The people who enter chili cookoffs have a unique goal: Serve up the perfect killer chili. To an outsider, “chiliheads” seem to have a broader mission: To see their friends at state, regional and national competitions, drink copious amounts of beer and spread the message that legumes don’t belong in real chili. (“Anyone who knows beans about chili knows chili doesn’t have beans,” Glenn Dickey, 1997 winner of the International Chili Championship in Terlingua, Texas, is fond of saying.)
Never fear, there are plenty of free-floating opinions on the chili circuit. These are people who make chili frequently, who gladly enter contests that take them out of state and who have been living with lively spices for so long that nothing tastes good unless it simply scalds the mouth.
They’ll gladly share all those opinionsbut not what goes into their secret spice blend. Different schools of thought hash over the virtues of using ground versus cubed beef. Chopped tomatoes or tomato paste. Super hot or on the sweet side. Thick or thin sauce.
The whole range of options was on display in August, when for two days under a tent in a parking lot outside Goose Island Brewery in Chicago, both the Great Lakes Regional and Windy City Regional cookoffs took place.
Keep in mind that these are no genteel casserole cookoffs they attend, but ones designed to produce a fair amount of sweat among the judges with the right concoction of meat and heat. Nor are the payoffs enormous: What the winners take home scarcely covers the costs of years of intensive coast-to-coast competing.
Contestants included Debbie Turner, who made the trip from Brookesmith, Texas, with an iron chili pot and 40 copies of the “Goat Gap Gazette,” her self-published newspaper of chili doings around the country. Dick and Kathy Austin drove down from Appleton, Wis. (“Chili capital of the world,” says Dick), with a truckload of trophies honoring past cookoff triumphs; and Greg and Lynn Virant, an Omaha couple who ended up taking first and second place, respectively, in the Great Lakes cookoff. All were hoping for the top prize, a small replica of a covered wagon and a trip to the big International Chili Society cookoff in Las Vegas this month (see story).
All contestants travel on their own dime, paying for the car or plane, hotel and other expenses, such as $40 entrance fees for each contest. Entrants bring their own ingredients and cookware, plus any fab frills with which to dress up their station, from signs to trophies to dinner bells, western-dressed mannequins and stuffed cow dolls.
“It’s an expensive hobby,” says Turner, who ladled out chili to the visitors who bought 30 tasting cups for $5, the proceeds going to Lakeview Pantry. “We spend several thousand dollars a year.” With husband Wayne, a “hug therapist” who gives a demonstration of his calling quicker than you can figure out what’s happening, Turner has been competing for 12 years. In fact, they met at a cookoff and were married within six months.
“It used to be that when you went out of state you saw the regional differences (in chili),” Turner says. “Now they are a lot more similar because everyone is trying to get to the world championships, and (they) look up the recipes on the Web sites to see what wins.”
It’s true that most chili contest recipes seem to have the same core ingredients: meat, spices and tomatoes. The winning recipe at the first chili society championship in 1967 stuck to this formula, with the addition of some garlic, basil and oregano, and no, the winner wasn’t Italian. C.V. Wood of Beverly Hills won in 1971 with a stew that included cubed pork, cilantro and 8 ounces of Budweiser, but these variations are only gilding the lily as far as most chili cooks are concerned.
Chili cooks like their contests laid-back. Once their assorted pots of chili were simmering on the burners, it was time to relax, walk around the tent, check out neighboring contestants. Their cooking finished and a sample safely landed at the judges’ table, cooks eased back on metal folding chairs under the tented show area and pumped the dregs from a number of scattered beer kegs.
Not everyone was taking it easy. In a dark room at Goose Island Brewery, more than two dozen judges and colleagues of organizer Tim Flynn and his father, Mike, rotated around a long picnic table to sample 30 chilies. The chatter that filled the room in the first minutes soon quieted down, except for the occasional muffled groan as some judge counted the number of chilies still to be tasted.
Side by side, the chilies showed minor differences, mostly in color, from chilies slick and bright red from lots of tomato paste and oil, to those as dark as dirt.
Contestants say that judges do show regional preferences. Ohio tasters tend to like a sweeter chili, while hot palates live in Texas and Oklahoma. In Southern states, such as Mississippi and Tennessee, people have told contestants to make it taste like barbecue. Some areas of the country expect a thin sauce, others want the kind of gravy you could ladle over mashed potatoes.
Just make sure there are no beans, confirms Mike Flynn, who wore a T-shirt that says, “Eat the Heat.”
And have fun. “These are the nicest people you’ll ever meet,” Flynn said of the contestants. “They show up and sweat all day and don’t expect to win.”
`24 KARAT CHILI’ BRINGS HOME THE GOLD FOR VETERAN CHILIHEAD
Bob Plager of Dallas took Oct. 12 off just to answer the phone at the home he shares with Kathy LeGear. Newspaper and television reporters and a host of well-wishers were calling for comments from LeGear, a 45-year-old customer service manager for a window manufacturer. She had hit the jackpot the weekend before: first prize of $25,000 in the International Chili Society cookoff in Las Vegas.
Fresh from a first-place win at the regional championship cookoff in Bull Shoals, Ark., 15-year veteran LeGear beat 120 contestants at this year’s international championship with a “24 Karat Chili” whose secret, she says, is in “cooking the meat right.” If the tip sounds a little vague, that’s because she’ll be back on the circuit after a year as Miss America of the chili world, making appearances at cookoffs all over the country. She has already used up most of her four weeks of vacation entering cookoffs, 13 this year.
