Directions

Brown ground beef with onion. If you are going to prepare chili on the stovetop, you can do this in the bottom of the pot you will make the chili in, if you can drain the resultant fat without difficulty. Otherwise, particularly if you are making chili in a crockpot or making a very large batch in a big kettle, you will need to brown your ground beef and onion in a small skillet and transfer it into the big cooking vessel after draining.

Add tomato juice, kidney beans, pasta, and enough water to bring the mixture to the desired consistency. Add chili powder to taste; however, be aware that as the soup cooks, the flavor will intensify.

As with all soups of peasant and working-class origins, chili is a very flexible soup -- the only real constants are meat, tomatoes, and chili peppers. Additional ingredients such as beans and pasta help to stretch scarce meat, but are not necessary in themselves. Although ground beef is usually used because it is cheap, you can substitute just about any leftover meat you have on hand -- I have even eaten chili made with chicken and turkey. If tomato juice is unavailable, you can make a suitable substitute by thinning catsup appropriately (many a struggling student has managed to make an adequate chili by squeezing catsup packets into the pot). Tomatoes and onions can be omitted if they are completely unavailable, or other vegetables can be substituted.

If canned kidney beans are unavailable, dried kidney or pinto beans can be substituted. However, it is essential that they be properly soaked, then boiled for at least twenty minutes. This is particularly important if the chili is to be prepared in a crockpot, because slow cookers do not reach the temperature necessary to break down certain chemicals that can cause stomach and intestinal distress.

If you can get fresh or dried chili peppers (perhaps by growing your own or at a local farmer's market), you can chop them up for a particularly colorful and flavorful chili.

Chili is generally topped with grated cheese and chopped onion, although these can be presented in separate bowls on the table to allow each family member to add to taste. It can be served with crackers like other soups, or with corn chips for a particularly Mexican taste.

Posted October 10, 2010.