Fire-Roasted Tomato Chili

The secret to this chili is one deliberately old-fashioned step: roasting the tomatoes before they ever hit the pot. Halved Roma tomatoes go into a hot oven until their edges blacken and their sugars caramelize, and that char changes everything — it concentrates the tomato flavor and adds a deep, smoky-sweet backbone that canned tomatoes simply can't match. From there it's a straightforward, honest beef-and-bean chili, but that one extra half-hour of roasting is what makes people ask why yours tastes so much richer than theirs. Worth every minute for a bowl with real depth.

Corn chips, shredded cheese, and sour cream suit it.

The roasting step works with any tomatoes — cherry tomatoes roast fast and sweet if Romas aren't around. Ground turkey subs for beef. Roast a head of garlic alongside the tomatoes and squeeze it in for even deeper flavor.