A spicy bell pepper is a mild chili

Chili is a very broad category of

Stews or soups descending from texas and northern mexico, which of course used to be the same place.

And in my humble opinion, there is

A secret to a perfect bowl of chili.

Got to start with some chilis, of course. You can use fresh, you can use dried, you can use a mixture, hot, mild, whatever you like. A bell pepper is a mild chili. You can cut them in half and pull the seeds out, just because the seeds are kind of yucky. And if you want to limit the heat, you can pull out the ribs in which the seeds sit. I just cut each of these halves into strips so that I can cut across the strips to get a nice dice. Any kind of onion will do, just a rough chop on that.

Remember, it's a stew. It cooks a while, so the pieces are going to fall apart. They don't have to be perfect or especially fine. Some oil in a pot, throw in the veg. You could also throw in some carrots or cauliflower or something for some extra vegetables in your diet. I'll just cook that over pretty high heat for about 10 minutes to soften everything, give it all a head start. That looks good enough. Remember, it's going to cook some more.

Chili isn't always a tomatoey stew, but in its contemporary form, it's usually a tomatoey stew. I like this brand of canned tomatoes, not an ad. And the fire roasted kind are really good for chili. I'm doing two big cans of crushed tomatoes, but you could use less. You could use tomatillos and make green chili. Now, of course, chili in this context is short for chili con carne, chili with meat. So we need some tough cut of beef, suitable for stewing. I'm using oxtail today and NO! Three or four cans of beans.

That's the secret. Chili is beans in spicy tomato sauce. Yes, originally it was meat, but it has evolved into part meat, part beans, or sometimes all beans. And who among us needs more beef in our diet? Just eat beans. In the 21st century developed world, beans are better for individual and planetary health. For most meals, for most people, beans are better. Soak some dry beans overnight if you want and then throw them in, but cans are almost as good and far faster. Of course, the secret is to drain and rinse the canned beans and NO! Just dump in the bean juice.

The bean juice is just some of the soluble carbs and proteins and such from the bean. For a stew, like chili, we need some water and we need a little starch for thickening. And the bean goo is full of starch, because beans are seeds, just like grains.

They just have more protein than grains,

Because of nitrogen-fixing bacteria that grow on the roots of legumes.

Oh, what about the added salt in the bean goo? Well, weren't you going to season your stew anyway? Just don't add as much salt. Anyway, bring that to a simmer. If you're using soaked dried beans, you'll have to simmer them for at least an hour or two until the beans are soft. Canned beans are already soft, but the stew does taste better if you simmer it anyway for a half hour.

Now, the spices must be the authentic mixture of, NO! There's no such thing. Just dump in stuff from your spice rack until you like how it tastes. Cumin is pretty standard, as would be some kind of dried smoked chili. Smoked paprika is easy to find, and it's not spicy. You can always add spice with cayenne or something, if you want the heat. Oregano is pretty standard. And prepackaged chili spice mixes usually include a ton of garlic powder for a reason. Garlic powder is the easiest way to make nearly any stew taste way better.

I don't even know what this one is, but it's red, so I'm putting it in the chili. Chili is just beans in spicy tomato sauce. Make it up as you go along. Stir it in, give it a taste. Needs way more smoked paprika and cumin, and I think I'll do some mustard powder too, because I just want more pungency, and I only need a pinch of salt, because the canned goods were already salty, and that's totally fine, as long as you account for it. But what you really need to make this authentically Mexican is some of the traditional Mexican chocolate that they use in savory dishes down there. Or you could just dump in some dark chocolate chips. You're going to get the same exact effect.

You won't notice the sugar, because the tomato sauce is already sweet. Honestly, just a little dark chocolate melted in there really does a lot to make this taste like more than just beans in spicy tomato sauce, which is all chili is, that tastes really good. I could eat it every day and we will, for the next three days. This is what most home-cooked meals should be, in my opinion. A big, nutritionally complete and mostly meatless stew or soup that you just throw together one night and you eat for the next three weeknights. Get your variety on the weekends. This is a far more sustainable way to cook and eat for most of your meals, both from the standpoint of your time and from the standpoint of individual and planetary health. More sustainable.

You don't have to love it, just eat it. It's fuel for your body so that you can do the things that you want to do. Not every meal has to be like a trip to the amusement park, for god's sake. How badly have I contributed to that self-destructive expectation? Just eat beans and sauce. Good.