Just a quick invitation, as I know a lot of friends and friends-of-friends (and soon to be friends) read this blog from time to time. Our 5th annual chili cook-off is coming up next month – it will take place Saturday, February 18 from 4-8PM at 5 Seasons Westside.  We moved it from Red Brick Brewery (formerly Atlanta Brewing) because they increased the cost and last year their service was terrible.

For $20 a person we have the whole upstairs (indoors and patio), a few beers, and hopefully lots of tasty chili competing fiercely in three categories – spiciest, best unusual, and best overall. If you want to enter, please let us know at lpchilisociety@gmail.com so we can plan accordingly (we provide trays, sterno, serving utensils, cheese, chips, etc). If you have tailgating style tables you can allow us to use it is much appreciated. Also check our evite to RSVP so we can plan resources.

All profits will go to Hands on Atlanta. And a big shout out to Jaimie Cohen from Estoria Social Wedding & Event Planning who has been assisting with the event.

Check out cook offs from prior years – Feb 2011 | Nov 2009

Petro’s can’t call it frito pie because it’s a brand name, so they just call them corn chips. So good. My new go to spot at the lower level concessions.

Yesterday was the 4th chili cook-off put on by me and my friend Aaron. We had it at Red Brick (formerly ABC) brewery again, which has been good to our event. The beer and chili flowed. We had about 175 attendees, and should end up with an extra $600 or so, which we’re giving to the Georgia chapter of the National MS Society.

I made the two out of focus chilis above, a pork green chili and a black bean chili with quinoa and butternut squash. They were both solid but I was especially happy with the pork. I roasted the tomatillos in rendered Benton’s bacon fat, and also threw in homemade pancetta when I seared the pork shoulder. I didn’t think it would win because it wasn’t traditional enough, but it was the chili I wanted to eat the most.

This year we used chafing trays with sterno instead of crockpots. Last year the power circuit was tripping due to the overload and we had to worry about extension cords. I thought this worked much better and each setup only cost $5-6 at Restaurant Depot. The chili below was a “pho chili” – a thin pho broth with a pickled vegetable garnish and sriracha. It was definitely creative and pretty tasty too.

Ryan J. worked hard to defend his title, but I found his chili to be the most palatable it has been during his four year reign of gastrointestinal terror.

This is what it looked like. It just looks hot.

This was a brisket chili I liked – tender, sweet up front, and a little bit of heat. Maybe a bit too sweet for my tastes, but it was definitely one of the better chilis, and there were some goods ones.

Some people, such as my brother, got creative with the naming.

Here he is, having a grand time.

When the winners were announced, it was no surprise that Annie won the Best Unusual trophy, her 2nd piece of hardware in three years.

Ryan (2nd from left) won for the 4th time for spiciest, despite the protests from one guy who kept bragging about his ghost pepper hot sauce he had back in his car. We got it, yours would have been spicier.

“3 Guys, 1 Chili” won first prize, with a stellar brisket chili. I think the competition has increased the last two years. Both this year and last, the winners appear to have put a good bit of thought and effort into the chilis.

You can tell by looking below, there’s no messin’ around anymore. See any smiles? Chili is serious business.

Chili has been on my mind. It is every winter, especially when it comes time for our annual chili cook-off. We hope to have a lot of attendees this year. Hopefully we have solved some of last year’s logistical issues due to having so many people/entrants. As there are a lot of details to plan, I don’t really get to spend much time preparing what I hope will be the winning chili, but I still kick around a few ideas and try out some new recipes in the kitchen.

This one is the first time I’ve tried a vegetarian chili, based on a recipe from 101 Cookbooks. This was the best vegetarian chili I’ve tasted. Very spicy, but also hearty with a texture reminiscent of a classic meat-based chili. I added a puree of porcini mushroom and guajillo chili for body. I like to think it helped round out the flavors. The recipe goes something like this:

• Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until translucent
• Soak porcini and dried guajillo peppers in hot water
• Meanwhile, mix seasonings as you see fit – chili powder, cumin, cayenne, Mexican oregano, paprika, salt
• Add seasonings to pan and stir for a few minutes to activate
• Add a can of crushed or chopped tomatoes with liquid, bring to a boil
• Add lentils and farro
• Add 1 can of beer and a few cups of water, return to boil, then simmer (add more water as needed during cooking)
• In a blender, puree the porcinis & guajillo with some of the reserved soaking liquid
• Add the puree as well as some of the soaking liquid to the chili
• The chili is done when the lentils are cooked, but still somewhat firm. Season to taste. Add canned beans if you prefer.
• As with most chili, it’s better after a day or so

After two years of crowded madness in a cramped townhome in the Liberty Park neighborhood, last night the 3rd Annual Liberty Park chili cook-off was held at Atlanta Brewing Company. The venue is very close to our neighborhood, and having attended a few (ok, a lot) of their Friday evening tastings, I knew the venue would be perfect for our size of event.

