How To Make a Chili

First off, what is a chili? What makes it a chili and not, say, a stew or soup? This debate is actually quite controversial (ask any Texans, for example and get a very, very specific answer. Then ask someone from Cinncinatti, and get a very, very different specific answer). For most of the rest of the country though, we use the term pretty loosely. Chili could mean to us, a tomato/bean based soup with some kind of meat (turkey, chicken, beef, etc.), vegetables, and some chili powder at the very least. Now, that wouldn’t make for the tastiest chili by any means but it covers the basics and for most of us allows us to call the completed dish, “chili” without any of our friends arguing too much.Today, we’ll show you how to make a good basic chili, and then you can use this base to experiment and create your own chilis; swap out the type of meat, add or subtract spices, beans or no beans, etc.