Events/2019/Chili Cookoff

Hacksburg will be competing in the 2019 VT CRC Chili Cookoff. This page documents the details and our plans for the competition.

Basic Info

• Date: Wednesday, October 2, 2019
  • We will be preparing our chili the night before, Tuesday October 1, during or after the regular meeting
  • Location TBD, possibly an individual's kitchen or the Blacksburg Community Center kitchen
• Location: The Plaza between 1900 Pratt and 1861 Pratt Drive
• Rules

Chili Recipes

The rules specify a red "homestyle chili" including meat and beans. The rules suggest one 16 oz serving for judges and 200 3 oz. servings for the public.

• Serious Eats-Best Chili Ever
• Wholesome Dish-Best Classic Chili
• Sugar Spun Run - Best Chili Recipe (with bacon)
• Medieval Chili - not an actual thing, fits with theme below
• Real Deer Meat Chili (Lytton C., New River: bonnets, apple butter and moonshine. 2010, pp. 74-76):

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General Suggestions

• Start with dried kidney beans. Soak overnight with baking soda to degas, then partially cook.
• Sweat the onions and peppers, set aside.
• Brown meat under broiler on a baking tray.
  • Use stew meat instead of ground, for the texture
  • Save all fat and drippings
• Combine meat, peppers and onions, beans, and some tomatoes; season, and bake at least until beans are done
  • Ideally, use a heavy dutch oven or similar. You want the high thermal inertia.
  • This may also be doable in a slow-cooker, but moisture should be watched carefully.
  • Secret sauce for good chili: unsweetened chocolate and black coffee.
• Bean-containing chilis are best after they've been allowed to cool and then reheated.

Ingredients quantities

• A cow's-worth of stew meat
• Absurd amounts of canned tomatoes (petite diced or crushed)
• Ridiculous numbers of onions
• Crazy quantities of poblano peppers
• Far too many red kidney beans
• Some coffee
• A bit of bitter chocolate

For serving:

• Sour cream
• Green onions
• Shredded cheese?
• Cornbread?

Hacksburg Chili 1.0

Recipe

• 10 parts/pints/cans total x 4 crocks
• 1 part stew beef
• 2 bags frozen diced onions
• 1 bag frozen diced green bell peppers
• 1 part crushed tomatoes in tomato juice
• 1 part diced tomatoes
• 4 parts dark red kidney beans
• 2 parts black beans
• V8 (to taste)
• Crushed garlic (to taste)
• Cooking oil (as needed to saute onions)
• Cumin (to taste)
• Cayenne pepper (to taste)
• Salt and pepper (to taste)
• Smoke flavor (to taste)
• Cold coffee (to taste)
• Bitter/bakers chocolate (to taste)

Feedback

• Only served ~2.25 crocks worth of chili, could probably get away with 2 in the future
• Wear gloves when chopping jalapenos
• People liked having a mild chili they could customize to their level of spice with jalapenos. Also bring red pepper flakes next time?
• Thaw onions and peppers beforehand, took a significant amount of time to thaw before they could be sauted
  • Possibly also saute beforehand
• Blacksburg Community kitchen is pretty small and not super well equipped, was suitable but a personal kitchen would work just as well
• Chili seemed generally well received at competition, did not place in top 3
• May have added too much coffee and chocolate, there was a very bitter aftertaste
• Some people said it didn't seem very meaty; finer diced stew meat or more ground beef?

Booth Decoration

It appears that booths were decorated and competitors wore costumes in previous years. We were thinking of a medieval theme for our booth given what we have on hand.

• Cauldron of chili (using smelting furnace and cast iron pot)
  • Need a pot, something like this or a dutch oven with legs
  • Do any of the members have something they can contribute
• Costumes
  • Dragon Knight (Cameron-confirmerd)
  • Wizard (John-confirmed)
  • Wands from wand competition

Other Hacksburg themed decorations could include

• Scrolling LED sign (James)
• Turned wood bowl (Nick)
• Wood carved serving implements