Re: [CH] chili recipe
Dave Drum (xrated@ameritech.net)
Sat, 15 Feb 2003 10:45:58 -0600
At 09:57 AM 2/15/2003 -0600, T Nelson wrote:
>I am looking for tips to make competition style chili as far as the dumps
>go. I have a few good chili recipes but all involve real ingredients and
>dont tend to have the consistency of fine comp chili. any help would be
>appreciated.
Make the best pot of chilli you know how to make. What do you mean by "Real
Ingredients"??? If you mean "fresh" then I'd say the only things that you
need to be fresh are the onion and freshly roasted green chiles. Oh, and
freshly ground (or at least not stale) cumin. I have a mix of spices I have
worked up over a number of years of cooking in competitions that works well
for me. I use garlic granules, onion granules, etc. because they are a
known quantity and the results are predictable.
Different people have different methods of arriving at their competition
chilli. What amazes me is that I look around at a cook-off and everyone is
doing different things in different orders using a wide range of
ingredients. But, we all seem to arrive at an excellent pot of red come
turn-in time. At the Winter Freeze ICS Regional Chilli Cook-off in January
there were 39 cooks and 30 judges split between two preliminary judging
tables. Everyone got at least some points. No one got skunked.
Biggest tip I can give you is to do your last "dump" about 20 minutes
before turn in time. That makes the spices fresh and bright when the judges
taste you chilli. My kicker (final dump) is usually garlic, cumin and 1
teaspoon of my chilli spice per pound of meat in the pot.
Another note - most cook-offs low-rate greasy chilli. But, you need some to
carry the flavours. My "at-home" chilli has much more oil than my
competition chilli. As a result of skimming out most of the oil from the
chilli you will find that you have to use more spice to get an acceptable
flavour. But, save the oil from your pot. Take it home and clarify it in
the oven (get all the water out) and strain the lumps. Then refrigerate
until you are ready to pop some popcorn on the stove. It makes the most
wonderful popcorn you have ever et.
And don't worry about being a beginner at competition cooking. The guy who
won the ICS Intergalactic Championship and the U$25,000 first prize money
was in just his fifth (I think - some really newby number) competitive
cook-off. Chilli cook-offs are a lot of fun and socializing and they raise
serious amounts of $$$ for charity. Even if they didn't award trophies and
money they'd be worthwhile.
ENJOY!!!
Uncle Dirty Dave's Kitchen
Home of Hardin Cider & Yaaaaa Hoooo Ahhhhh Hot Sauce!!!