Regarding your Black Bean Chili recipe, I was wondering why you would want to add 6 cups of water to this chili instead of beef broth or maybe half broth and half water. I find that using broth, either chicken or beef, instead of water in grits, rice, beans, or just about any kind of vegetable, adds a lot more flavor and doesn't have the flat taste one gets from water.
There are times when we will use stock, others water, and often a combination of the two as you suggest. In this particular recipe we didn't want the poultry flavor to dominate and wanted the focus to be more on the beans. By cooking the chili for a long time, the turkey supplies a lot of the flavor into the dish that stock would and at the same time the softening of the beans adds a creamy texture and some depth of flavor.
This is the great thing about recipes - endless variety and this chili would be great with stock.
Thanks for writing.
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