There’s quite a bit to say about this past North Market Fiery Foods Festival, but the next two posts will focus upon the goings on around the two chili cook-offs, the professional chefs one and the amateur competition.

First, about the amateur Chili Cook-off. This featured a selection of amateur chili chefs, each with their own version of home-cooked chili goodness. Each person came to the competition thinking their chili would reign supreme. The judges? This wasn’t a popular-vote competition, and the judges are chefs who participated in the Professional chili cook-off which happened just before this competition.

We haven’t dedication too much time to this part of the Festival before this year for a couple of reasons. First, we hadn’t ourselves participated and entered a chili. Second, we didn’t really know anyone else who participated in it. Lastly, most of the judges were ones we didn’t know either.

Well, all that changed this year! We decided to enter a chili creation of our own this year, based loosely upon one that Linda had success with a few years ago at a chili cook-off we hosted. One of our esteemed chilehead friends, Buddah, made the trip from sunny Virginia to enter his own chili in the competition. If you add the fact that our very own John “CaJohn” Hard was going to be a judge, it set up quite a chili showdown here in the Buckeye State.

With chili and crock pot in tow, we showed up early in the day and set up our crock pot to keep the chili warm while we ran around doing a bunch of other events throughout the day. While we don’t have pictures of the setup, you can probably imagine all on your own what a row of crock-pots look like.

Look at that face! That is Linda’s unbridled optimism going into the competition. We’re usually competing against each other with our chili creations, so teaming up to make a chili was an exercise in pure joy. Our idea was to create a Jamaican-themed chili, complete with chicken and island spices. Check the end of this post for that recipe.

Buddah (a.k.a. “Al”) had a more simple plan. Make a simpler chili, but work the crowd and the judges to get your desired end result. Buddah’s chili (lamb, we think) was one of fifteen entrants into the cook-off, making this one of the most heavily contested competition in this event’s short history. Above, you can see Buddah working the crowd even as the chili hostess was getting the next round of chili samples ready for the judges.

Now here’s proof-positive that crime does pay. Buddah’s flashing his wad of cash at some of the judges, tempting them to consider his offer as they taste some of his chili. As you can see, the judges are checking the cash to make sure he didn’t print those 20’s himself. Judging integrity prevailed, and no cash exchanged hands…as far as anyone knows.

Above you can see CaJohn, well-dressed in his swanky chilehead attire, doing a little tasting during the judging. Unlike recent years where the milder chilis were all the rage, apparently the spicier ones were more popular this year. That didn’t bode well for us, though. We toned down the heat this year to make our chili a lot more user-friendly.

See that belt on the table in front of CaJohn? That’s his championship chili belt for this year…story to follow.

Here’s a few of the other judges tasting their chili. The judge on the left, looked like he was taking the challenge very seriously throughout the competition. He also didn’t have much of a poker face, either. When he didn’t like a chili, it looked like he had taken a swig of sour milk. He was pretty stoic when tasting ours, so I didn’t know what to think of that.

The end result was awesome for Buddah. A second-place finish and some North Market gift certificates to spend on more hot sauce, salsa, and other goodies from around the North Market. As for us, our chili didn’t rank in the top 3…and we never even bothered to check the scoring to see where in the grand scheme of things we actually ranked. Most people who tried loved the aroma and taste, but it seemed to be a little too left-of-center for the judges and for some who weren’t expecting a Jamaican sort of flavor in a bowl of chicken chili. One couple, seemingly unenlightened, referred to it as a “pumpkin pie chili,” despite the lack of pumpkin in it. Here’s our recipe, if you want to try this for yourself.

Joe & Linda’s “Jamaican Me Sweat A Little” Calypso Chili

2-4 dried habanero chiles
1 cup boiling water
1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
6 cups pineapple-orange juice
2 14.5-ounce cans chicken broth
4 cups red bell pepper, chopped
2 cans white Navy beans, rinsed and drained
1 tsp cumin
1 whole pineapple, finely diced
1 whole mango, skin removed and finely diced
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground nutmeg
4 tsp allspice
3 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp garlic salt

For extra heat, we also added 3 tsp of Blair’s Death Rain dry spice as well. This was just to amp up the very mild heat level we thought it had before the cook-off.

Peel mango, remove pit, and finely dice into small pieces. De-husk the pineapple, cut into thick slices, remove the core, and finely dice into small pieces. Set aside.

Place habanero peppers (your choice as to how many you use) in a bowl and pour over with boiling water. Allow to sit for 20 minutes to rehydrate.

While the chiles are soaking, add the vegetable oil to a large skillet or Dutch oven and heat on high for about 1 minute. Add half the chicken, brown, and transfer to a plate. Repeat with the remaining chicken. Add the garlic and ginger to the pan drippings and cook for about 30 seconds. Add the spices (except cumin), juice, and broth, and then set aside.

Remove the chiles from water. Wear rubber or plastic gloves while handling the chiles. Remove stems, seeds, and membranes, and place chile water in a blender. Blend 2-3 minutes, or until smooth. Add this chile paste to your chicken mixture, cover tightly, and boil for 45 minutes.

After the boiling, remove the chicken from the mixture and dice into small pieces. Add the diced chicken, bell peppers, cumin, beans, and fruit. Allow to simmer until desired consistency. Serve hot.

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