BBC Chili

That first B stands for Bison. The second one stands for Bacon. And the C? Oh you’d better believe that means Chorizo my friends. After years of dabbling, I may have finally found the perfect meat combo for chili. Rejoice!

Actually, since I did use a bit of leftover beef and the main bean source was black beans, I could call it BBBBBC Chili (or B5C2, which a few months ago would have had a nice mad scientist lab experiment ring to it, but now just probably sounds like a new flu). So I’m sticking with BBC Chili.

I had planned to do one of those lists that ranks chili toppings in order of importance, but I’m finding that sort of impossible. How can you say that minced onion is any less vital than shredded cheese? Where do you rank sour cream? Sour cream’s so good that no matter what list it’s on, it should be first. I eat sour cream straight out of the tub with a spoon and not an ounce of shame. But with all the delicious but admittedly soggy textures, you really need some crunch, so the Fritos can’t possibly be a secondary option (some people go with Saltines, which is fine, but trust me, a handful of crunched-up Fritos on your chili takes it to a whole other place. You’re welcome). I love me some avocado and how it’s essentially a fruit trying to pass itself off as fat, but I suppose it’s the least essential chili add-on, so if I had to rank toppings it would probably look something like this:

1. OnioncheesesourcreamFritos

1a. Avocado.

The main thing to keep in mind is to get a bit of everything in every bite. Sometimes I re-top my chili as many as three or four times before I reach the bottom of the bowl, and then gobble up all the leftover topping scraps scattered about the cutting board. A couple tupperwares full of chili in the freezer makes for a truly happy winter.