Your Basic Chili

I’m no purist when it comes to chili. (If you are, turn to the dried chile–based one.) I appreciate just about any long-cooked stew with a protein and cumin and chiles—with or without tomatoes, beans, even fresh chiles and corn; it’s all fair game as far as I’m concerned. Here is a very simple chili, which I hope you’ll see as a template for tweaking: Add more tomatoes, if you’d like, or different varieties of chile powder (and some cayenne for more heat),