Chili Contest at Work Today-w/ pron

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markdtn

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Today we are having a chili cookoff at work. I have not fared so well in the past, so I am amping up my game. Started with a package of Big Rons. I had about a pound of smoked brisket in the freezer for this and I bought a pound of thin sirloin yesterday. I cut up the sirloin and dusted it for a few hours. Then I mostly followed the package directions. I used beer for half the water and I added beans and some tomato juice to thin it a little. Other than that, just like the directions. I let it cool and refrigerated it, got it out this morning and heated it and put it in the crockpot on low. It tastes very good IMHO. We'll see how it competes at lunch today.

IMG_2109.jpg
 
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Guess you have to be from Texas to know that Real Chili doesn't have beans in it but I will definitely try a bowl please and Thank You. Good Luck :thumb:
 
Chili looks good!

In Texas you don't put chili in beans. You go to a BBQ joint and order beans and put the chili sauce based BBQ sauce in the beans some of which also have lots of cumin in them. So in Texas chili doesn't have beans but beans can have chili.

So, there you go. :heh:
 
Well, dead last. I just don't understand it. I was last in all 3 categories (Taste, appearance, and originality). I didn't expect to be tops in appearance or originality, but I expected to be somewhere near the top in taste. I honestly thought of the 6 that I was in the top 2 for taste. It had just a little heat, but not too much. It was a bit thin if anything, but not like soup. Oh well, can't win them all. The people have spoken. They like my BBQ, but not my chili.

By the way-Big Ron- really liked the mix. It was great. I think that the voters here time and again just want bland meat and tomato soup. I'll be buying more mix.

IMG_2111.jpg
 
people are funny that way. personally i don't like a tomatoey chili. like mine robust, hot, something a bit different.

my wife makes a killer smoked chicken white chili that is outstanding. took that to her works chili feed. it wasn't a contest, but got gobbled up hands down faster than the rest.

i asked how others chili were, she said all of em were a tomato based product. i don't get it.
 
They all had beans and they were all tomato based. I may try 1 more time next year with less tomato and no beans, but I just don't understand. I asked a few in my department to be brutally honest with me, I want my chili to be pleasing. The ones I asked were puzzled why mine was rated so low, they said they voted me middle of the pack. We did have a lot of ladies from Accounting, perhaps they did not like the heat. Perhaps my coworkers are lying to me and they really hated it. They all ask me to grill, so I know they like my 'Q. I don't want to be first, but I don't enjoy last every time. Back to the drawing board.......
 
FWIW - my best chile seems to be when I focus on the Chili. Even if it's just reheating and waking up some dried peppers. I'd bet $2 right now that the meat in yours was a stone cold knockout.
 
Glad to hear you enjoyed it and sorry to hear it did not make you a winner.
 
I tried Big Ron's chili mix a couple of weeks ago. I followed the recipe on the package. Couple things:

1. I do not like adding all of that flour to the chili that early. I would much prefer to let the meat cook down some and add the flour (or even better, masa harina) later as part of a slurry.

2. Only use low sodium beef broth. Regular beef broth is WAY too salty. Trust me.

The flavor profile of the mix is good. I loved the way it smelled. I was pretty strong and the chili was unbalanced, but that was most likely due to it being way too salty. I bought a couple of packages, so I will give it another shot this weekend.
 
Looks good, but in all my experiments for the office chilli cook off I have the following:
Don't add liquor as it gives it a weird taste.
Use tri tip cubed 3/8" (if you really want to win) or chili grind.
No beans if you want to be traditional - although most people don't know that!

Don't over cook it. Some people think chili is great the longer your cook it. I think it just eventually overcooks the meat and its like over cooked brisket - bad.

You probably also need 2 spice "adding" times to keep the flavor great. So cook it a while with the base spices, and then add some more 2 hours (near the end) of the cook to freshen up the flavor. Don't make it insanely hot as most people don't like really hot (spicy) food.
 
I used two packages, one for a rub for 4 lbs of 1" thick sliced ungraded ribeye left overnight in the fridge before grilling. I usually get low sodium broths anyway. I also cooked a pound of dry pintos first then added the wet ingredients, mix, meat and other sundries and let that slow cook for several hours. I didn't find it too salty at all probably because I used more tomato sauce/paste/broth plus diced tomatos with garlic and a can of Rotel which toned the salt down.
 
I have competed in many chili cook offs (with my ex-wifes chili) and the competitors always had a different idea of who won. We would think ours was best one time or we were sure someone elses was the best and had to win. then a chili we didn't like would win. thats why we stopped competing. there were three cookouts in a row where chili we hated won. We didnt want to turn our chili into something we didn't like.
 
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