bray- ALL of penderys spices are very good. always very fresh and they do air tight seals on bags to ensure added freshness. i think a lot of their chili blends comes down to personal preference, some are more hot, some are more salty, and some can even have a hint of sugar to them. we use the terlingua blend most of the time, and have used the ft worth blend, and it is good also.. i see another recipe has been added using penderys spices.. they really are good.
zarak- to be perfectly honest, i have never really played with the recipe in an attempt to make it less spicy. usually, the effort is to make it more spicy, or flavorful. i would think you could maybe just reduce the amount of chili powder and ground cayenne you add, but then you would need to reduce the water content, cause the spices help to absorb the water.. if you reduce the spices, and not the water, it will end up being way too soupy. and, you might try and reduce the cooking time some. i know i have stressed that slow cooking is the key, and it is.. but, the longer you cook, the more time the flavors have to build and come to their full potential. so, if you cook for less time, they will not fully develop, which is kinda what you would want. again, less water needed since less cook time. hope that helps.
tleigh- beer, hhmm.. when we go to chili cookoffs, i usually get common standards. nothing fancy or special. lone star, coors, budweiser, etc. just make sure its cold. and have a few handy.
bigjohn
