Do you make your chili with or without beans?

[chowmama]

24. I make both kinds

Midwest chili with ground meat and beans, and Southwest chili with cubed meat and no beans. I love both of them.

I haven't seen very many variations on SW chili; it's still mostly dried chilis made into a paste for seasoning. I know there's some argument about if other veg can be included with the meat, and purists seem to object to even onion and garlic. Tomatoes are sometimes almost as much a heresy as beans. Not much room there.

My Midwest chili is fairly standard (chili powder, onions, beans, tomatoes, etc.), but my father borrowed a trick from some neighbors to extend the meat even further by including corn kernels. Weird, but tasty. 1 pound of meat made at least 12 servings, at a time when we could use the savings. DH decided he likes it that way, so I add corn, too. (But more meat and chili powder, so less savings.)

The weirdest Midwest chili I ever ran into was at college, at a theater pre-show potluck. That guy's family used all the usual additives, and then threw in elbow macaroni and pineapple tidbits. Not much seasoning, if I recall - it was just an odd hamburger bean stew, sort of like hot dish soup in a bowl, with pineapple. Hella cheap, though.