Posted: 5/6/2015 6:51:45 PM EDT
| CASI, ICS, or Tolbert? |
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Quoted:
Beans or no beans? No beans. They aren't allowed in competition chili. It isn't because of the beans themselves. The point is to prevent a cook from using a unique bean that would betray his/her chili during the blind judging. In other words, you can't mark your chili with a visually noticeable ingredient. |
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Quoted:
No, there are better tasting ways to get a good red color. Quoted:
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Sure, do you use achiote? No, there are better tasting ways to get a good red color. I kind of like it for chili with lime and tequila. It fits. Do you go through the trouble of making chile powder or just toast and steep whole chiles? What's the most popular cut of beef to use? Does competition chili ever use chorizo or pork? |
| Almost all of the top cooks get their spices from Mild Bills. The trick is formulating the mixture of several spices and adding them at different times of the cook. We call these "dumps". For instance my recipe, which put me in the top 20% at last year's International Championship, has fourteen different spices added to the pot in three different groups. Depending on the sanctioning body, ground chuck or cut tri-tip will do best. Some cooks "float" pork in the pot, but winners never actually put pork in the grind. A common techniques also is to float different types of fresh peppers. Competition chili can have no visible chopped ingredients such as veggies for the previously mentioned "marking" prevention. |
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Quoted:
Almost all of the top cooks get their spices from Mild Bills. The trick is formulating the mixture of several spices and adding them at different times of the cook. We call these "dumps". For instance my recipe, which put me in the top 20% at last year's International Championship, has fourteen different spices added to the pot in three different groups. Depending on the sanctioning body, ground chuck or cut tri-tip will do best. Some cooks "float" pork in the pot, but winners never actually put pork in the grind. A common techniques also is to float different types of fresh peppers. Competition chili can have no visible chopped ingredients such as veggies for the previously mentioned "marking" prevention. Damn, I guess you are serious. I make a few different chilis, some with citrus and pork, some with ground beef and about an equal mixture of assorted fresh chillies and onion, others with diced meat strong on just chiles, anise seed, oregano, and some dark beer.. etc.. etc.. I'm just playing around and making people happy but I respect what you do. How do you feel about browning ground meat pulling it out and adding it back later vs. adding it without browning for the sake of texture? In other words, the old maillard for taste versus braising for texture arguement? |
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Quoted:
How do you feel about browning ground meat pulling it out and adding it back later vs. adding it without browning for the sake of texture? In other words, the old maillard for taste versus braising for texture arguement? First thanks for the interest. I actually make meat balls with the ground chuck, barely brown it, and then add them back after the first round of spices have boiled. I actually turn the fire off after about an hour of cooking. The balls just sit in the gravy for an hour. Then more spices are added, heat turned on, and the balls mashed. The funny thing is, this chili is so complex, you would be hard pressed to eat a whole bowl. Judges only get one spoonful so the flavor is intense. I don't make this at home except for practice. I have an amazing west Texas chili recipe I could share if interested. |
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Quoted:
First thanks for the interest. I actually make meat balls with the ground chuck, barely brown it, and then add them back after the first round of spices have boiled. I actually turn the fire off after about an hour of cooking. The balls just sit in the gravy for an hour. Then more spices are added, heat turned on, and the balls mashed. The funny thing is, this chili is so complex, you would be hard pressed to eat a whole bowl. Judges only get one spoonful so the flavor is intense. I don't make this at home except for practice. I have an amazing west Texas chili recipe I could share if interested. Quoted:
Quoted:
How do you feel about browning ground meat pulling it out and adding it back later vs. adding it without browning for the sake of texture? In other words, the old maillard for taste versus braising for texture arguement? First thanks for the interest. I actually make meat balls with the ground chuck, barely brown it, and then add them back after the first round of spices have boiled. I actually turn the fire off after about an hour of cooking. The balls just sit in the gravy for an hour. Then more spices are added, heat turned on, and the balls mashed. The funny thing is, this chili is so complex, you would be hard pressed to eat a whole bowl. Judges only get one spoonful so the flavor is intense. I don't make this at home except for practice. I have an amazing west Texas chili recipe I could share if interested. Absolutely interested. It sounds similar to comp BBQ where you need the flavor to pop and stand out but wouldn't want to sit down and eat a whole lot of it. We like going to BBQ competitions but work is crazy this year, heck we didn't even make MIM and it's only four hours away. I can definitely say it's changed the way we cook at home though... using injections, foiling, trimming, etc. Who doesn't like popsicle drums and pulled pork with more bark mixed in because you got rid of the fat you weren't going to use anyway? Have competition techniques tweaked the way you make chilli? |
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Quoted:
Absolutely interested. It sounds similar to comp BBQ where you need the flavor to pop and stand out but wouldn't want to sit down and eat a whole lot of it. We like going to BBQ competitions but work is crazy this year, heck we didn't even make MIM and it's only four hours away. I can definitely say it's changed the way we cook at home though... using injections, foiling, trimming, etc. Who doesn't like popsicle drums and pulled pork with more bark mixed in because you got rid of the fat you weren't going to use anyway? Have competition techniques tweaked the way you make chilli? The chili comp thing did change the way I treat the meat for home chili. The cool thing is, we actually started as BBQ competitors and expanded to chili. There are several bbq teams I cook chili with. We have used our bbq skills in our chili cooks and they have helped a lot. We have many calls in bbq but no GCs yet. Just this past Saturday I spent 13 hours with Diva Q learning her techniques for bbq. May see that GC real soon. |
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Quoted:
The chili comp thing did change the way I treat the meat for home chili. The cool thing is, we actually started as BBQ competitors and expanded to chili. There are several bbq teams I cook chili with. We have used our bbq skills in our chili cooks and they have helped a lot. We have many calls in bbq but no GCs yet. Just this past Saturday I spent 13 hours with Diva Q learning her techniques for bbq. May see that GC real soon. Quoted:
Quoted:
Absolutely interested. It sounds similar to comp BBQ where you need the flavor to pop and stand out but wouldn't want to sit down and eat a whole lot of it. We like going to BBQ competitions but work is crazy this year, heck we didn't even make MIM and it's only four hours away. I can definitely say it's changed the way we cook at home though... using injections, foiling, trimming, etc. Who doesn't like popsicle drums and pulled pork with more bark mixed in because you got rid of the fat you weren't going to use anyway? Have competition techniques tweaked the way you make chilli? The chili comp thing did change the way I treat the meat for home chili. The cool thing is, we actually started as BBQ competitors and expanded to chili. There are several bbq teams I cook chili with. We have used our bbq skills in our chili cooks and they have helped a lot. We have many calls in bbq but no GCs yet. Just this past Saturday I spent 13 hours with Diva Q learning her techniques for bbq. May see that GC real soon. A Canadian? 
Just kidding. that's pretty awesome! ETA: The meatball thing makes sense, kinda the split the middle approach. Thanks. |
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Have cooked in ICS and CASI events here in the midwest, never a big winner but a few peoples choice awards. Same as you, started out cooking BBQ and expanded into chili...enjoy the hell out of both but my health has kept me sidelined for the last 4 years so my equipment only comes out for helping the local fire departments and churches with picnics and fundraisers. (That's how I got started in both anyway...lol.)
Congratulations on working with Diva Q, she kicks ass. Good luck. |
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2 of my tricks:
Get a Weber grilling veggie tray. It works perfectly to brown the ground beef in over a charcoal fire. I make a pot like this and call it Cheeseburger Chili 2nd tip: I make a highly seasoned chili at times using all my normal spices but a healthy dose of Cayenne then a substantial amount of grape jam to sweeten it. Nobody can ever guess what the sweet aspect comes from.. I have cooked in competitions, but mainly local charity type deals. I entered a rib contest with some big boys 2 years ago and won 1st place with ribs I was sure I had ruined by over cooking them to a point of mush. I had to let them set for a full hour before trying to slice them and they gained some substance during that time... |
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Quoted:
Almost all of the top cooks get their spices from Mild Bills. The trick is formulating the mixture of several spices and adding them at different times of the cook. We call these "dumps". For instance my recipe, which put me in the top 20% at last year's International Championship, has fourteen different spices added to the pot in three different groups. Depending on the sanctioning body, ground chuck or cut tri-tip will do best. Some cooks "float" pork in the pot, but winners never actually put pork in the grind. A common techniques also is to float different types of fresh peppers. Competition chili can have no visible chopped ingredients such as veggies for the previously mentioned "marking" prevention. Anybody using Pendery's spices? |
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Quoted:
2 of my tricks: Get a Weber grilling veggie tray. It works perfectly to brown the ground beef in over a charcoal fire. I make a pot like this and call it Cheeseburger Chili 2nd tip: I make a highly seasoned chili at times using all my normal spices but a healthy dose of Cayenne then a substantial amount of grape jam to sweeten it. Nobody can ever guess what the sweet aspect comes from.. I have cooked in competitions, but mainly local charity type deals. I entered a rib contest with some big boys 2 years ago and won 1st place with ribs I was sure I had ruined by over cooking them to a point of mush. I had to let them set for a full hour before trying to slice them and they gained some substance during that time... Feel like sharing the recipe? 
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