I made my chili the night before the event, to give the cooked pork and the beef some time to get to know each other.

My recipe calls for a lot of onion, green pepper, red pepper, and jalapenos. To cut each jalapeño, I stand it up vertically, then slice down on each side, creating what you see below. It’s very quick and easy, and leaves most of the seeds. Mincing them from this point is the pain in the ass. One of my friends took on this task for me last year, when we were making a 5 gallon batch for the Chomp and Stomp, and his hands were burning for a solid day.

That’s when I remembered that I have one of those fancy as-seen-on-TV chopping devices, which I never use, but seemed perfect for this task.

While I felt like a cheater, it really made this easy, and all the cuts were uniform. I think uniform cutting, of both vegetables and meats, are of high importance in a chili competition. Most people are only going to eat a few bites of each chili. If one of those bites has a super large chunk of green pepper, or a oddly large piece of sausage, it may be the difference in getting that person’s vote.

Once my vegetables had sautéed, and the spices were added, the meat was ready. I had browned the meat ahead of time, then hand crumbled it, one handful at a time, to ensure there weren’t any overly large pieces.

Finally, I add the tomatoes, and the ingredients that really adds the character to this chili – golden tequila and beer. Yeah, this is crap tequila, but the strong flavor is all that’s needed.

An hour later…

Some of my best work.

OK, on to the event

First off – we learned a few important things to remember for next year:

1. At many locales, 25 crock pots on high will short the electric circuit and throw the breaker
2. If you are going to move a table, take the chili off the tables, move the table by itself, then put the chili back on the table. Or else, all the chili may fall of the table (as seen below). I felt really bad for the 4 chilis that were lost before the tasting even started.

Those that lost chilis remained in good spirits (beer helps), and everyone else continued to setup. Some stations were fancier than others; last year’s champion, Annie, armed her station with chimichurri and cilantro. The spice bag in the chili was filled with juniper berries.

We ended up having over 130 people attend the event. Between the warehouse and the tasting room, there was plenty of space. Other than our power issue, the venue was outstanding.

A shot back into the tasting room…

Another shot while the tasting was in full effect

We opened up the eating around 5:15, then closed it at 6:15. After fifteen minutes of ballot counting, the crowd formed for the results.

Thanks to Laura B, we had a lovely ballot box, play on words included.

Aaron announcing the results…

The hardware

For the 3rd year in a row, Ryan Johnson took home the award for the Spiciest category. Surprisingly, Ryan’s chili was very palatable, as opposed to last year when it was pure mouth lava.

Kristin Nabers won “Best Unusual” with her fantastic white turkey chili. I voted for hers for this category – the turkey was flavorful, which can sometimes be a challenge with chili, and the creaminess from the cheese (no cream in this white chili) was spot on. I would love a bowl of this right now.

The award for “Best Overall” went to Daniel Owsley, Aaron Reddy, and Mike Good – aka, “Team Cowboy”. I actually voted for this chili too, which I thought was what a real “whole-meal” chili should taste like. It was flavorful, just enough spice, with almost a tomato/vinegar finish that was so savory, I immediately wanted another bite. While they did a bit of campaigning, and there a few other superb chilis, I think it deserved the award.

Many thanks to Atlanta Brewing Company for taking care of us so well (including cleaning up the spilled chili with a hose). The staff kept the beer flowing, and accommodated our every need. This venue can easily handful a lot more people, and knowing what we know now regarding their facilities and some of the challenges of throwing a party like this in an unfamiliar venue, I think we are going to really try to grow this event next year.

We were able to raise $385 for Project Open Hand, but if we can get two or three times the number of people next year, that number will grow in an accelerated fashion.

Thanks to everyone who attended, I hope ya’ll had a great time like I did.

Jumbo Empanadas: Baby TKO’s (Thomas Keller Oreos)

Bon Appétit, Fast, Easy, Fresh: Potato, Greens, and Goat Cheese Quesadillas

The Kitchn: Ad Hoc Buttermilk Fried Chicken

The Luna Cafe: World Famous Green Chile Mac & Cheese

Eat, Drink, Man…A Food Journal: Chili Con Carne

I realize I never posted the recipe for the chili that has won me two awards, so I will finally do that, after the pictures of some leftovers. The recipe is not original, but I do not know the origin. I do know that it is fantastic, the ingredients are slightly “different” and make it a stand-out, and it’s of the perfect consistency for just about any chili application. Enjoy. 

