Canned Chili Taste-off

Let's get the suspense out of the way--here are the results (and point totals).  For more, see the article at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi...feed=rss.tasterschoice
I definitely don't agree with these results, by the way--I've never tried Trader Joe's but otherwise I'd just about reverse the outcome.  Stagg's makes many different varieties, but I like most of them and I was raised on Hormel's so maybe that's just a nostalgia thing.
Canned chili con carne
Nalley 61
Ralphs 59
Dennison's 52
Hormel 32
Stagg 19
Trader Joe's 17
 


 
 


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/04/FDUJ1HHH6H.DTL#ixzz1DE40gmgA
 

With the exception of Hormel, None of the above brands are available in Dallas that I'm aware of.
Of course, my favorite is, Wolf brand. WITHOUT, BEANS!

Of those mentioned, we also only have Hormel here, but I prefer Vietti, which is only sold in 5 states.  (No Wolf Brand here, either.)  

I don't know of ANY chili in a can that I'd consider good.
 
I haven't tried too many, though. Maybe about 5 - 7 different ones. I've learned to stay away from them.
 
Stagg I didn't care for some of the varieties they had. I don't eat chicken or turkey, so those are out. I didn't like the way the beef was in the chili.. the way it tasted or the cut (ground or chunk)  and no wonder I don't like Hormel either. They're the same company it seems? The Staggchili website directs me to Hormel Foods. I never liked the beef in Hormel. Something about those little flecks getting caught in my teeth.

Wolf without a doubt. At least, the Wold Brand without any stinkin' beans. Same with Stagg. Good -- without beans. Hormel without beans make a pretty good sauce for pasta.

Twinwillow


With the exception of Hormel, None of the above brands are available in Dallas that I'm aware of.
Of course, my favorite is, Wolf brand. WITHOUT, BEANS!

 
CANNED Chili in Dallas??? That's an Oxymoron PLUS it's Illegal to have possession of a can of Chili within the city limits! No self respecting Dallasite or Texan for that matter would possess, much less eat, CANNED Chili!!
They make some there for export to people in other states who don't know any better!

Michael Hoffman


Wolf without a doubt. At least, the Wold Brand without any stinkin' beans. Same with Stagg. Good -- without beans. Hormel without beans make a pretty good sauce for pasta.

 

Interesting that you should mention "stinkin' beans".  I stopped at Walmart yesterday for a last minute pickup of several cans of Vietti Chili "No Beans".   The were completely sold out (only bare shelf space remaining), but they had 2 shelves of "With Beans" fully stocked and untouched.

Wolf Brand is good but so is Ralph's and Dennison's.  Never heard of Nalley's. 
 
I prefer chili with beans.  If I'm going to use canned chili, I prefer to add my own style of beans to it rather than buy it with beans.

dimmie2

Never heard of Nalley's.  

 
From their web site ( http://www.nalleyfoods.com/aboutNalley/ ):    
 
Of course we all know Nalley's for it's extensive line of great tasting chili. But over 80 years of history and a lot of hard work has gotten us to the brand we know and love today. And that history is strongly rooted in the Northwest.
 
Nalley's was founded in 1918 by a 28-year-old Chef living in Tacoma. Starting with thinly sliced potatoes called "Saratoga Chips", Marcus Nalley spent 44 years of his life becoming a household name. His potato chips were so popular, Nalley decided to open up a plant where he could produce them in greater quantity, as well as produce his own brands of mayonnaise and maple syrup. Despite hard times during the Great Depression, sales continued to soar and Nalley's began to expand throughout the Northwest in the early 1940s . . . .

 
Meanwhile ( http://www.conagrafoods.c...page=dennisons ):
 

May Belle Dennison, a homemaker from Tacoma, Wash., was the clever cook behind Dennison's chili. The story begins in 1915 when May Belle developed a special method for capturing all the flavors of home cooking in a can. At first, she canned only for family and friends, but her culinary reputation quickly grew, and soon local retailers were getting requests for her products. Before long, her kitchen was too small to meet the growing demand for her popular chili, so the Dennisons began to grow their chili business . . . .

 
Seems like those 2 brands started as competitive neighbors although Dennison's is now part of the Conagra monster.
 

You can learn ANYTHING on the Internet. I'd never heard of the #1 Rated Canned Chili - Nalleys, so I looked them up. They were a Northwest regional product that was bought out by Pinnacle Foods Group. Who is Pinnacle? Never hreard of them either until I looked them up and Voila! They own:

Armour®

Aunt Jemima® Frozen Breakfast

Birds Eye® Vegetables

Birds Eye® Voila!

C&W®

Celeste®

Comstock-Wilderness®

Duncan Hines®

Hungry-Man®

Husman's®

Lender's®

Log Cabin®

Mrs. Butterworth's®

Mrs. Paul's®

Nalley®

Open Pit®

Snyder® of Berlin

Tim's® Cascade Snacks

Van de Kamp's®

Vlasic®  
Between them & ConAgra and a few other large companies, they control 80-90% of the food distribution business in the Country! Amazing!

Con Agra makes both Wolf Brand and Dennison's Chili.  Makes one wonder if they are the same with different labels.

BT


Let's get the suspense out of the way--here are the results (and point totals).  For more, see the article at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi...feed=rss.tasterschoice
I definitely don't agree with these results, by the way--I've never tried Trader Joe's but otherwise I'd just about reverse the outcome.  Stagg's makes many different varieties, but I like most of them and I was raised on Hormel's so maybe that's just a nostalgia thing.
Canned chili con carne
Nalley 61
Ralphs 59
Dennison's 52
Hormel 32
Stagg 19
Trader Joe's 17

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/04/FDUJ1HHH6H.DTL#ixzz1DE40gmgA

Well, y'know, out there on the left coast they probably don't know a lot about chilli. 

