High Power Bob on the keyboard here. Mark allowed he would tell me his secret if I wrote it up for him. He brought a crock-pot of his Chili to a Smallbore meet at the PGC Ridgeville Range to be served with the hot dogs during the lunch break. It was so well received that they were coming back for more Chili without getting another hot dog.

Mark’s secret is a commercial prepackaged Chili Mix marketed as “Shotgun Willie’s, Texas Chili Seasoning”. He told me it was at the supermarket but after visiting several with no luck in finding it I called upon him to show me where he had purchased it.

With two James Island Piggly Wiggly employees as store bloodhounds we went searching because someone had reset the store since his last purchase. We found it on Aisle Number Two on the top shelf, intermixed in with the Mexican foods. Black box with red and yellow lettering.

Marks favorite choice of meet is venison because it is so lean. He said that if you use other types of meat to make sure that all the fat is trimmed and any grease after cooking is drained off.

He also favors the slow cook method of low heat in a crock-pot and cooking all night. He follows the cooking instructions contained within the package. With one exception, he said to throw the pepper-seasoning package in the trashcan because it is not needed. Now I know that some intrepid soul is going to dump the pepper package into the mix, but be warned that it contains Red Cayenne peppers. Experiment with a very small dab if you are so inclined.

Mark said if you use enough meat you don’t need to add beans because beans were used as “fillers” and besides he was a “walking two-legged gas factory”. (I need to show Mark where the Beano and Gas X products are located.)

The recipe is very flexible as to additional ingredients so you can fix it the way you like your Chili.

Contact Willie by calling (888) 323-2324