Plager knows what it’s like. Two years ago he took first place in the International Chili Championship in Terlingua, Texas. LeGear first met Plager when she spotted him at a contest show, where he was dressed up as a Dallas cheerleader. Their passion for chili and the contest circuit continues.
“It’s all strictly for fun,” LeGear says in a low Texas drawl. “I like to go to where the big money is, but I have so many friends, just hundreds who know me from traveling. I have one friend who says, `I hate you for the two hours I’m cooking, then I love you when I’m through.’ “
GREG VIRANT’S WINDY CITY CHILI
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 3 hours
Yield: 8 (one-cup) servings
Virant won the Windy City Regional Chili Cookoff with this bracing chili stew.
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 pounds cubed beef, cut in 1/2-inch pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can (15 ounces) crushed tomatoes, undrained
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1 can (4 ounces) chopped chilies, undrained
1 can (16 ounces) chicken broth
1/2 cup good quality chili powder
10 drops hot pepper sauce
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons each: ground coriander, seasoned salt
Toppings: Chopped onion, tomato, jalapenos, avocado, shredded cheese, optional
1. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat. Add beef; cook until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Add onion and cook until tender, about 4 minutes.
2. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce and chilies. Cook 2 minutes. Add broth, chili powder, hot pepper sauce, cumin, coriander and seasoned salt. Cook, partly covered, until meat is tender and flavors have blended, 1/2 to 3 hours. Skim fat. Adjust seasonings. Top with chopped onion, tomato, jalapenos, avocado and shredded cheese, if you like.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories ………… 480 Fat ………… 32 g Saturated fat .. 14 g
% calories from fat .. 61 Cholesterol .. 115 mg Sodium ….. 2,020 mg
Carbohydrates …… 13 g Protein …….. 36 g Fiber ………. 4.6g
HODGEPODGE CHILI
Preparation time:
Cooking time: 3 hours
Yield: 10 (one-cup) servings
Each member of the Good Eating staff was asked to describe what makes a perfect chili. Test Kitchen director Alicia Tessling then combined their ideas and created this recipe, a milder, bean-filled, Midwest-style chili.
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound each: Italian sausage, ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
1 tablespoon each: chili powder, cumin seed
3/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 can (15 ounces) each: kidney beans, great Northern beans, or your favorite bean, undrained
1 can (28 ounces) chopped tomatoes, undrained
1 can (16 ounces) chicken broth
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
1/4 cup each, chopped: cilantro, parsley
Toppings:
Shredded Cheddar cheese, chopped red onion, sliced jalapeno, chopped tomato, sliced green onion, chopped avocado, cooked rice, cooked pinto beans, sliced black olives, optional
1. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat. Remove sausage from casing; add sausage and beef. Cook until browned. Stir in onion, bell pepper, garlic, jalapenos, chili powder, cumin seed and salt. Cook, stirring often, until onion softens, about 4 minutes.
2. Add beans, tomatoes, broth, tomato paste, cilantro and parsley. Stir to combine. Cook, partly covered, until flavors have blended, about 3 hours. Adjust seasonings. Serve with desired condiments on side, if you like.
Variation: For a more full-flavored chili, start with dried chilies (and omit the jalapenos). Remove stems and seeds from chilies. Open chilies flat and toast on hot griddle or in heavy skillet. Press down on chilies with wooden spoon or spatula. Chilies will begin to crackle and give off a little smoke; turn and repeat on another side. Place toasted chilies in small bowl and cover with boiling water; let stand about 30 minutes to rehydrate. Remove chilies from water; puree in food processor fitted with metal blade or in blender adding small amount of soaking water if needed. Strain, if you like. Add pureed chilies in place of jalapenos in recipe.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories ………… 310 Fat ……….. 13 g Saturated fat .. 4.8 g
% calories from fat .. 37 Cholesterol .. 45 mg Sodium …….. 960 mg
Carbohydrates …… 28 g Protein ……. 28 g Fiber …………. 7g
BOB KRUEGER’S GREAT LAKES CHILI
Preparation time 30 minutes
Cooking time 3 hours
Yield 8 (one-cup) servings
Krueger won the Great Lakes Regional Chili Cookoff with this recipe that, yes, calls for 1 cup of chili powder.
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 pounds tri-tip beef, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
2 cans (16 ounces each) chicken broth
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cubes chicken bouillon
1 canned jalapeno chili, minced
1 cup chili powder
Toppings: Chopped onion, tomato, jalapenos, avocado, shredded cheese, optional
1. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat. Add beef; cook until browned, about 10 minutes. Remove from pot; pour off fat.
2. Add broth, tomato sauce, onion, garlic, bouillon, chili and chili powder to Dutch oven; heat to simmer over medium heat. Return meat to pot and reduce heat to low. Cook, partly covered, until meat is tender and flavors are blended, about 3 hours. Adjust seasonings. Serve with toppings of your choice.
Nutrition information per serving
Calories ………… 395 Fat ………… 15 g Saturated fat .. 6 g
% calories from fat .. 34 Cholesterol .. 140 mg Sodium 980 …… mg
Carbohydrates …… 12 g Protein …….. 54 g Fiber ……….. 6g
