Chili Contest

[Boone]

Our new CEO is from Dallas. Setting aside obvious deficiencies in character and taste (!), he is a grand champion chili contest winner (and, as much as it pains me to admit, apparently a great guy and talented leader). One of the first *fun* activities he implemented was an annual chili contest. I'm not really a 'recipe' kind of a guy, but I couldn't resist entering. Tuesday, 37 entrants will compete for honors and prizes. I decided to use some home grown ingredients (dried Trinidad Scorpion peppers and home grown sun-dried tomatoes) as my 'edge'. Entered myself in the 'hot' (ha!) division and my entry is 'Chocolate Scorpion Chili'.



Here are my ingredients...



I have high hopes I'll take this. A number of the ingredients are unique/homegrown, not only the scorpion powder, but the chocolate stout, sun-dried tomatoes, and oregano. I just think the heat, sweetness, and background flavors are going to be off the hook...

What do you think?

In addition to the above placards, I will have samples of fresh Trinidad Scorpion peppers for anyone ballsy enough to want to taste the real thing...

And the last ingredient? It's my specialty...

 

[Goaldeje]

Sounds amazing to me! I can't imagine you losing with that lineup.

 

[Burgundy Burner]

Sure-fire winner!

Wish I could have some tonight!

 

[Boone]

Chili is done, basically just simmering it for another hour or so. Very spicy - it really is incredible how little dried scorpion pepper it takes to crank up the heat on 2-3 gallons of chili. I would guess I put maybe a teaspoon in, and it has a serious kick and burn. If I put a tablespoon in it, most people wouldn't even be able to eat it. Powerful stuff.

The recipe I came up with came out very nicely. Sweet, hot, with a lot of character in the background from the chocolate stout and coffee. I used zero water in this recipe, all of the liquids have flavor. We'll see how it goes at Tuesday's competition.

 

[fansince62]

so? what's the outcome? inquiring tastebuds want to know!

 

[Boone]

The last work Chili Competition I entered was the one I started this thread with in 2014. My boss asked me if I'd do it again and today was the cookoff. I made a pretty spicy chili with primary ingredients Tri-Tip, bacon, Trinidad Scorpion pepper, and a lot of other goodies (see placard if you want more detail). Made almost 4 gallons and it was gone in 3 hours. Honestly, I'm competing against a bunch of chicks making chicken chili or hamburger chili, not that there's anything wrong with it. But it's not really a serious competition. I know mine was the best chili there so if I lose out to those types of entries, I'm fine with it, lol... My boss did the set up which was pretty cool.

 

[Boone]

Didn't even place, lol.
This is probably the last one of these I do. There were 10 judges, about half administrative leaders, the rest old board members and a couple of EMS/Firemen... I heard at least 4/10 make statements as they got to our table that they 'didn't care for spicy foods'.

It's a fucking chili competition. It's literally about spicy food.

So I knew I would fall to the ground beef and chicken no spice entrants. The 2nd place winner was dishing out what looked to be canned hotdog chili into frito's bags with onions, cheese, and sour cream.

I literally think I could have placed in a professional chili competition. Pathetic.

 

[Chris]

Fuck ‘em.

 

[Boone]

Lol. Exactly.