Chili reheat question

[wrgilb]

We are making 5 gallons of chili for our cook off on 2/28. We're going to cook on 2/26 and will be making 3-1/2 six quart crock pots of chili to give us the 5 gallon plus minimum requirement. This is a church event and will be at our church. 19 other teams from a variety of churches in our area will be competing.

Since we're making this 2 days ahead and refrigerating, we'll need to reheat the batch in a large roaster oven and have that ready to serve at 6 PM on the day off the cook off. How long do you think it will take to reheat that big of a batch? We can't start setting up our booth until 12 PM the day of the cook off.

I want to make sure we are ready to go at 6 PM, but don't want to start the reheat to early.

The money from the tasting tickets will go towards the mobile shower ministry for the homeless in our area.

Here's a picture of our sign board, we are asked to only list the ingredients, not the quantities.

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

Wow - how many teams are competing with a 5-gallon minimum entry?

And how many dang people are they thinking are going to show up???

[wrgilb]

I know it seems like a lot. There will be 20 teams total and they are expecting 300 plus people to show up. The serving size will 2 oz. of chili in a 4 oz. cup to have some room for cheese, green onions etc. 5 gallons will provide 320--2 oz. servings.

[Mosca]

I just did a cookoff with a single 6 qt crockpot. I plugged in at 11AM for a 1PM contest start, set it to “low”, and it was barely warmed up after an hour and a half, maybe 120°. I set it to high and stirred it vigorously for the next half hour to get it to about 140°, and it was fine after that.

Figuring a large roaster oven, you probably have an adjustable temp dial (not just warm/low/high). I’d start it 3 hours early at 225°. Stir it often, check it frequently, and if it’s not at temp after 2 hours bump it to 250°. If it’s there at 2 hours, turn it down to 175°.

If you’re going to make a mistake, make the mistake of starting to early. You can always turn it down. But if you’re going to have to turn it up you’ll run the risk of scorching it.

[Skip]

I agree with Mosca. The first thing that came to mind for me was "Stir Often". This sounds like fun. Good Luck.

[wrgilb]

Mosca Thanks for the detail. This will really help in our planning.

[barelfly]

Hope you have a wonderful time at the cook off later this month!

[Draznnl]

Best of luck at your cook off. If you win, I hope you’ll share your recipe.

[fzxdoc]

I'm always a fan of quick reheating, muscling the batch of food through the "danger zone" as quickly as possible. I'd probably tend to microwave (or reheat in a stock pot) the chili in batches to at least take the chill off before adding to your roaster oven to complete reheating. But then you know I usually roll with an eye to food safety, so you do you.

Kathryn

[Mosca]

Normally I’d agree, but with something like chili, it’s not liquid enough to boil, and not solid enough to roast; if you heat it too quickly, at too high a temp, it will scorch and burn. I’d just heat it slowly to 165°.

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

I hear if you add beans, it reheats faster.

[Skip]

That's how it works in Minnesota.

[wrgilb]

[wrgilb]

Well here's the results. If anyone is interested in our recipe, let me know and I'll add it. Oh, and by the way we were "Best in Show"!!! I'm the tall guy.