Welcome!


This is a membership forum. Guests can view 5 pages for free. To participate, please join.

[ Pitmaster Club Information | Join Now | Login | Contact Us ]

Only 4 free page views remaining.

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

So I Judged at a ICS Chili Cookoff for the First Time

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    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.

    #2
    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.

    Comment


    • TripleB
      TripleB commented
      Editing a comment
      You're right. I checked out the recipes too. The competitor I mentioned, "Rosie" has her recipe for Verde up. I'm going to try it.

    • Old Glory
      Old Glory commented
      Editing a comment
      Yup I read a few recipes and get tips on techniques and ingredients.

    • klflowers
      klflowers commented
      Editing a comment
      That is a great tip! I took a look at the site and I will be following your example. Thanks!

    #3
    How was the event? We’re there a lot of variations? If so, it would seem to be very difficult to judge.

    Comment


    • TripleB
      TripleB commented
      Editing a comment
      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.

    • tbob4
      tbob4 commented
      Editing a comment
      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.

    • TripleB
      TripleB commented
      Editing a comment
      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!

    #4
    Very cool. Are there rules for tasting/judging? Does the chili have to hit a specific flavor profile? Beans no beans?

    Comment


    • TripleB
      TripleB commented
      Editing a comment
      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.

    #5
    What are some criteria you or other judges look for to place well?

    Would be curious to know what tweaks the home cook should think about to improve their own pot to competition level

    Comment


    • TripleB
      TripleB commented
      Editing a comment
      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.

    #6
    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. 😥

    ICS Chili, Inc. (chilicookoff.com) here is the website. I just had to look it up.
    Last edited by bbqLuv; February 28, 2022, 07:34 AM.

    Comment


    • TripleB
      TripleB commented
      Editing a comment
      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.

    #7
    Some of those recipes are wild! Time to expand my horizons.

    Comment


      #8
      There are some really interesting recipes there.

      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?

      Comment


      • WillTravelForFood
        WillTravelForFood commented
        Editing a comment
        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?

      • Mosca
        Mosca commented
        Editing a comment
        My thought is, if you’re going to be serving it 24 to 48 hours later, a difference of 30 minutes in a spice dump Is going to be irrelevant.

      #9
      Couldn't help it. This just popped into my head




      Comment


        #10

        Comment


        • TripleB
          TripleB commented
          Editing a comment
          Classic.

        • FireMan
          FireMan commented
          Editing a comment
          Wow! I have never seen that. Oh, the anguish of that really happening. Shoot, the anguish of doing it in make believe.

        #11
        TripleB - you hit a home run with this topic, thanks. FireMan - thanks for mentioning that the recipes are posted. This is going to be great fun.

        Comment


        • FireMan
          FireMan commented
          Editing a comment
          Glad to be of service. Yes it will be a blast.

        #12
        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.

        Comment


        • Mosca
          Mosca commented
          Editing a comment
          Thanks for the insight, FireMan!

        #13
        Originally posted by Mosca View Post
        At least one person here will appreciate: NBC posted a chili recipe in their user terms and conditions legal info page.

        Comment


        • FireMan
          FireMan commented
          Editing a comment
          Fantastic!!! Everything sounds good, but I think I would kick the cayenne up a little. Just my tastes.

          PS. I am still in anguish watching that happen.
          Last edited by FireMan; March 11, 2022, 11:01 PM.

        #14
        Cooked in a couple with my father back in the day. It was in West Colombia TX.

        Comment

        Announcement

        Collapse
        No announcement yet.
        Working...
        X
        false
        0
        Guest
        Guest
        500
        ["pitmaster-my-membership","login","join-pitmaster","lostpw","reset-password","special-offers","help","nojs","meat-ups","gifts","authaau-alpha","ebooklogin-start","alpha","start"]
        false
        false
        {"count":0,"link":"/forum/announcements/","debug":""}
        Yes
        ["\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1157845-paid-members-download-your-6-deep-dive-guide-ebooks-for-free-here","\/forum\/the-pitcast","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2019-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2020-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2021-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2022-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2023-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2024-issues","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here"]
        /forum/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here