there were 7 judges ... of course everyone attending tried samples of each. After deliberations the judges chose a winner and a large portion of the onlookers agreed. When asked her recipe the lady who submitted it said it was 2 cans of Hormel chili with nothing else added.

!!

My opinion on chili is that it's good stuff. Chili con Carne like the texicans insist on is great. So is the Yankees Locos bean soup with meat. Seeing as how you're up in the NE corner of the country, here's what I'd do (approximately, depending on mood, ingredients, etc)

First, cook up a batch of pinto beans, use a crock pot on low setting and a ham bone with plenty of ham fat/rind if available.

In a skillet brown the meat (sausage is one place to start, or just plain ground pork or ???)

Add a bit of finely chopped onion and some garlic. Add some McCormick or other "Chili Powder" (most Yankees can handle a bit of this) and a can of tomato puré (or sauce or whatever you call it, but just plain tomato - unless you're looking to add heat or whatever - I've even used spaghetti sauce - shhhh! secret ingredient!) and a can of diced tomatoes. Add a squirt of mustard and a tablespoon of brown sugar (helps take the edge off the acid in the tomatoes) Let this simmer a while.

In a large container mix the beans and the meat sauce. Kick it into the fridge for a day or so. This gives things a bit of time to blend together. Toss it back into the crock pot and bring it up to serving temperature. Voilá!

Now, I tend to get a bit carried away with the spices and such, tossing in a bit of everything including cinnamon and ginger and whatever else is on the spice rack. Not a lot of anything, just a blend of spices. The McCormick chili powder is what gives it that distinctive "chili flavor" that seems to be recognized as such by a lot of Yankees. Other brands can be substituted, of course. Just keep an eye out for the spicier versions if you don't want to have the fire department called.

Hmmm... we've got an after meeting dinner scheduled for Sunday. Now my creative juices are flowing, maybe I'll mix up a batch to take.

way back when we lived in NE Brazil, we had a nice little bit of raised garden (to keep termites from destroying everything) and part of that garden was a decent collection of various Brazilian pepper bushes. We had a lovely crop which I strung on thread and dried. The peppers were then stripped off the thread and tossed into the blender to be ground into "chili powder". We ended up with a nice little container of "I did it myself" chili seasoning which I then decided to incorporate into one of our family tradition recipes - "Tamale Pie". This is a concoction of chili con carne spread between layers of corn dough and cheese. It's baked in the oven and served piping hot. So I used about 1/8 tsp of my lovely new stash of chili powder and made up a Tamale Pie, which I then was obligated to eat almost by myself as the boys were NOT up to eating something that spicy and my wife went on strike as well! The greater portion went into the fridge where some of that spice migrated into the corn and the next day it was even better. But the boys still couldn't eat it, although my wife did enjoy it a bit the second time around.

My chili and some other recipes. Several years ago my daughter ran a restaurant in a federal building. I went in early three mornings a week to cook the main lunch. The only three things I really know how to cook are chili, sloppy Joe's, and taco meat. All three start with onions and green peppers and then ground beef. With the chilli I also use diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and as many different kinds of beans as I can find. White means are especially tasty. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and chili seasoning. When they did a poll at the restaurant to come up with their favorite lunch items, my three placed one-to-three with chili number one.

Our chili is good, but nothing too special for Hoosier land chili, but I do like Paul’s comment about making it a day or two beforehand. I definitely like chili and many other things the next day or two!

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Take some pork belly and sauté that in a skillet with onions and garlic. While that's working, open up two cans of vietti chili and throw it in a pot. Open up a can of beef stew (I'm partial to hormel, but any will do) toss that in with the chili. Add the pork belly, and onions, and stir it all up. Add two jalapeños sliced. Then add a cup of Dixie Crystal pepper sauce. Heat it all through. Don't forget to make a cornbread to go with.

Wash it down with a Barq's root beer.

I guess technically its not really chili, but that's what I call it.

Having left New Hampshire at the tender age of 18 months to reside in California, I don’t feel that the typical preconceived notions regarding Yankees necessarily apply to me, but I will admit to having returned many, many times over the years and been able to “pass” for a native. That’s probably more because of a clownish ability to mimic most speech patterns within a few minutes.

Now I’ve always felt that Boston, even though a den of liberal minded leftists, was one of the best cities to visit in the United States (yes, yes, it is in Massachusetts, not NH, but it was pretty close to my hometown nonetheless). I can not only “pass” there, I can pass as a lifelong resident of the North End as well.

I’ve noted over the years that “those” Yankees, as opposed to “this” Yankee are unfamiliar with some of the finer things in life, things like tequila, Mexican food, and hot sauces as but a few examples. Of course they can counter with lobster rolls, lime rickeys, baked beans, and the sort.

Be that as it may, some years back I was shopping in California with a friend from upstate NY and I put a large bottle of Tabasco in the cart. She made a comment about how hot that was, and that it would probably go bad before I used it all. I countered with the fact that I bought a similar bottle about 6 times a year, and that it was hardly spicy enough to call “hot”. It was, I told her, often used on my toast and peanut butter to brighten the morning.

She actually was astounded! She went on to share that the littlest bottle of Tabasco available would probably last her large family a few years….if they could stand the heat!

Yeah, the Hormels chili with an addition or two would probably light your diners up for days, lol!

Otony

Pepperoni.... I get the small diameter stuff, about 1/2" in diameter and slice it up thin and add a BUNCH of it to the chili (you can never have too much...). You have to let it simmer for a while. It gets soft and blends in. Adds great taste and a bit of spice too...

I keep it as simple as possible, fresh medium hot peppers, generally poblanos and anaheims, roasted and skinned as a lot of depth to the chili. I make my own chili powder following generic recipes, but use anaheims, smoked with apple wood. For meat I use lean hamburger plus an equal amount of Italian sausage. A good brand of tomato juice, thickened with either tomato paste or powdered freeze-dried tomatoes. I saute the roasted, chopped peppers with a generous amount if finely diced yellow onions in olive oil before adding the meat. I do use at least two kinds of beans, generally kidney beans and black beans, usually the beans I can myself. Then several hours in the crock pot before adding the beans at the finish. This approach works very well in cook offs and chili feeds. It's simple enough to not turn people off by being too weird, it's not too hot, which can turn off some people with really sensitive stomachs. There's just enough smokiness from the smoked chili powder to be appealing without being overpowering.

I don't much mind.

The pork steaks we get from the hogs we harvest are tough. It doesn't seem to matter what I do. Marinate, beat them with a hammer, still tough. Good flavor mind you but tough. What I found is that the tomato and/or chili sauce, and a day or two mellows them right out. So, I cube up the steaks until I have way too much and then I add a little more. I fry them up in some "Wooster sauce" with whatever spices I grab. While they're sauteing, I open up a couple cans of red chili beans, a couple cans of black chili beans and a can (or two) of kidney beans, drained. S&W brand just 'cause it's S&W. Throw them all in a crock pot and start it running at low. Then I add a can of Wolf's chili, with or without beans because, at this point, it doesn't matter.

When the pork is ready (or even a little undercooked), I scoop it and all the "grease" into the crock pot and let them go for some 6-8 hours. It's almost impossible to overcook so, let 'em run.

When it's completely hot, I throw in a couple of handfuls of frozen sweet corn. The sweet and the spice is a nice combo.

I prefer to serve a day or two after cooking so's all that gets to know one another. Spices are personal. I like a bit of heat but recent medical crap blew out my ability to eat it. But, spice it as you wish.

We serve it over rice with a bit of grated cheddar on top.

Call it chili. Call it rice and beans. Whatever, it's good.