Chili nachos. Yeash. The low broil setting on my oven is perfect for nachos. 

Chili dogs and chili cheese fries. Gut bomb. Aaron liked the pinot noir added to the photo. 

Award Winning Spicy and Savory Tequila Chili

 Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 vidalia onions, chopped
• 4 jalapenos, seeded and minced
• 1 yellow pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 green pepper, seeded and diced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 2 Tbsp. ground cumin
• 2 Tbsp. dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp. paprika
• 2 tsp. ground cinammon
• 1 tsp. ground coriander seeds
• 3 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 pounds ground round
• 1 pound hot Italian sausage, removed from casing and crumbled
• 1 pound sweet It. sausage, removed from casing and crumbled
• 1 can (35 oz.) tomatoes, undrained
• 1/2 cup golden tequila
• 1 bottle beer
• salt to taste

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes 

Stir in the jalapenos, bell peppers, and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. 

Add all the seasonings and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes longer. 

Remove from the heat. Meanwhile, brown the ground round and sausage in a skillet, crumbling the meat with the back of a wooden spoon, over medium-high heat just until the meat is no longer pink. Add the meat to the onion mixture and return the pan to medium-high heat. 

Stir in the tomatoes, tequila, and beer (Mexican beer suggested). Season to taste with salt. 

Simmer the chili uncovered over low heat for about 1 hour. 8 Servings. 

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!

Before I get into today’s post, just a reminder that tomorrow is the big day. Yes, it is the 2nd Annual Liberty Park Chili Society Chili Cook-off. You can see some of this year’s hardware above, one of the three categories, the other two being Best Unique and the ever-popular and organ numbing Spiciest category. Doors open at 4PM and I expect we will start judging around 5-6PM. Be sure to bring a crock pot or something similar to keep your food warm. 

Back to the post at hand. Similar to last year, in addition to my “serious” chili, I made a chili just for fun, which may or may not be well received.

This recipe comes from the October issue of Bon Appetit – it is the Texas Beef Brisket Chili. It looks fantastic on the cover, and it includes butternut squash so it’s a very seasonal dish that goes perfect with fall football and colorful falling leaves (awww). In addition, I set a goal for myself that I would cook something new (to me), interesting, or otherwise challenging from each month’s issue of Bon Appetit and write about it on this site. So it begins. 

I started by soaking 7 ancho chilis in boiling water. Fancy pants? Nope, I got the chiles from Publix. I ended up soaking them for roughly 45 minutes before I used them in spice mixture (more on that later). 

Then I chopped two onions. I thought this would be a good time to mention the technique I use to chop onions, which I learned on the internet and I’m sure is common and nothing special. Really I just wanted to show off my Photoshop skillz. 

Start by cutting the onion in half as pictured, so the top is the root, which will hold your onion together as you slice it.

Step 1 – starting on either side of the onion, make a cut from top to bottom in a similar fashion as labeled, ensuring that you don’t cut all the way to the top of the onion so the root will still hold it together. Repeat across the length of the onion. 

Step 2 - cut into the length of the onion (into the side), starting near the top, cutting in as far as you can until you are as close to the root side as possible. Repeat a bit lower – if it is a large onion, you may have to repeat this a third time. 

Step 3 – chop across the top of the length of the onion, moving towards the root side, resulting in a perfectly chopped onion

Half a package of chopped bacon for the base of the chili. 

Started with the bacon, then added the onion. 

While that was cooking I got the spices ready for the ancho chile/spice mixture. Everything is labeled. I stole this type of spice layout (and subsequent labeling) for photo purposes from the site The Food in My Beard.

Mixing the garlic with the spice mixture, the ancho chiles (seeded and stemmed), along with a cup of the water used to rehydrate the anchos. It smelled great – this sauce could be used for a lot of good stuff. 

The flat cut brisket. I had to get two because Publix didn’t have one large enough for this recipe. You may recognize brisket from Texas barbeque or from my favorite, a corned beef sandwich. 

There was a lot of fat on the bottom so I trimmed them heavily. 

Cubed. I thought they were a little large, but I cut them to specification, and having seen the final product, it is not a problem that they are so large. 

