Is cooking chili at home generally a waste of time and money?

[Anonymous]

I make chili at home all the time with a slow cooker. Ingredients including ground beef, onions, beans, tomatoes, spices etc are plentiful and cheap. And it can keep for a while too. People are strange on here…

[Anonymous]

I make a delicious chicken chili:

Chicken breasts-cut up and sautéed in olive oil/salt and pepper and maybe a little cumin.
Sauté onion and green pepper and garlic.
Take a box of chicken broth pour into pot, add chicken chunks and veggies. Add chili mix from McCormick. Add two cans of diced tomatoes with chili’s like rotel and two cans cannellini beans. Stir and let boil. Then add in a dash of cinnamon, a little white vinegar and either a squeeze of fresh orange or a little orange juice.

It is so good. Too with cheese, green onions and tortilla chips or Fritos.

[Anonymous]

This thread inspired me to buy the ingredients for a white chicken / green chili I saw on Delish. I had to buy Oregano and Cumin (which I will use again) which added to the costs, and I used organic chicken, but I spent:
Chicken Broth .99 (it was 1.99 but I only need 1/2)
Organic chicken breasts $10 (my fault for going to Whole foods)
2 cans green chilis: 3.78
Onion 1.12
Garlic .75
Frozen corn 1.25 (it was 2.50 but I will use half)
2 cans white beans 2.00

Total $20.00. Should make 6-8 servings. So maybe $2.80 per serving? How is buying it out less expensive?

now the cumin and oregano added another $11.00 but I would argue that's just the cost of keeping a pantry stocked.

S

[Anonymous]

Where is a Texan to tell us that putting beans and ground meat in chili is wrong?

[Anonymous]

Are you putting prime rib in your chili?

This must be for some recipe that calls for bacon and venison and chopped new york strip.

Ground meat and beans is a cheap as it gets.

[Anonymous]

This is going to be controversial, but of all the chili recipes that I've tried, I like "John Legend's Chili" from his wife's cookbook the best. It has a salty-sweet kick at the end that I love.

Ok, I'm ready for my flogging now...

John Legend's Chili

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
2 Tbsp. seasoned salt, such as Lawry’s
3 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 Tbsp. minced garlic (about 3 cloves)
2 Tbsp. light brown sugar
2 (15-oz.) cans tomato sauce
2 (15-oz.) cans kidney beans, drained

Instructions:
Heat a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat.
Add the ground beef, mushrooms, onion, seasoned salt, chili powder, and cayenne to pan. Cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until the mushrooms release their liquid and the meat is no longer pink, 7 to 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add 2 cups water, brown sugar, tomato sauce, and kidney beans to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low; simmer until chili thickens and the liquid reduces slightly, about 35 to 40 minutes.*The chili tastes better the longer you let the flavors mingle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All those hours of simmering. Who has time for that with a quick go to recipe. It’s chili not lobster

Most of the hands-on work for chili takes about 20 minutes. I like to make it on Sunday afternoon when I am home all day watching football and relaxing and let it simmer for hours. I make other dishes when I want something quick.

And you might as well ask why make stew, or pork shoulder cooked at low temps for hours till it falls apart. The active time is minimal, and the heat does the rest. Why not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where is a Texan to tell us that putting beans and ground meat in chili is wrong?

I'm a Texan and we use ground meat, we just often also use chuck. (The person who said they used brisket is top 3 craziest in this thread - chili is making something delicious out of not amazing meat. There are far better uses for brisket.) Beans vs no beans is a blown out of proportion joke rivalry amongst chili makers - most agree that beans in a chili is just a personal preference and a good chili with beans is still 5 steps ahead of, for instance, using oatmeal as a thickener or putting sugar in cornbread.

White chili is not chili FYI. It's chicken stew.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP must be a terrible cook if they prefer store bought chili, of all foods.

Did not say store bought, I said restaurant or deli made to-go.

Same difference. You clearly can’t cook.

So what if they can't cook? Who cares.

I know, right??? There's always some nasty b*tch on DCUM who just has to be mean to someone for no good reason.

Sorry you can’t cook and you have buy something as basic as chili.

[Anonymous]

As a child in the Midwest I was dragged to many, many chili-cookoffs, so I feel like I can speak with some authority on this matter.

There are many ways to make chili. Regional variations of chili are pretty interesting (Cincinnati chili, anyone?). The judgment of personal variation in chili recipes on this thread is annoying--let it go, people! Even canned chili is ok in a pinch as a hot dog topping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our family loves chili. I make the ground beef onions peppers in advance and freeze. Also a base for spaghetti.
Tomato juice, fire roasted tomatoes, the thawed beef in the pot.
Next I purée red pepper, carrots, and sprinkle with maza
Cook in microwave for 3:30 minutes in steamer.
Add spices from the orange bag: Six gun chili seasoning. I only use half
Frozen corn 2 packages. No beans.
Seasoning: smoked paprika, garlic, smoked salt if handy. Red cayenne pepper. Salt.
2 tablespoons lemon juice.
Stir up and cook for 15 minutes in crockpot in high.
Serve and add shredded cheese.
We like it.

I’ve never heard a recipe that’s 15 minutes in a slow cooker. Mine is barely getting anything warm by then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know what u put in your chili that is so expensive or complicated but you must be doing it wrong.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our family loves chili. I make the ground beef onions peppers in advance and freeze. Also a base for spaghetti.
Tomato juice, fire roasted tomatoes, the thawed beef in the pot.
Next I purée red pepper, carrots, and sprinkle with maza
Cook in microwave for 3:30 minutes in steamer.
Add spices from the orange bag: Six gun chili seasoning. I only use half
Frozen corn 2 packages. No beans.
Seasoning: smoked paprika, garlic, smoked salt if handy. Red cayenne pepper. Salt.
2 tablespoons lemon juice.
Stir up and cook for 15 minutes in crockpot in high.
Serve and add shredded cheese.
We like it.

I’ve never heard a recipe that’s 15 minutes in a slow cooker. Mine is barely getting anything warm by then.

Probably means pressure cooker, not slow cooker

[Anonymous]

Man some of these recipes make me want to vom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our family loves chili. I make the ground beef onions peppers in advance and freeze. Also a base for spaghetti.
Tomato juice, fire roasted tomatoes, the thawed beef in the pot.
Next I purée red pepper, carrots, and sprinkle with maza
Cook in microwave for 3:30 minutes in steamer.
Add spices from the orange bag: Six gun chili seasoning. I only use half
Frozen corn 2 packages. No beans.
Seasoning: smoked paprika, garlic, smoked salt if handy. Red cayenne pepper. Salt.
2 tablespoons lemon juice.
Stir up and cook for 15 minutes in crockpot in high.
Serve and add shredded cheese.
We like it.

I’ve never heard a recipe that’s 15 minutes in a slow cooker. Mine is barely getting anything warm by then.

Probably means pressure cooker, not slow cooker

Then why are they cooking everything in advance? Color me confused.