WHEN it comes to making a pot of chili, the possibilities range wide. There are Texas chilis simmered from chunks of beef, chili pods and little else. There are chilis with ground beef and plenty of vegetables, and those made from ground pork or turkey or chicken. Some chilis have beans and/or grains, and some do not.

Over the years, I’ve tried dozens of these chili incarnations — the good, the bad and the ugly.

But the one kind of chili I had yet to try was lamb chili.

I wasn’t avoiding it; it just never came up in my immediate chili circle, which, being full of beef and turkey and tofu, I never thought to widen.

Then one day while rooting through the freezer, I came upon a pound of ground lamb. It was cold out, and the thought of a bubbling pot of lamb chili sounded better than just about anything else I would think to make with the stuff.