I discovered on this forum how to make amazing chili paste by boiling dried chiles, letting them seep and then blending them into incredibly aromatic sauce to add to chili meat.

Guajillos, anchos, chile de arbols. add in some cumin, paprika and garlic and blend, blend blend. The smells...so great.

But then I watch all these youtube chile videos, and they're all about doing two spice dumps of various chile powders.

I know you can combine both approaches.

But for those who have cooked way more chili than me, what do you see as the pros and cons of these competing methods?

Thanks,
FTA

I know a guy.....

Peppers you say?

The first method is traditional and used in many Mexican dish preparations. The second is helpful when the family is hungry and you need food on the table ASAP and you don't have the time or inclination to fiddle with doing it properly. Both are acceptable depending on the circumstances.

My chili got so much better when I added dried ancho peppers. I have to admit that I have stolen my recipe from another person so cannot take credit, but it does change time to time according to quality of meat. I try not to use old spices either. It is getting close to chili making season.

Competition Chili is a whole different animal. I've judged many competitions and even the very best is not necessarily the style I prefer. In my own personal chili, I use both chili powder and chili puree. I also like diced onion, diced green chile, and chopped garlic which would all be deductions in a competition. Experiment with both and figure out what you like best

Spice flavor profiles change with heat and cooking, which is why some folks recommend or advocate for 2 separate "dumps" of spices.

I make mine with the steeped dried chilies on the front end, along with my spices, then add spices at the end right before serving as needed to get the flavor where I want it.

If you really want to up your chili game - save some brisket and dice it up into 3/4" cubes and add halfway through your cook. Amazing flavor, absolutely changes the entire complexion of chili for the better IMO. Also, don't use hamburger grind - use coarse grind for half, cubed roast/brisket for the other half.

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/true-texas-chili-355049

I have tried this and it is really good but it takes work. You can use the chili method here and just use ground beef or chili meat instead of cutting up the meat to save time...

Supposedly the two dumps adds one dose of flavor to the meat while browning and one to the gravy while cooking/simmering.

In theory you could do the same with the paste. Not sure if it really matters. Competition chili has a lot of rituals that have been accepted as gospel similar to BBQ.

I think the paste gives a deeper earthier flavor without the heat because the seeds and veins are usually removed unlike chili powder which grinds up the whole dried pepper. Depends on the on the chilis like the darker guajillos and anchos which add the earthiness. like John Cocktolstoy mentioned

The deep flavor is why some people add mexican chocolate or fish sauce to their chili if they don't have some of the darker chili powders.

I like chili but seldom put in the complete effort except on special occasion. I actually like the Carol Shelby's and really like the Terlingua mix sold at HEB. I always add some of the frozen red chili sauce you can get at the store when I use those. I thaw it out and pour it into ice trays, make cubes and keep a bag in the freeze. When making chili I add a few cubes.

100% on board with schmellba99.