[mkjessup]

Chili is a ..uh...hot pepper, isn't it?
As in "Chili con Carne"? Literally, "Peppers with Meat"?
So, just like the basic ingredients of a PB&J would be (1)peanut butter and (2)jelly, the basic ingredients of chili con carne would be (1)chilis and (2)meat?
I'm just askin'...

The basic ingredients are:

a.) tomatoes b.) onions c.) beef

You can certainly add anything else you want, but the above 3 items ARE the basic ingredients.

MKJ Trivia Tidbit: his wacko and marijhootchie politics aside, Willie Nelson himself endorses the addition of two ingredients, HONEY (in place of sugar to kill the acid) and CHOCOLATE (I thought it was crazy too until I tried it).

Add those two items to your next batch of chili and I would be very surprised if you ever left them out again.

Happy cookin' Mrs. Don-O! :)

[Mrs. Don-o]

I'll take your word for it. Don't want no Chili Wars here!

By the way, I've added honey to my own chili-chaos and it civilized the hot stuff nicely---liked it a lot. I've had chocolate in other Mexican dishes (e.g. mole de guajolote)

(I think that's how you spell it)

(It's pronounced MO-lay de WAH-ha-LO-tay)

...and I liked that, too. But bein' a girl, I like chocolate in anything...

Cho-co-LAW-tay! Ole!