I pretty much stopped taking photos at this point. I browned the meat for a minute or two, added the ancho chile mixture, then added everything seen above, along with a can of Tecate beer. Once it was all mixed up, I brought it to a simmer on the stove top then covered it and put it in the oven for 2 hours. 

After 2 hours I uncovered it and cooked it for another hour. Then I peeled, seeded, and cubed the butternut squash, added that, and baked it for another 45 minutes. The best I can do for now is show you a picture of what it looked like in the tupperware this morning. It’s not nearly as good looking as last night, but you get the idea. I will get a photo of it all warmed up in a serving bowl tomorrow!

I tasted it last night, and I think it’s quite good. It is somewhat soupy, but has loads of interesting flavor and above average heat. The meat was falling apart like pot roast and the butternut squash was a great addition – it tasted like a spicy sweet potato. We will see how the flavor develops and if the squash gets too mushy. See ya’ll tomorrow!

It was a full day of athletics, chili, jammin’ tunes, odd events, libations, finishing with a healthy dose of indigestion that I carried on over to a wedding at the Biltmore. 

I hope you got to try my chili – I was very happy with how it came out, even if we didn’t win any prizes. I tasted 7-8 of the other chilis and I think I stacked up very nicely. Maybe having a chili based on tequila and cocoa powder is too odd for some people!

I’d like to thank my friends Matt, Katie, Charlie, Sara, Preston, Gus, Brien, Laura and anyone else who contributed to the success and the fun. 

If you didn’t come, you missed out, but there’s always next year!!! Photos and witty/pithy comments below. 

Matt was co-chef on Friday night, and I am so glad I didn’t try to do this by myself. I’ve never cooked this quantity of food at once and chopping 10 onions, mincing 25 cloves of garlic, and browning 20lbs of meat takes quite a long time. Thanks Matt!

We weren’t sure what to stir the pot with because I didn’t have a spoon long enough so we cleaned up my 4 iron (barely ever used, with the handicap to prove it) and used that. It was Matt’s idea, and worked really well, though a sand wedge might have been better for stirring around the edges of the pot. :-)

Dark photos, but there is the chili. I am not too bright and never actually took a photo of the finished product. Oh well, I can make up for that next weekend at my chili cook off. 

Here’s the lowdown on my two time award winning chili: it’s primarily made with a mix of sweet and spicy Italian sausage, ground round, onions, and peppers, with a seasoning mixture primarily made of cocoa powder, cinnamon, and chili powder, which then simmers in a bunch of beer and tequila. It’s different and memorable, with average heat, and a fantastic thick texture.

Here’s the finish line at the Chomp and Stomp 5K. My friend Gus finished in 19 minutes…very strong!!

I was happy because I PR’d. I think it took about 30 seconds or so to cross the start line as we started at the back of the race, so I’m not sure what my real time is, but maybe I cracked 21 minutes. 

Preston finishing up. 

He also set a personal record!

Betsy is also quite excited. 

Setting up in our booth across from the Cabbagetown Park. I am very glad Charlie was there for the setup and serving, he was a huge help and a lot of fun to hang out with. He also worked the crowd quite nicely. 

Setting up chili decorations, including a pinata. 

11AM, almost ready to get started. 

Giving it a good stir with the 4 iron. 

Is it the right temperature?

Is Katie short or is this guy really tall? Can’t it be both?

People started coming by at 11AM with their spoons, ready to taste. We served a few people until we were told by officials that we couldn’t serve until 12PM. As we were Team Tequila, I offered free shots of Jose Cuervo Black to our guests. I couldn’t believe the bottle of tequila was gone by 11:45AM. 

Serving is in full swing at this point. We were filling the cups as fast as we could. We served 6+ gallons of chili in roughly 50 minutes. I was happy to hear a good amount of praise from the tasting crowd, and we had a lot of repeat customers – the highest form of chili flattery. I was also interviewed for a radio station, which was interesting when I was 7 shots of tequila deep. 

Our neighbors – their chorizo chili was very good. 

No, the bird didn’t eat chili, but he did enjoy some of the french loaf bread I cut up. People enjoyed the toppings I put out – bread, shredded cheese, cilantro, and chips. It went very quickly though!

A photo of one of the strange events they had going on – the cabbage shredding contest. 

Near the end of the day, all tapped out of chili. I didn’t actually get to stay for the judging annoucements, but as mentioned, we didn’t win. :-( 

I had a great time though – the weather was perfect, it was a great setting, and a lot of friends were there to join in the fun. See you there next year.