuns mix anything and everything - and it always turns out good.

You ain't sposta say that Rog... This place has a search function and that statement might come back to haunt you...

Think that is called Cincinnati Chili.

Leighton, I ain't judging but it looks to me that you need to at least double the amount of chili-powder...
The color ain't right...And, add the cumin about 30 minutes before you turn the heat off.

To me, they're all "noodles"

When I first got together with my wife and we'd have that evening conversation about what we wanted for dinner I'd most of the time say................noodles.

Like rice for Asians and beans for Mexicans they're all comfort food for me.

Wife made some killer lemon chicken with the orzo cooked right in the casserole dish with it the other night. Hope she makes it again soon.

Leftover stuffed bell pepper I made the other night for dinner tonight. We ordered out last night from the local lodge (fuggers forgot our salads and we weren't driving back) so there was some leftover Alfredo ziti with sauce for me to put the bell pepper on top of. It was the bomb! Wipe up the bowl with a slice of semolina bread with EVOO on it and I'm quite content right now.

damn didn't think about that.

Chilli....like bourbon

It should be enjoyed by how YOU like it

Wise man.

Meh,

giving up on all decent proprieties will lead to the downfall of our culture.

Next, it will be OK to wear your pj's to the Walmarks in town.

You probably wear white after labor day.

Huh?

Only a long john shirt under my t shirt and none of those are white.

That is a delicious looking bean stew in the OP, and I would eat it till I couldn't hold any more. But at our house the frijoles are served on the side when we make Chile Colorado or Chile Verde.
A buddy has a "chili cookoff" contest every Superbowl. This year there wasn't a single pot of "chili" - nothing but various bean stews. They were all delicious - don't get me wrong.
As you can see I'm like that earlier poster when it comes to messin' with folks. I'll eat anything that's tasty. I just don't use the "C-word" for those bean stews - LOL

Rex

Dude ^^^^ is right you know.

Never had a bowl of Verde or Colorado with even one bean in it. Never, and I've eaten my share over the years.

Yeah....the poor Mexicans were so poor that they could only afford meat....
.

Haven't been to a chile cook off in 30 years. The last one I attended, the rules stated absolutely no beans or tomatoes, would result in disqualification.

Point and not all meat is cow.

I actually like sour cream in my chili!

Virgil B.

Why are they called chili beans, if not for chili?

My man, 25 guys would argue that you're wrong, but all good here. I've never had the pleasure, but I've heard from a bunch of guys who've had your chili shower praises upon it and I don't doubt them one bit. That said, I'm not shooting for any particular color, or style other than my own. I'm after *flavor*, body and substance.

As I think I wrote in my first post, things like chili are subjective to individual tastes, There is never any clear winner, but many winners amongst different circles and tastes. My chili was prepared with love and with fantastic ingredients, including wild moose and caribou from Alaska taken by friends. That in and of itself to me means that any chili made with only store-bought meat plays second fiddle. YMMV.

Good to see you posting again, Tex. Hope all is well with you and yours.

The more times it's quoted, the easier it will be to find, too !



Made this version, yesterday;

The Mexicans that invented the verde and colorado stuff were smart enough to know that beans are best served as a side dish.