The secret ingredient every chili needs is probably in your pantry

, The New York Times

Tana Harter knows what she wants in her chili: creamy heartiness, a glisten and glow, melt-in-your-mouth meat and consistent spiciness. But half an hour before judging began at the 2018 International Chili Society World Championship Chili Cook-Off in St. Louis, her pot wasn't meeting her personal criteria. She stirred in the one ingredient she knew would fix it.

Harter, a life coach from Leesburg, Virginia, won the traditional red category that year by adding two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar. "It was a crutch for me for a while," she said.

She has competed in six to 10 chili cook-offs a year for more than a decade, and can't deny that vinegar is a winning secret ingredient. "I won $25,000 using apple cider vinegar. You got to look at the facts, and that is the fact."

While adding a final dash of vinegar or another acidic ingredient isn't especially common on the cook-off circuit, it's a handy trick for home cooks. It enhances overall flavor and balances richness, making a good pot even better. If a batch is too sweet, salty or bitter, it evens everything out.

This trick also works for other hearty braises, like beef stew. Meat and other fatty ingredients have a tendency to muffle other flavors. Tasting chili after stirring in vinegar in is like taking off noise-canceling headphones. Only then can you fully experience the dish's distinct heat, smoke and spices.

A final hit of acid can also make a speedy version taste like it simmered for hours. Lisa Fain, a seventh-generation Texan, adds two tablespoons of fresh lime juice to the one-hour Texas chili in her "Homesick Texan Cookbook" (Hachette, 2011). The idea came from her mother, who finishes every hearty or savory dish, including chili or a pot of beans, with a splash of brine from a jar of pickled jalapeños. (Brine is mostly vinegar.) Fain uses brine as well but likes the freshness of lime. "It just brightens up the dish," she said.

Try it out by making a batch of your favorite chili (or one from New York Times Cooking) and giving it a taste. Then stir in a half teaspoon of apple cider vinegar or lime juice. (You can also use red wine vinegar, but it can be more discernible.) Taste again and repeat with another half teaspoon. If the flavors aren't yet as intense as you want them, crank it up with another half teaspoon.

You don't need much — enough to amplify but not enough to detect. Harter's triumphant recipe included just two teaspoons for a batch using three pounds of diced tri-tip.

Chili classicists might consider this finishing touch unnecessary, but consider how garnishes of pickled jalapeños, pickled onions and hot sauce similarly contribute a jolt of acidity to rich bowls. Stirring vinegar into the pot guarantees that sharp contrast makes it into every bite.

When Fain published her lime-spiked chili, readers grumbled. Lime juice? In Texas chili? "It works," Fain said. "I'll defend it."

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This originally appeared in The New York Times .