Worlds best chili recipe and secret ingredient

[JohnTak]

Still searching the internet for chili recipes and now I'm getting skeptical. Who decides what is the worlds best chili and if it is a secret ingredient, how did they find out? Chocolate or coco powder are the "secret ingredient" did they hack the CIA computer and look up secret ingredients! Oh well I will come up with something eventually, until then I will use my recipe and continue to tweak it.

 

[JKalchik]

Chocoloate and/or cocoa lend a mole'esque element to the flavor.

Personally, I like using a low hopped beer, like a stout, a porter, a nice brown, amber, or the like for about half of the liquid. There's a lot of flavor compounds that will come out as they're more alcohol soluble.

One other point and it's more of a technique. After browning off the meat and the veg, bloom the spices in the hot oil until fragrant before adding water, stock, beer, etc. This is an old Indian curry method.

 

[LMichaels]

Someone once told me it's also cinnamon in addition to cocoa

 

[Bob Bailey]

Try lightly toasting and rehydrating dried chiles in hot water then liquifying them in a blender along with enough of the hot water to make a slightly runny paste. I like a mix of New Mexico, Guajillo and Ancho for flavor and Arbol for heat. Go light on the Arbol (they're hot) and add Cayenne for extra heat if needed. Makes a big difference vs. store bought chili powder, which can vary a lot between brands. As @JKalchik says, dark beer works well too. You can even use it to rehydrate the chiles.
I dehydrated some Habaneros, Jalapeños and Serranos from the garden and will be trying some of them in the mix this Winter.

 

[JKalchik]

Oops. Should mention that some of the best chili I've ever made was with a home smoked brisket and a homebrewed sweet stout. That was some seriously good stuff.

 

[Bob Bass]

John... Have you tried the International Chili Society's website ?