This Chili simply gets the job done. Home from a long, cold day, just open a can and heat it up. I usually add a little extra cayenne pepper and chili powder to give it more of a kick. Overall, with shredded cheesed and diced onions it works a joy! Good for the price as well!

Jangerine

USA

I'm not sure about where you live but here in Texas, chili is one dish we consider to possess almost spiritual qualities. It's become part of the soul of our state. Indeed, around some circles, it can take on a sacred role. We're infamous for our rowdy chili cook-offs out in the desert where recipe sampling can sometimes get downright ugly. Eccentric folks get hammered and commence arguing about things such as how fresh the ingredients are, how many hours you smoke the meat before you put it in the kettle, how hot is too hot and on and on. Everyone has their own way of doing things, their own set up, their own hand-me-down cast iron pots and spoons, their own special seasonings created from secret family recipes. It's as much about the person as it is about the chili itself. The only thing these carne connoisseurs have in common is that they would all rather die than use chili from a can. Sacrilege never tasted so offensive to them. As a Native Texan you take a silent oath in childhood (5 for girls, 3 for boys) on Sam Houston's grave never to let canned chili touch your lips. It'll lame your horses and cause your livestock to wither. Your crops will fail and your barns will burn to the ground if you break this one covenant. Guaranteed. Unless you're just using it for a hot dog topping or maybe some quick and easy nachos, canned chili is off limits, not to be discussed or acknowledged in any way. Period. I've been eating Wolf Brand canned chili with beans for years and I love it. Sorry, my fellow native Texans but it's better than most of the chili you think you know how to make. It's also much faster to prepare and, since I'm usually only feeding myself, it makes a whole lot more sense than starting from scratch. I like homemade chili when I can find it but since our family considers it a wintertime dish and I like it year round, Wolf Brand is always in my shopping basket. It comes a little thick and mild for me so I usually add about one third can of water and lately some of my habanero-based homemade sauces but other than that I leave it alone. It's plenty good enough straight from the can to satisfy my palate and fill me up. Together with a few slices of white bread, Wolf Brand chili is the perfect meal. Now that I've shocked my statesmen and started riots back in the desert (again) I should tell you it's not all that big a deal. You see, Wolf Brand chili was first sold from a wagon right on the dusty streets of Corsicana, Texas back in 1895 and was so successful it soon crossed beyond the state's borders and forced the company to expand. Once it took off, the founder, Lyman T. Davis, gave it a name, calling it Wolf Brand in honor of a wolf pup he found and raised. Back in the 20's, Davis began canning operations on his farm and started selling the chili in larger quantities than he ever envisioned. New ownership came along when Davis discovered oil on his farm in 1924. Production was modernized and sales reps driving Model T trucks with can-shaped cabs took the product on the road, each truck equipped with a live wolf caged in the back. The rest, as they say, is history. After years of marketing such a successful product, Wolf Brand helped pursuade the Texas legislature to make chili the official state food, a title it has held since 1977. So you see, the brand has solid roots in Texas and is a pioneer in helping bring chili to the forefront of Texas cuisine, where before it was only on the menu on ranches and in army camps. Chances are, without Wolf Brand getting things going, chili would not mean near what it does in Texas today. So that's why I eat it guilt-free and honestly, I'd bet with just a little doctoring for heat, it would wow those judges out in Terlingua if someone were to sneak a pot in. Good is good, no matter where it comes from. Chili isn't a complex, unknowable dark art like those die-hards want you to believe. It's chili. If Eppie Hattie Lurina Williams has any other recipes, I'd like to try them, too. When she came up with the original Wolf Brand recipe, still in use, she got things just right.      

rustaddsflavor

Houston, TX