Good luck.
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Good luck! I’m interested to hear which one wins, what it tastes like, and if there’s any that inspire you to try something a little different.Comment
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Have a Great time, Mosca. Thanks for the recipe n method.Comment
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It's got that overnight stew smoothness to it today. Win or not, it's a damn good chili.Comment
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GOOD LUCK TOM!!!!!!Comment
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Good luck. I hope there is a way for you to keep the chili hot during the competition.
The only chili contest I was in was as a sampler/voter. There was no way for anybody to keep their chili hot, which was bad. It wasn't a serious competition, and was part of a local charity event. I think it was mostly for bragging rights.Comment
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3rd place! But I had a lot of people say they thought it was MUCH better that the others, so I'll take that.Comment
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A few things:
Mine was the only one with cubed chuck roast. I’m sure that counted against it.
The beans on the side was a negative. Too much choice. I should have either left them at home, or mixed them in. Either would have been better, as far as winning.
I think another thing that dinged me was that my bowl didn’t have any eye appeal; it was just beef in sauce. If I’d just done something simple like cut up some colored bell peppers, that would have give it more appeal.
A lot of the “edge” stuff; toasting the cumin and coriander, the cocoa powder, the paprika and the cayenne; that didn’t make no never mind. Either put the stuff forward, or leave it out. Chili isn’t about nuances. Cumin and coriander powder will be fine, as long as it’s fresh-ish. 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder is indiscernible in 8 quarts of chili. For paprika and cayenne, add a couple guajillos.
The winning chili was made by a cook at a local restaurant (where I don’t like the food, lol). His chili was good, but a little busy for me. He did have a chocolate bar in it, and brown sugar. It was too sweet, it was going in too many different directions. But it was a good chili.
Also, the winner was the first chili in line. So every chili was compared to it, rather than the other way around. Still, it was a pretty good bowl.
The second place winner, I dunno. It tasted like ground beef mixed with baked beans and a couple scoops of McCormick’s chili powder. I thought it was really bland, and it was one of only a couple of them that I actively disliked.
The other one I actively disliked was a white, a turkey and white bean chili. But Mrs Mosca took seconds and thirds of it, so what do I know. 🤷🏻♂️
It was a stone cold blast, though. I met a lot of nice people. And I know how to win this next time.Comment
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The key to future success in this, if I decide to keep going:
1) ground beef.
2) same chile/cumin/coriander/garlic mix, that’s the flavor.
3) beans in the pot, for textural variation.
4) multicolored bell peppers, for texture and appearance.
Thing is, though, I don’t like experimenting with recipes. I’m not a professional food writer who can justify repeated attempts at something by rationalizing how it saves other people time and money; if I make it, we have to eat it. So there’s never going to be endless tweaking, or a week spent with notebooks and pots and pans. Because there’s no payoff at the end. I don’t profit like if it’s a job, the world doesn’t profit because I don’t care about sharing the results. All that happens is food gets wasted, at my expense.
So, I’m just going to work from what I think will be good, based on stuff I’ve made before. And one thing I keep thinking about is Sunday sauce, the Italian thing with ground beef, pork, and lamb, meatballs, sausage, brachiole, and pork chops (I actually use country style ribs in mine). Wouldn’t that be cool to make a chili like that? Brisket and pulled pork, maybe some Texas sausage, peppers, chili spices, a couple ribs would be cool. Analogous to the brachiole, maybe some home made taquitos.
That’s just a thought dream. Chili spices and bbq spices and Tex/Mex spices don’t always work together like you think they would. And if that was really good, someone would have done it already. But it’s worth thinking about.Comment
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I hear ya on the experimenting. I would love to tweak some of my recipes to maximize them but don’t have the rigor do so systematically and don’t have interest in eating the same thing for weeks to compare tweaks. The closest I come is to make big changes like adding fresh chiles in addition to dried and deciding if I like the end result but not comparing the two side by side.
For the cookoff, maybe try adding toppings like green onion, sour cream, shredded cheese or Frito/tortilla chips.
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Congrats!
For your next pot, try course ground brisket (has a better flavor than just ground hamburger), some ground country sausage, and a couple of bottles of a dark Mexican beer in the chili. For appearance, cilantro, diced green onions, and shredded cheese on top. Save the beans for a bowl of beans, otherwise you will insult both the chili and the beans since they are separate meals..Comment
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Congratulations. I thought your recipe sounded great as written, though I get the comments on how to win.Comment
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Chopped bell peppers will add a sweetness. I'd go with poblanos, which are mild enough for everyone and may add that visual appeal you're looking for. Just a thought.
I'm really enjoying your thought process.
K.Comment
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I do like the idea of multicolor peppers, though probably in the last hour or so? I don't want them to break down too much. I also like to add some quarters or hand-crushed stewed tomatoes. And I also like to add beans. I've even been known to add corn! Or small chopped carrots (like 1/4").
Yes, I like texture in my chili. Call it a stew if you like. I don't care.
Note: I wouldn't add corn and carrots in a competition. But at home, I cook how I like to eat - and I like texture.
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A couple more notes, regarding the contest and specifically the judging.
1) The second place winner brought about a dozen family members with her.
2) The first place winner is a chef/cook at a bar/restaurant within walking distance of the venue where the contest was held, which is another local tavern, and who hangs out at the place where the contest was held. A regular.
3) The crowd was (were?) overwhelmingly regulars of the establishment where the contest was held. That makes sense. But Mrs Mosca knows pretty much everyone in Mountain Top, and she only knew two people there; the reason for that is that we aren’t tavern people. Nothing wrong with being bar regulars, I’m not casting aspersions; it’s a well accepted social custom. Just don’t drink and drive. Everyone there was really nice, we didn’t fit in.
4) So in a lot of ways, I wasn’t going to win. Everyone knew a professional chef made chili #1. Chili #2 had about a dozen votes before the groceries were purchased.
This doesn’t discount in any way that I had a stone cold blast. It was a lot of fun. But at the same time, it’s important to see it for what it was; a fund raiser for the local scholarship fund. I donated the $25 back; I’d have donated the $100 first place prize back, too.
Going forward, I’ll take this as a challenge to try and make a chili that stays true to my original recipe, which got some SERIOUS raves from several people who came up to me and said, “Did you make that one?”, while correcting some first-time mistakes that were the result of simply never having taken part in any kind of cooking contest before. Because my curiosity has been excited. I’m not that far at all from conquering this beginner level contest.Comment
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