Recipe: Chili con carne

[Rogue 9]

I have a general policy of not sharing some of my recipes until after they've been eaten by the people I'm sharing the recipe with. However, my lesser chili (not the county fair chili cookoff winner, which takes a couple days to cook down properly due to everything in it except the meat and a couple of the more exotic spices being both fresh and grown in my own garden) is not one of those.

Rogue's Chili Con Carne

Ingredients:

One (1) package of ground chuck, roughly 1.5-1.8 pounds.
One (1) small onion (optional).
Four (4) 15 ounce cans of diced tomatoes. (I make two of those cans the Red Gold diced tomatoes with green chilis, but any brand will do.)
Two (2) 15 ounce cans of mild chili beans or kidney beans.
One large can of tomato juice (optional; for making the chili thinner if desired).
Chili powder.
Ground cumin (essential!).
Fresh cilantro. (If you cannot get it fresh, dried will do, but it has less flavor that way.)
Ground cayenne pepper.
Spaghetti noodles or rice (optional).

Instructions:

1.) Fry the ground chuck. If you're using ground chuck, it should be lean enough to just do this in the bottom of the pot you're using to cook the chili in. If you're using lesser quality ground beef, I recommend using a separate frying pan to more easily drain off the resulting grease. Break up the meat and stir periodically until there is no red left. If you desire onion, finely chop the onion and cook it in with the meat.

2.) Pour the tomatoes, chili beans, and tomato juice into your cooking pot. Add meat (if it isn't already in the pot) and bring to a boil. Once the pot boils, turn the heat down to low to let it simmer.

3.) Spice to taste. The chili powder and cayenne is for heat. Cumin is what gives chili its flavor; too many recipes leave out cumin entirely, focusing on chili powder alone. This is a grave error. Taste test the chili as it cooks; if you've made it too hot for your liking, more cumin will moderate the heat a little. Cilantro is for flavor and honestly doesn't have to be used; I just like it.

4.) Let simmer, stirring periodically. 45 minutes to an hour should be enough, though longer cooking brings out a little more flavor. If you plan to let it simmer for a long time to let people get food when they want (like at a gaming session, for example), you should add more tomato juice to make sure it doesn't get too dry.

5.) Boil spaghetti or rice, if desired. A friend of my father's from Texas swears by rice in chili and considers spaghetti a blasphemy against the food, which is why I include it here; I prefer the pasta. Neither is strictly necessary. DO NOT put spaghetti into the chili pot; it gets soggy.

6.) Eat. Grate your favorite cheese over the bowl and you're set.