Chili Cookoff Ideas

[Div]

http://www.chilicookoff.com/Event/Event ... entID=2467



Thinking about possibly entering this in august and looking for some ideas that I can toss together and practice a bit... different meats ... beans or no beans red peppers green peppers habenero etc etc ..... Personally I prefer a mildly spicey mix to smoking hot spicey but I am going to try a few different things...

 

[Captain Morgan]

is it judged by CASI? I only cooked one chili contest, first comp
I ever did. It's reaaallllyyyy hard to make a chili that everyone loves.
I certainly wouldn't go to hot.

 

[bigwheel]

Looks like an ICS event. Lot mo yup left coast ingredients. Never cooked one but they have a recipe section of past winners. I would pick out one of them and try to copy it. I did that with a past winner from there called Dago Red's Wopping Good Chili. Had purty good luck with it for a while. I would read the rule book real close cuz if they anything like CASI they real picky on hunks of anything in the chili especially hunks of beans and noodles and stuff. CASI is rumored to chunk a cup if they find a jap seed or piece of onyawn in it. Good luck. Chili cooking is nearly as much fun as bbq and a lot less work. Gives much mo time for quality drinking.

bigwheel

 

[Div]

Yeah thats what Ill be working on at this poing is a base... I took a recipie from one of the past winners and made it sunday. Came out pretty good, a little hot for my liking.... Theres certain things I can adjust from there but the recipe basically called for 10 1/2 TBLS of a couple different chili powders and that made for some hot stuff.... Also have to figure out a decent consistancy ... some people like it a little watery and some people like it thick....im trying to get it right inbetween there.... while simmering I think it was just about there but I left it alone for about the last 35 minutes without stirring and it thickened right up ... so overall overtop some bisketttz it was pretty good but I dont think competition grade yet...... I think I got a decent base to start with,,, just have to figure out how to turn down the heat ... I think once I get it to where Im comfortable with feeding my face with it I can always adjust the heat for a cookoff .... I tell ya tho 3tbls of that cumin made my kitchen smell like a chili shack ... mmm any ideas on honing down on the heat here would be much appreciated ... Il post the recipe I used....





Ingredients:
1 TBS. Wesson Oil
3 lbs. Beef, cut into 1/4” cubes
1 1/2 cups White onion, finely minced
8 Garlic cloves, finely minced
3/4 tsp. Garlic powder
2 cans (15 1/2 oz) Chicken broth, with fat removed
4 oz (1/2 8oz can) Hunt’s Tomato Sauce
3 TBS. Ground cumin
10 1/2 TBS. Gebhardt Chili Powder
OR
5 TBS. California Chile Powder (mild)
4 1/2 TBS. New Mexico Chile Powder (medium)
1 TBS. New Mexico Chile Powder (hot)

2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Meat tenderizer
1/2 tsp. Light brown sugar
1 tsp. Tabasco Brand Pepper Sauce





I substituted the chicken broth with Beef broth....and I couldnt find any Geb chili powder so I just used some gourmet stuff I had...

 

[bigwheel]

Well lets see where to start here That NM Hot is gonna add a bunch of heat. Most I ever used of that is 1 t. Now sure how much heat your picked off the gourmet chili powder but if Gebhardts strikes me as just about pure Ancho which supposed to hit around 4 on a one to ten heat score. The NM medium would bound to add some heat too..got no idea how much. I never did quite figger out that CA chili powder. I think it got to be a kissin cousin of Paprika. Know you can buy a fair sized bag of it at the .99 cent store for .99 cents of course. Doubt it add much if any heat. Nearly all the big boys and girls around here use ground meat. Can you use ground meat at the contest where your going? If so it sure do take a lot of guessing and work out of the meat equation. See now that fresh garlic would get your cup chunked at a CASI contest. Everybody I know uses powders just to be safe. Guessing ICS must be a be mo lenient since that recipe was the winner. Garlic don't never cook away. You will have little squares of garlic in there forever.

bigwheel

Yeah thats what Ill be working on at this poing is a base... I took a recipie from one of the past winners and made it sunday. Came out pretty good, a little hot for my liking.... Theres certain things I can adjust from there but the recipe basically called for 10 1/2 TBLS of a couple different chili powders and that made for some hot stuff.... Also have to figure out a decent consistancy ... some people like it a little watery and some people like it thick....im trying to get it right inbetween there.... while simmering I think it was just about there but I left it alone for about the last 35 minutes without stirring and it thickened right up ... so overall overtop some bisketttz it was pretty good but I dont think competition grade yet...... I think I got a decent base to start with,,, just have to figure out how to turn down the heat ... I think once I get it to where Im comfortable with feeding my face with it I can always adjust the heat for a cookoff .... I tell ya tho 3tbls of that cumin made my kitchen smell like a chili shack ... mmm any ideas on honing down on the heat here would be much appreciated ... Il post the recipe I used....





Ingredients:
1 TBS. Wesson Oil
3 lbs. Beef, cut into 1/4” cubes
1 1/2 cups White onion, finely minced
8 Garlic cloves, finely minced
3/4 tsp. Garlic powder
2 cans (15 1/2 oz) Chicken broth, with fat removed
4 oz (1/2 8oz can) Hunt’s Tomato Sauce
3 TBS. Ground cumin
10 1/2 TBS. Gebhardt Chili Powder
OR
5 TBS. California Chile Powder (mild)
4 1/2 TBS. New Mexico Chile Powder (medium)
1 TBS. New Mexico Chile Powder (hot)

2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Meat tenderizer
1/2 tsp. Light brown sugar
1 tsp. Tabasco Brand Pepper Sauce





I substituted the chicken broth with Beef broth....and I couldnt find any Geb chili powder so I just used some gourmet stuff I had...

 

[Div]

Yeah the big thing in their rules section is no pasta or beans ... I ordered an 8oz bag of penzeys regular today so were going to give that a whirl when it comes in... as far as the garlic goes it got cooked in pretty good, I forget what u call it but I used one of those garlic mashing utensils but ur prolly right about best off using just the powders to avoid any hassels