Spices make the chili go "boom!"
Great chili is never the same because you find endless ways to use up leftovers or cook to taste as you play with the spice rack, dry stores, canned goods, etc.
Great chili can be as simplistic as a package of ground round, a jar of salsa, a can of beans, and several shots of Tabasco sauce, or as creative as a variety of shredded animal or fowl flesh, a medley of beans, peppers, squash, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, corn, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. and various spices to heat, sweeten, or tease the taste buds.
For ground turkey which is not as robust as pork or beef, I like to reduce tomatoes (actually I like to reduce tomatoes any time, but that's another subject), and go for a rainbow effect with red, green, yellow, and orange bell pepper, jalapeño pepper (I prefer sliced & pickled, but fresh is fine if your customers can handle it), dark and light kidney beans, black beans, great northern beans, corn, onion, minced garlic, crushed red, cayenne, and black pepper to taste, paprika (hot or mild), (I'm not a fan of chili powder or other curry-like spices, or I should say my poor tummy isn't, but you are the chef dear Muse), served with Tabasco, salsa, and jalapeños on the side for those who'd like more fire/flavor. By reducing the tomatoes the peppers and corn pick up the "sweetener" burden and to my taste do a better job of complementing the turkey. You can also use chunked summer and zucchini squash in lieu of bell peppers to create color and add "sweetness."
A trick I learned to good effect: after it's cooled, stick the pot of chili in the freezer overnight (this is a really good idea if you used meat with a higher fat content as it will allow you to "skim" a fair amount of fat off the top the next day), to chill the chili and bring out and blend the spices and individual flavors of the ingredients.
Being a simple and robust kind of fellow, spoons should never be used to eat chili when tortilla chips are available.
