Why does my homemade chilli never taste as good as shop bought?

I love Chilli Con Carne,

That being said I can follow any of the numerous recipes online and to me it never tastes as nice as this stuff:



Why?

 

????Mine tastes better than shop bought

 

Mine is too. Do you use smoked chilli powder? The one in the red tin, la chinata. I find it adds what I need

 

I'll wager that your home made one isn't about 50% added sugar and salt.

I always use cayenne pepper powder and fresh green chillies with seeds still in (never seen the point of deseeding chillies, all the fire is in the seeds). Flavours like garlic, coriander (fresh leaves or seeds), celery, mushrooms etc all add to the flavour in ways more subtle than the fire of the chilli but still important for the 'roundness ' of overall flavour.

 

the recipe I use is the winner of the chilli contest from Texas in 1979 . I understand if you google around other Chilli contest winners do post their recipe. So, do believe if you look up Texas etc, or other USA states that most like are proud of their chilli you'd come up with a good one. this one has beer in it and honey, a goodly amount of spice (which I cut in half). I also prefer using black beans to the kidney, for visual effect. and I use a mixture of ground chuck and ground brisket. @IceColdRum a good chilli takes time to simmer and to put together. couple hours at least minimum. so again if your looking for a recipe --try Chilli contest winners on google.

 

@redstar I could not agree more. I once was invited to be one of the judges at a local contest there...

 

in general as my rule of thumb, when seeking out a recipe, I go to the source or region of where it was invented. and then I compare between to find my own combination, unless I do not want to mess with success.

 

A pinch of smoked paprika in mine,and damn its good

 

I also serve mine with corn bread baked in my black iron skillet.

 

No I've never used smoked Chilli powder but I'll have to look into it, thanks!

and you'd be right, no sugar at all apart from what might be in any other ingredients, I do usually add celery and garlic as well as chestnut mushrooms although I've not used Coriander in a Chilli before

That does sound good!

I've not heard of corn bread before I'll have to investigate on google

 

Isn't that just the same as, say, a bacon butty? I mean in the sense that although divine, would eventually become dull if never changed. A plain bacon bitty with grilled Danish in a buttered whole grain bap is pure divine, but every now and then you have to add lettuce and tomato, or a fried egg, or some mushrooms, just to keep things fresh. You might always go back to the basic design, but you need the odd detour. Same with chilli I reckon. Same with life. Life is a bowl of chilli. Experiment, adlib, go freestyle now and then, make the chilli unique. Make it good.

 

Like WeeTam I use smoked paprika.
Once you've sautéed the onions and garlic and browned the mince proceed as follows;

• add a good sprinkling of ground black pepper and dried oregano
• add a good squish of tomato puree
• add a level spoonful of ground cummin and a lightly heaped spoonful of ground coriander and smoked paprika

Then carry on as you normally would. For heat I tend to use the small Thai birds eye chillies. Use good tomatoes and good kidney beans. Avoid cooking the kidney beans for too long.