Wow, the holidays are over for another year and I will miss them.  I always love to see everyone and cook and eat and all that stuff that is bad.  However, now it's time to pay the price and I am going to start with a hint or two on chili making.  Now everyone has a favorite recipe and I wouldn't pretend to be any different. So, rather than offering up one more way of making chili, let me offer some hints to make your chili better.  This can be one of the best diet friendly dishes in your recipe box.

1) Watch the salt.  Don't salt until the cooking process is just about done.  Chili tends to concentrate when cooked slowly (which it should be).  That can make an initial salting become unbearable later.  Start with only what you need to barely season the meat when browning and the vegetables when added.  Then season later to taste when the cooking process is just about done.

2) Season with a couple of anchovies.  I know what you are thinking.  You're only going to use a couple of fillets and it won't taste like fish at all.  What this little wierd fish will do is make the beef taste beefier.  Sounds wierd, I know, but it really works.  Use Worcestershire Sauce, if you are just determined not to try the fish fillets.  It has a good dose of anchovies in it.

3) Don't be afraid of unconventional ingredients.  I use brown gravy mix to thicken and enrich my chili.  It works great.  You just have to keep an eye on it and bring the chili to boiling so that it will thicken. Masa flour works well too (available at most stores in the foriegn foods section).

4) Easy on the cumin.  Great stuff and the chili really doesn't taste right without it, but it can blow up a good pot of chili in a second if you use too much.

5) It is perfectly great to use a chili starter, if you don't want to take the time to hammer it out ingredient by ingredient.  My favorite comes from the great Mark Zoch at www.thedinnerdude.com.  Its just a spice mix and seems a bit expensive until yourealize that it has no salt in it.  Commercial powders and mixes are up to 90% salt.  Give this a try

I could go on, but this should be of help to start.  Just contact me over at www.goodgalley.com if you have any questions and comment here!  I'd love to chat about chili.