Apparently they have never experienced Ray's Chilli (a family owned-operated business since 1922. www.rayschilli.com
 
Or, for that matter the single serve microwaveable Steak & Shake chilli packets. 


 

[
Well, y'know, out there on the left coast they probably don't know a lot about chilli. 




 
Well, you might say that except for the fact that, historically, chilli was an invention of people moving toward the west and using the ingredients they had with them (dried beef, beans, local peppers in the Southwest).  Some of 'em got here--and kept making chilli.  But at no point did Illinois have anything to do with it so their association with chilli is purely artificial.
 
Anyway, I'll give you one thing:  The SF Chronicle can be irritatingly provincial and never more so than when it comes to the subject of food.  A lot of American food brands are very regional and that can be a problem for me since I grew up in the East and can't get a lot of the ones I grew up liking.  And I'll never understand why Best Foods has to call their mayo one thing east of the Mississippi (Hellman's) and another thing west of it (Best Food's).  But the Chronicle always ignores any brand not available in its territory.

Not real big on canned chili, but Bush's isn't to bad.

Foodbme

Twinwillow


With the exception of Hormel, None of the above brands are available in Dallas that I'm aware of.
Of course, my favorite is, Wolf brand. WITHOUT, BEANS!

CANNED Chili in Dallas??? That's an Oxymoron PLUS it's Illegal to have possession of a can of Chili within the city limits! No self respecting Dallasite or Texan for that matter would possess, much less eat, CANNED Chili!!
They make some there for export to people in other states who don't know any better!

 
Mostly true. However, when you've got 2" of ice on the roads and it's 13 degrees outside and all you have is a can of Wolf's chili in the larder, waddaya think I'm gonna do? Thank God I have some onions and shredded Cheddar in the fridge.

lol
Sometimes it takes too long to fix up a big pot of chili, so I'm all for opening a can and adding a few extra ingredients.

I bought some of this a couple of weeks ago - I suppose I read about it here. It was horribly oily :( Maybe I got a bad can?

If you're talking about Wolf Brand, yep, it's greasy.  Have to scrape it off the top of the can when you open it up.  One of the reasons why I prefer another brand.

Twinwillow

Foodbme

Twinwillow


With the exception of Hormel, None of the above brands are available in Dallas that I'm aware of.
Of course, my favorite is, Wolf brand. WITHOUT, BEANS!

CANNED Chili in Dallas??? That's an Oxymoron PLUS it's Illegal to have possession of a can of Chili within the city limits! No self respecting Dallasite or Texan for that matter would possess, much less eat, CANNED Chili!!
They make some there for export to people in other states who don't know any better!

Mostly true. However, when you've got 2" of ice on the roads and it's 13 degrees outside and all you have is a can of Wolf's chili in the larder, waddaya think I'm gonna do? Thank God I have some onions and shredded Cheddar in the fridge.

Understandable! People in dire straights have been been known to eat their deceased companions.
Donner Pass comes to mind. You get a pass this time!

dimmie2


If you're talking about Wolf Brand, yep, it's greasy.  Have to scrape it off the top of the can when you open it up.  One of the reasons why I prefer another brand.

With the grease goes the flavor!

Not really.  Any good chili doesn't need to be swimming in grease to have flavor. 

Chili in a can? Hormel we have, and we have another kind with a black label & my stepdad likes them better. Ummmmm. I'm getting a blank here. brb.

CHILI MAN!!! The Step loves to make chili dawgs with Chili Man NO Beans and fresh chopped onion & a boatload of shredded cheddar.
 
http://www.chilliman.com/

dimmie2


Not really.  Any good chili doesn't need to be swimming in grease to have flavor. 

Show me a greaseless Chili and I'll show you a tasteless Chili!

I'd like to try Chilli Man.  Strangely, the only sell the vegetarian vesion here.

 
 
Reading the labels on most any can of chili show that there is as much meat in those cans as a Taco Bell Beefy Crunch Burrito.
You do not need beans to compete with the rest of the filler, but a can with beans means there is probably a ounce of beef total...
What is the actual percentage of beef inside ?
 
mark
 

Foodbme

dimmie2


Not really.  Any good chili doesn't need to be swimming in grease to have flavor. 

Show me a greaseless Chili and I'll show you a tasteless Chili!

Too much grease makes me deathly ill, so I prefer less grease and more flavor which can be accomplished with the right combination of spices.

dimmie2

Foodbme

dimmie2


Not really.  Any good chili doesn't need to be swimming in grease to have flavor. 

Show me a greaseless Chili and I'll show you a tasteless Chili!

Too much grease makes me deathly ill, so I prefer less grease and more flavor which can be accomplished with the right combination of spices.

Unfortunately, most canned Chili's lack the right combination of spices.

MellowRoast


I'd like to try Chilli Man.  Strangely, the only sell the vegetarian vesion here.

If you are serious, PM me your address & I'll see what I can do about sending canned "meat" across state lines. :)

BT
Well, you might say that except for the fact that, historically, chilli was an invention of people moving toward the west and using the ingredients they had with them (dried beef, beans, local peppers in the Southwest).

While beans were sometimes eaten as a side dish with chili, and some people mixed them together, cooking them in the chili was a 20th century (mainly during the Depression) innovation. Oh, let's not forget the other key ingredients: onions and oregano (actually, Mexican oregano, which is a form of thyme rather than marjoram).
 
Bart