Quote:
Originally Posted by
saint 
Get an assortment of dried peppers (anchos, anaheims, pequin, etc), brown them in a skillet over medium heat, soak them, remove stems and some of the seeds, puree them with some of the soaking water, use that as your flavor base. Use chipotles sparingly, or not at all, they overwhelm the flavor of the other chiles. Use Mexican oregano, its not the same as regular oregano. If you use tomatoes, buy Rotel brand. If you use canned beans, use the jalapeno Ranch Style brand beans, but drain and rinse them as their sauce will dominate the flavor of your chili, add them just long enough before serving to heat them up. Agree with comment above, add a small amount of unsweetened cocoa powder about an hour before the chili is finished, you can also use brown sugar in a pinch. Add about a tbsp of fresh lime juice 1/2 hour before serving, it cuts any greasiness and brightens the flavor of the chiles you used. Top with raw red onions and sharp cheddar cheese, to eat it the old school Texas way, serve it with saltines, not tortilla chips.
I compete in several chili cookoffs each year and have a few tips. First, the winning recipes of the world champion each year are posted on the webiste of the body that oversees the competitions, the International Chili Society
http://www.chilicookoff.com/Recipe/R...usID=4&Champ=1.
Also, I quoted the response above because I am a big believer in using whole dried chilis, reconstituting them by boiling and then pureeing them into a chil paste which is the base for the rest of the sauce.
A lot of competitors use a little breakfast sausage for fat/flavor.
Trial and error.
