I think you've got a wide berth of possibilities but what's above seems pretty restricted. What you are listing above sounds like a pretty straight-forward Midwestern American chili. It has the features of the standard chili spices, beans and tomatoes, with a nice variety of meats.
As @Cold suggests, beets would be great to add for their sugar content. However, there are quite a few American recipes that utilize potatoes, so you might seek those out. Are there other vegetables to substitute that you recall as more native? Other beans maybe? How about caraway, dill, chervil, tarragon?
Vodka would seem like an easy route to go to appease the indigenous aspect, but I don't think it would yield much results in terms of impacting the flavor; especially in the context of the extant chili recipe. Unfortunately, I can't see the benefit of buffeting vodka against the flavors of cumin, coriander, clove, let alone hot peppers. On the other hand, Russians produce some amazing beers (I am a big fan of Baltika), and I would recommend looking into switching to a lager flavor or Imperial Stout as I mentioned above.
But for real, my spin would be to approach this from a Solyanka point of view (which would definitely give you ceiling room to try incorporating Medovukha); or really any of the other amazing cold Russian soups. Or perhaps try to incorporate mini dumplings like Pelmani, mini Kotlety, or use Shashlyk-style prepared meats for the chili. I would also consider trying to get some lamb in the recipe, in particular at the expense of the chicken.
But don't forget, chili is all about what you want to put into it (<-- self-promotional plug); not what the standard template lists.
Hardly a queer question. We marinate in acidic liquids because it tastes good, really. As Alton Brown said in the Good Eats episode, "Raising The Steaks":
"Acid doesn't tenderize meat nearly as well as enzymes. But acids can help you tenderize your own food. That's because acids taste tangy, and tangy tastes tell our saliva glands to do their stuff, and saliva is full of enzymes."
As that same episode shows, we generally don't marinate in enzymes, as it would turn meat to mush, and not in a good way.
Best Answer
+1 @megha Grating frozen (or very cold refrigerated) butter is the way to go here. It's best to add the grated butter to the mince after the meat has been ground. Grating butter is easily done in a food processor (industrial or home) - we did it all the time at an old restaurant I worked at and I still do it at home for pastry crust.
Random source: http://people.com/food/grated-butter-burgers-recipe-food-hack/
Alternative idea - America's Test Kitchen did a Butter Burger bit awhile back that people claim is amazing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAUpelESAXo