After much delay, I finally have all the pictures and time to wrap up the chili cook-off. Two weekends of chili cook-offs is a more daunting task than it may seem; there’s the planning, the cooking, the requisite drinking, more heavy eating than is necessary, and of course the post-contest indigestion. Well, we pulled it off, and I’d like to thank everyone for attending our 2nd annual event.
In 2008 we had more than double the entrants of last year. There were a total of 26 chili entrees, which is really saying something about the popularity of the event and the nature of my friends! With this kind of turnout, our little old townhouse was at full capacity and next year’s event may require a change of venue. Someone even suggested a 1K fun run around the neighborhood. The excitement is building….
With that, here are the photos of the contest, with comments to guide you along the way.
Here are this year’s trophies, center stage, to entice the competitors. 26 entries, only three pieces of hardware.
Aaron and I put some work into getting the house as ready as possible for the large amounts of guests. We cleared all counter space and marked spots to try to guide people to the right places. We created spots for 22 chili’s and I figured that would be plenty. We guessed wrong!
Aaron’s turkey chili - very spicy. Aaron came in 2nd to Ryan last year in the spiciest category - would he have his revenge in 2008???
People were starting to amass all over the house.
You may know Thomas and Katie from today’s lobster post. Thomas had a lot of confidence in his chili!
Trying to fit them all in there. We ended up having to put two chili’s on top of the wine coolers.
A little after 5PM the house was jammed and people were getting antsy for some chili, so we started the contest. Everyone tried to maneuver around the kitchen as best they could and try a bit of each chili. Then everyone was given a card where they could vote for the chili they liked in each category. Eating and voting took some time because of the crowd - at least a half an hour.
Our youngest voter. Dogs and babies love chili too.
The photos get blurry at this point - I guess we need some better photogs around this place.
A little pre-chili flip cup to keep everyone loose.
After a while, we called for all votes and our panel went to come tally the winners!
Here is the tally - but who are these mysterious numbers????
Aaron announcing the winners. He announced the runner-up in each category to keep up the excitement level of the crowd.
Well, once again, Aaron fell to Ryan in the Spicest chili category. I don’t think Aaron was as surprised as last year, because during the tasting you could hear people taste Ryan’s chili and exclaim, “oh my god!”
Yeah, it’s true that there isn’t really a whole lot of skill involved in the spiciest chili category, but it’s a fun one just so you can listen to everyone’s reaction as it is tasted. Lots of people with burning lips.
Ryan also brought a bottle of Tabasco tequila, which he used in his chili. It’s not that spicy, but you can tell it has a little kick to it, I mean, more kick than tequila already has. We managed to polish off the bottle before 11PM.
Next winner announced….
Ashley and Ryan won the Best Original award for their white bean chili (well, Ryan admitted that Ashley did all of the work, but he was there with moral support). I voted for their chili and thought it was quite good. It was the only white chili and was a refreshing change from the norm. There were some other chili’s that used unique ingredients - lamb shoulder, chorizo, venison, but this one stood out the most to me.
Quite excited.
And after the runner-up for the Best Overall was announced (which went to Matt’s great venison chili), it was time for the winner of the whole deal. This ain’t no slashy folks. And the winner is:
Annie!! And boy, was she excited. She put a lot of effort into her victory, and she took a much deserved victory lap.
Some may say that Annie’s choice to personally serve each taster and top her lovely venison chili with crème fraîche could have swayed the voting, but nay, I think showmanship (showwomanship in this case) is a part of the game when the rules don’t state otherwise. Everyone’s gonna have to step up their game next year to take down this dominate force of savory French accoutrement and Romanian charm.
I was knocked off my throne from last year, but I was very happy with how my chili came out, and with how much fun people seemed to have. Space was an issue, but that couldn’t stop the good time.
The party really thinned out within 1-2 hours after the judging, and it didn’t really didn’t go that late. I was the last one up at 12:30PM.
The picture above is the cleaned up kitchen the next morning. People didn’t leave as much of their stuff behind this year, which was very welcome. Pouring gallons of chili down the disposal with a throbbing headache isn’t fun at all.
However, what they did leave was sour cream. Tons of it. I tried to coordinate with volunteers so people wouldn’t double-up on certain toppings, but my attempt was futile. Any idea what I can do with 6 tubs of sour cream and 5 bags of shredded Mexican cheese?
Thanks to everyone for participating, and thanks for dealing with the space issues. We will have to think about next year: where we can have it, and how we can knock it up a notch. See you then!
November 19th, 2008 at 10:21 am
I think you can freeze the cheese. Give it a try.
November 19th, 2008 at 11:03 am
thanks jimmy! it was alot of fun. welldone. i love winning.
November 19th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Although I’m not as disappointed in the loss this year, I must point out the fact that Ryan’s spiciest “chili” (if you want to call it that) was absolutely inedible. Mine, on the other hand, actually had a good showing in the overall competition, making it the aptly named “best spiciest” chili. For this reason, the name of the award will henceforth be changed to “best spiciest”. Let’s see the pics of the yesterday’s chili dogs and chili fries.
November 19th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
I second Aaron’s movement. Smiles will not win again, and that’s all I care about!
November 20th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Sorry I missed this one. Looks like a good time. Extra sweet blagh this week.