I've got a chili cookoff coming up Thursday. Ain't got no recipe, but because I'm building around ground turkey, I have to try harder.
Went by the Mexican market in Fairfax and picked up an assortment of dried chilies - ancho, chipotle, negro; fresh jalapeno; Gonna drop a few cayennes in the top just for comedic effect.
I'm not trying to blow people out, I have to keep the heat low enough for enough judges to like it. I'm going for flavor instead - in what I hope is a key differentiator, I'm going to toast all the chilies and the mexican oregano too. Cumin, cinnamon, coriander, garlic, Italian basil plum tomatoes and sweet onions to provide seductive sweetness before the creeping heat from the array of chilies. I don't have a recipe, just going to throw crap in until it tastes like I want it to.