Learn Me: making good Chili

In reply to wvumtnbkr:

Man, I bet that did turn out great, it sounds delicious! Sounds like you were adventurous with those sexy spices.

And SwankForce, you have me absolutely drooling over here!

Me too. I think I will try some different recipes throughout the next couple of weeks.

Thanks everybody!

Keep em coming!

Well, I finished 2nd in the contest with an average score of 7.8 (out of 10). The Winner was 8.4. 3rd place wasn't that close at 6.4 average.

I think next time, i will mix 8 oz IPA with 8 oz stout and have 1 less bell pepper and 1 MORE jalapeno pepper.

Basically, I need to knock down the sweet a little and kick up the spice / harshness just a bit.

Rob R.

Congrats!

No tomatoes in my chili. Just no.

I've spent the last few years with our annual Halloween Chili Cook-Off developing my recipe. The concept is to have what hits your tongue taste like something that came off an open fire. I refuse to serve the same insipid ground beef crud that always wins the thing. I normally smoke pork shoulder/butt. Last year I used a food processor to grind it after smoking. That helped a lot with the texture. I used the processor to puree a bunch of fresh jalapenos and various peppers but not ALL of them. I also have smoked the peppers/onions/jalapenos in the Weber but don't do that all the time. I try to use fresh tomato rather than canned if the budget can afford it. Last year's batch was about as close to what I've been working toward for years. Works for me, and while I get a lot of enthusiastic encouragements from some co-workers it's never enough to win. That's okay.