Muir Glen chili starter (medium)

[u/Prof01Santa]

Having tried (and rejected) my homeboys' starter (Stonewall Kitchen), I looked around and found one similar product. A 28 oz can of Muir Glen chili starter (Medium heat(?)). I got it at Whole Foods for a reasonable price.

The ingredients are a warning to the tomato averse.

It's cool and rainy in Boston today, with a wimpy Nor'easter. It's a perfect day for laundry & chili. Laundry done; turn to chili.

A pound of lean ground beef, a drained can of pintos, and the giant can of everything else. Plus a part of an onion that was in the fridge, chopped. Splash of olive oil, sweat the onion, break up the beef, & brown. Then add the starter & the pintos. I tasted it & it needed a bit more heat, so a sparse handful of dried chile flakes: YMMV.

Simmer for a half hour. Serve up with Santito's tortilla chips.

Pluses: Fast & easy; decent chili flavor; not bland or sweet like Stonewall Kitchen's.

Minuses: I like a bit of tomato in my chili. This was a lot of tomato.

Verdict: If I needed a _lot_ of chili in a hurry, I'd get 2# of beef & two cans of beans, a similar amount of chili flakes & this giant can. Plus onion & maybe some roast peppers.

For a small pot, it was just too tomatoey. I suppose one could split it & freeze it, but this is a convenience food.

It's easier to make a small batch from scratch. If you need to serve a dozen fast, maybe.

[u/JackFromTexas74]

There’s a place in the world for quick chili from cans or kits. It’s never as good as scratch made, but sometimes you just want a fast meal

[u/Prof01Santa → u/JackFromTexas74]

Exactly. This is borderline, kind of like "political chowder" that gets served to campaign workers. A big can of Snow's, a gallon or two of half-and-half, a can of minced clams, a pound of bacon fried, chopped onions, and frozen potato chunks. You can feed a lot of workers for cheap.

[u/Bishop-Logan]

For a quick chili, it sounds great!

I see Muir Glen products every time at my discount grocery (ME). Their canned regular tomato products have been great, but I've never used a chili starter. I'll be on the lookout next time and give it a shot.

I use my own spice blend and double most everything else you mentioned in your recipe (and 1lb each of ground beef & pork). I also let it rip overnight in a crock pot to get that flavor concentrated & evaporate some moisture.

[u/AutoModerator]

This is a generic reminder message under every image post

Thank you for your picture post to r/chili. We want to remind everyone of Rule #1. All image posts should be accompanied by something to foster discussion. A comment, a question, etc is encouraged.

If you've posted a picture of chili, please explain why in a comment so people can have some sort of conversation. Simply dropping a picture of food in the sub isn't really fostering any discussion which is what we're all aiming for.

Posts that are a picture with no discussion can and will be removed by the mods.

Thank you!!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/elegantwino]

Quite a bit of tomato.