My mother and hers always made their chili with beef, which was much less expensive than it is today. But it is excellent even when made partly or wholly with less expensive pork sausage, as I often have to do now. Cattle herds are in recovery and until that gets back to normal, and we get a break on energy prices, we are going to have to be tight about how much we can buy. Unfortunately, it takes some time to raise cattle; there is no such thing as instant gratification when it comes to big grazing animals.
They also made their chili with i fresh celery, bell pepper, garlic, and onion, in addition to dried chili pepper, cumin, thyme, bay leaf, and an incredibly tiny wild hot pepper that was only about as large as a black-eyed pea but packed a pretty good punch.
A big batch of this can save a person a lot of time because it gets better the second and third day. You can wing it, according to taste, adding more of your favorite ingredients, but a large whole chopped or diced cooking onion- not a sweet type- is mission-critical.
1 lb spicy pork breakfast sausage and/beef
1 large diced onion
1 large diced green bell or poblano pepper
1 cup chopped celery
Handful of garlic cloves, crushed and minced
2 or 3 bay leaves
Chili powder
Smoked paprika or chipotle
Ground cumin
Fennel or anise seed, crushed
Black pepper
6 cans of your favorite chili beans
1 or 2 cans of Italian stewed tomatoes, Rotel, or fresh if available
2 quarts of bone broth, any kind
Worcestershire sauce
Hot sauce or salsa
Begin by sautéing the celery, onion and pepper in oil, and add the garlic, herbs and spices and sauté until garlic is fragrant.
Fry the meat in a large pan and add the onion mixture.
Add bone broth, beans, tomatoes, worcestershire. Bring to a boil then drop the temp to simmer.
Remove the bay leaves.
You can always kick it to another level:
Serve with sharp cheddar shreds and sour cream over corn chips or serve with corn bread. (Corn and beans balance each other nutritionally.) And of course, add your favorite hot sauces to taste. My preference is tobasco and habanero. A variety of hot pepper sauces will be better than just one type, adding more depth.