Every year in the past six, save one, we’ve had our own chili cookoff. The whole idea started out as a common birthday party, since our birthdays are three days apart. Then it went to a one-upmanship of who could make better chili…and the obligatory laying down the gauntlet that followed. Eventually, we decided to just have our own chili cookoff…like the ones we’ve read about that people travel zillions of miles to be a part of…and we set out to perfect the process.

We presented a trophy each year as well, and always gave out prizes for first thru third places…decided by a cumulative popular vote. It was amazing to see the variety of chilies that people have made! In this article from one of our local Ohio online magazines, the author tells a similar story about a chili cookoff like ours. In it, he says:

I have a west coast idea of chili that’s heavily influenced by Texas and Mexico. Here in Ohio, you seem to have a Midwest idea of chili that’s heavily influenced by Skyline and Hormel.

Ah yes, the Ohio version of chili…Skyline Chili. You can get a similar version from Gold Star Chili, but we’re talking about the same chili critter. Sweet-ish chili served over spaghetti with an assortment of condiments.

Chili does not include cinnamon or brown sugar or chocolate or melted Skittles or whatever it is that makes that stuff so sweet. It’s not candy, it’s dinner. And it does not include beans. Beans will get you laughed out of any decent chili contest west of the Pecos (it’s a river, I think in Texas).

Too true! We both grew up with beans in our chili, and have come to eschew them in a lot of chili recipes. Since we both grew up east of the ol’ Mississippi River, beans were still in vogue for just about chili concoction. We’ll still make some recipes with beans, but there is an altogether different taste profile in chili that has beans versus ones that don’t.

Taste is, after all, a subjective thing. But next year, I don’t stop adding peppers until Max can’t eat it or the spoon dissolves.

Ahh, a man after our own heart…but ultimately destined to be the bridesmaid instead of the bride at most chili cookoffs. The spiciest ones almost NEVER win, which is quite simply a crime against humanity. It takes so little skill to just throw a bunch of stuff in a crock pot and let it cook, but it takes some creativity to get your spices JUST RIGHT to please the chilehead crowd. It doesn’t HAVE to be as spicy as possible…it’s just often better that way.

BTW…this year’s version of our chili cookoff will be in June. More details on that in later posts!

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI