So I Judged at a ICS Chili Cookoff for the First Time
It was in Santa Anita, Ca. Very interesting. I'm a KCBS judge and this ICS (International Chili Society) event was nothing like KCBS. Not in a bad way at all, just different. KCBS organization is much more regimented. The ICS Chili Cooks are very competitive. I met and talked to Rosie who won the ICS World Title for Verde in 2021. Great lady an gave me some good insight on tasting the chili for judging.
Does anyone here compete or have judged ICS events? What are your views.
Last edited by TripleB; February 27, 2022, 09:42 PM.
I haven’t even been to any ICS events, so don’t know about the judgin. But, I do follow their title events. The winners have to publish their recipe. From that I have made many a killer chili.
Last edited by FireMan; February 27, 2022, 09:58 PM.
It was great. I'm glad I did it. Meet some great cooks and got some ideas.
They have four categories and they are: Salsa (but not what you'd think), Verde, Homestyle (which means with beans) and Traditional Red. I judged Salsa. Verde and Homestyle. Did not judge the Red.
Not really difficult to judge. On your ballet sheet, after tasting all the chili's, you rank by 1st, 2nd and 3rd. You can go back to taste a chili to make sure of your choice.
That sure sounds like a lot of fun. Another crazy question - do you cleanse the palate between tastes? I know it sounds stupid but like wine tasting, I could imagine carryover.
tbob4 Yes, you can cleanse your palate between chili entries. They have grapes, plain flour tortilla strips and sour cream. I guess the sour cream is in the event the chili is spicy hot and you want to cool down. They also have water and beer!
Not specific rules like KCBS. You use a plastic spoon, dip and taste. Then toss the spoon. Yes, they do have specific entries. Only "homestyle" has beans. "Traditional Red" and "Verde" do not.
Really no criteria that I was told. Just taste, take notes (e.g. too salty, savory, bland, etc.) and then at the bottom of the judge's turn in sheet rank them 1st Place, 2nd Place and 3rd place. No point system like KCBS.
Sounds like more fun than should be allowed.
ICS, now I need to find out more.
Are allowed beans in the chili?
I enjoy chili beans, Chili con carne, chili con carne with beans.
But the older I get the less heat I can take. 😥
Only "Homestyle" has beans. None of the chili entries were very hot and I also do not like it very hot. But there was some heat. They provided beer (Bud and Bud light) as a palate cleanser or water.
Thanks for posting the ICS link. I did not think of doing that.
Large Big Green Egg, Weber Performer Deluxe, Weber Smokey Joe Silver, Fireboard Drive, 3 DigiQs, lots of Thermapens, and too much other stuff to mention.
I’ve been aware of the timing of the spice dumps for a while now. I usually do chili a day in advance, would staggering the spices make any difference in that case? Does it make any difference at all or is it just an affectation?
yes, that's interesting. almost all of the winning recipes have timing differences for when to add different spices and seasonings.
may need to adjust our own cooking method a smidge (although we do tend to add spices later in the cook for no reason whatsoever as we layer in the different ingredients. so maybe we unknowingly were following along without actually following along?
Large Big Green Egg, Weber Performer Deluxe, Weber Smokey Joe Silver, Fireboard Drive, 3 DigiQs, lots of Thermapens, and too much other stuff to mention.
Mosca & WillTravelForFood , the timing is critical for competition results. Cuz they only have time allotted to git er done & judged. Home, that’s a whole differnt story. The more time you have fer all the ingredients to play with each other & become rilly good friends, the better. Yer buds on yer tongue will love the extra beauty sleep given the pot o’ red gold.
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