Hi Shane,

I tend to make my chilli quite hot. I put in plenty of onions and chopped tinned tomatoes (not forgetting the kidney beans - I love em, but my other half and son hate them so I enjoy watching them picking out all the beans and feeding them to the dogs). I either use fresh chillies or harissa paste if I've no fresh chilli. A few minutes before dishing up, I grate some good quality dark chocolate into it. Serve it with garlic bread, sour cream (or fat free natural yoghurt for those on a diet), chopped raw onion and grated cheddar on the side and some heated tacos.

Chocolate! now i wasnt expecting that!

wow chocolate sounds mad but I tried a chilli with marmite in it and it was amazing..

Guys - you're weird. Marmite has to be one of the most disgusting things ever invented. Now, i'll eat anything and was recently converted to brown sauce but marmite. Marmite is one of those products that you see in every house alongside the honey and james, but it always looks like its been there for ever (and it most likely has). I wonder if the same tub of marmite is still in my mums cupboard at home- if it is then its been there for about 14 years untouched!

Now i'm more open to the chocolate idea. Chocolate goes with everything so i will try it and let you know.

ich nay on the marmite, we never were a marmite house thank god!

I was a Marmite kid - All Engish babies were raised on Marmite soldiers (I'm sure that these days it would be banned for babies due to the high salt content). You can't beat marmite on toast or on really fresh white bread with cold (real) butter and a glass of icy cold milk. when I was a kid Twiglets were about 4 inches long and we used to bite each end off and then drink milk through the Twiglet like a straw until it went soggy - the milk used to turn a kind of beige colour and tasted of Marmite. Ooooh yum! I tried to get my son to eat Marmite but he never liked it - must be his Irish genes.

If you are making French Onion Soup - add a good teaspoonful of Marmite - fantastic!!

lads...I know that the world is divided into those that love or hate marmite but it was only one ingredient in a LONG list that went into the chilli- it gave it a slightly more fuller flavour to a veggie chilli...must ask for recepie...

Vegemite is the only way to go. Marmite is all wrong. My daughter loves Vegimite. I have often used it to flavour food, as if you think about it both Marmite and Vegimite are just stock. I would love the recipe Aoife.

best way to finish chilli is with a handful of freshly chopped coriander and lots of lime juice! (this is also true for green thai curry)

I'm just reading that top entry again- chocolate!!!! I'll have to try that. It sounds YUM

Tried the chocolate before... didn't think it helped that much. I have a good method/recipe that doesn't require any weird stuff to make it taste good. I'll stick it on the recipe pages tonight.

Great stuff Conor, i'd be very interested to see if it differs much from my one!

Here you go Shane. As you can see, pretty simple and no real special ingredients or secrets. Just works.

http://www.cullyandsully.com/content/cookbook/chilli-con-carne

Secret is browning the mince and plenty of chilli powder and seasoning!

Oh I missed it. What's economy gastronomy. I really hope it's not part of the recession. I think if everyone cut down on the amount of money they spent on fancy shampoo, shower gel and all that melarchy and spent more money on their food they would save on medical bills (which are bananas) and therefore save money overall.

I make a bog standard chilli con carne but just a few extras, some of which have been mentioned above...
- chocolate (dark, grated, added near the end)
- marmite just to make the flavour more complex, or if you are really averse to marmite, a few drops of Worstershire sauce or spoon of miso paste
- small cup strong black coffee

Trust me...None of these additions are identifiable when you eat it, they just add complexity to the overall flavour.

Serve with grated cheddar, coriander, plain corn tortilla chips and a squeeze of lime

I often leave out the carne all together, no meat required if you use kidney beans and black beans with the above additions.

Hey guys cookin this for an exam in three weeks im 14 and need a good tasty basic chilli con carne receipe...... any tips (

Hey there Mysterious Critic,

We have a recipe for Chilli Con Carne on our recipes page. Its under the beef section. Hope that helps. I always add plenty of cheese and have it with a baked spud. Yummmmmmyyyyyyyy

Did you find the recipe ok?

To my great surprise I have found that unsweetened cocoa powder (Green and Blacks is what I use) makes a huge difference. It seems to intensify the other flavours. Also, so far I have not met anyone who has been able to identify what the secret ingredient is, and I have never had anything other than really positive comments on the chilli. I also use a lot more ground cumin that most recipes call for. Chorizo v imp too.

Is the chocolate itself not the secret ingredient. It all about the fact that it melts at body temperature!