Company Chili Cook-off


 

D Livingston

TVWBB Fan
Last Friday was my company's fifth annual chili cook-off, costume contest, and kickball tournament. Chili is judged for spiciest, most original, and best overall, and there is a people's choice vote. I've entered my G Washington Wishbone's Wild West Chili every year, and have a couple of most original wins, one people's choice, and a LOT of second place finishes (including second in spiciest every year). I should have made it the day before, but there simply wasn't enough room in the fridge to store it overnight. So I got up extra early, pulled out the 9qt dutch oven, and got it started, with some pics.

"What are you ever going to do with a dutch oven that big?" My wife asked several years ago. Well...
Starting out with my version of the holy trinity; onion, jalapeño peppers, serrano peppers.
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One pound of ground chuck, one pound of chorizo. We're not following any strict definitions of chili, so this is within the rules (in fact, a few of my second place finishes were behind this chicken quesadilla concoction that the cook added "chili" to the end of the name. But I'm not bitter.) In the past I've used smoked chuck roast and smoked brisket for the meat.
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Some of the other peppers I added, a bit of ghost, a bit of reaper, etc. And a blend of other seasonings.
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And finally two of my secret ingredients.
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Then I chucked the dutch oven in the weber kettle to continue the cook and let it get a little smokey goodness while I got ready for work. Out of ten entries, I got second spiciest (again) and third in people's choice. Didn't make the top three in the other categories.


And if my run of second place finishes in chili wasn't enough, my costume (I'm Thor seated in the picture below) also got second place in the judge's vote (behind Mrs. Doubtfire) and second in the company-wide vote (behind Flo from Progressive).
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I was actually playing in the championship game of the kickball tourney, but the game was called in the bottom of the last inning, tie score, with two outs when the potential scoring run pulled a hammy between third and home. So I can't even say I finished better than second in that.
 
<golf clap> Gotta love Thor!

And I'm right there with ya on the chicken chili nonsense.... hey.... wait a sec.... are those *BEANS* in your chili???? Oh, Indiana. Carry on. :)
 
I love the addition of Guinness, good idea. So, you have a year to work on it. Come on, you have to win. What can we do to help?
 

 

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