ground beef, browned but don't bust it up into tiny little pieces, leave it in some good chunks 3/4" or so
ground sausage- only bout half as much as the beef
leftover meat- brats, roast beef, whatever you've got made from pig or cow, throw it in there
beans- get chili beans and dark red kidney beans
onion- chop up a big one and toss 'er in
canned tomatos- drain the juice off first
jalapenos- sliced into rings
use Hunt's tomato SAUCE not tomato juice as your liquid
1/2 can beer- not light beer, real damn beer
chili powder, paprika, cayenne powder, lil bit salt, lil bit black pepper
Chili should be a project in constant motion, you never quite finish the recipe, just keep working on it. Don't be afraid to dump some shit in and heat it up.
No mushrooms, no celery, no garlic, no damn cocoa, no brown sugar, no cumin, no peanut buter, none of that other crap.
Tomato, meat, beans, hot stuff. done.
Good luck, and no offense to anyone who makes theirs different. I like mine.