Chili Contest tomorrow!

Botch

My Maintenance Group is having a Chili Contest tomorrow, to help raise money for our Summer Picnic, or Xmas party, or something.  I think there's about 700 folks in the Group (when someone asks me, "How many people work in your Group?" I usually reply "About half of them."   )
I had about a 1/3 brisket (BGE, of course) still in the freezer, and started a batch of brisket chili tonight.  Thawed out the briskie, and I've developed a method of cutting it into cubes that works great with my elec knife with the straight blade; this blade has a straight cutting edge that allows my knuckles to clear the cutting board.  I'd cut 3 slices about 1/4" thick, against the grain, then flip and stack them vertically.  Cut them again, lengthwise, 3 to 4 strips, then rotate 90 degrees and cut into 1/4" cubes.  I broke that entire cut down into 1/4" cubes in less than three minutes, kowabunga!  
Threw them in the crockpot, along with fire-roasted tomatoes, cheekun broth, and onions/garlic/cumin/4 powdered chilies sauteed in oil until soft/fragrant.  Will let it all get cozy in the crockpot overnight on Low, throw in the pinto beans in the morning, and Judging is scheduled for 11.  
One Odd Requirement (thank you Uncle Sam): Entrants are required to list all their ingredients (supposedly to avoid any food allergy reactions).  Seriousry?!?  I plan on listing the ingredients I've mentioned above, but to include things like:
a)  Smoking wood did NOT include peanut vines
b)  Brisket rub did NOT include the powder at the bottom of a jar of Planter's Dry-Roasted Peanuts (which may be very good, hmmm!)
c)  No peanut chiles were used
I'm not going to list my two "secret ingredients" (umami ingredients; one boosts glutamates and the other boosts nucleotides).  I'm not aware of any food allergies with either ingredient.  
I'm not usually a competitive person, but I want to win this one (13 entrants).  Wish me luck!  

Killit_and_Grillit

Good luck!

lkapigian

Best of Luck, always fun!

milesvdustin

Yeast and msg?

YukonRon

There will be no contest. There will be only victory.
BGE brisket chili will carry the day, and it will not be close.
Wishing you luck at this project is like wishing Warren Buffet to make more money.
You have soooooooo got this.

bgebrent

Good luck Botch and have fun.

NPHuskerFL

Show em how it's done Botch. 

GATraveller

Good luck!!  

So you're not even going to share the secret 2 ingredients with us?  I thought we were pals! 

johnnyp

Good luck!

thetrim

Make them your botches!

lousubcap

Great recipe.  You will bring it home.  Enjoy and have fun!

CTMike

Git some!

lkapigian

If they start making us list ingredients I probably would quit competing, If one has severe food allergies or an overly sensitive tummy they should probably not eat @ cook offs...........Best of luck  @botch !!!

buzd504

GATraveller said:

Good luck!!  

So you're not even going to share the secret 2 ingredients with us?  I thought we were pals! 

Chocolate and star anise.

fishlessman

so the allergy thing rules out soy, fish sauce, worcestershire sauce, shrooms. those are things i might add

Theophan

Gosh, I wish you good luck, but I wish you'd list the ingredients.  

I don't think anybody knows why there are SO many more people, these days, with food allergies, and it's easy to suppose they're all just being fussy snowflakes, but it's a real thing, and it IS very much more common than it used to be.  

There was a thing in the paper recently about someone whose mother in law didn't really think she had a food allergy, and she did some really minor thing (I think it was use the same oil to fry something that had been used to fry the thing she was allergic to in it), and she didn't tell anybody, and planned to gloriously proclaim that her allergy had been "fake news" ...  And then the daughter-in-law wound up in the ER dangerously ill.

I can see why you'd be frustrated, but I'd either not enter and say why, or enter and list the ingredients.  Maybe there IS someone allergic to whatever it is.  Fish sauce, for example, is a classic umami agent, and there most definitely are people who are seriously allergic to fish.

fishlessman

Theophan said:

Gosh, I wish you good luck, but I wish you'd list the ingredients.  

I don't think anybody knows why there are SO many more people, these days, with food allergies, and it's easy to suppose they're all just being fussy snowflakes, but it's a real thing, and it IS very much more common than it used to be.  

There was a thing in the paper recently about someone whose mother in law didn't really think she had a food allergy, and she did some really minor thing (I think it was use the same oil to fry something that had been used to fry the thing she was allergic to in it), and she didn't tell anybody, and planned to gloriously proclaim that her allergy had been "fake news" ...  And then the daughter-in-law wound up in the ER dangerously ill.

I can see why you'd be frustrated, but I'd either not enter and say why, or enter and list the ingredients.  Maybe there IS someone allergic to whatever it is.  Fish sauce, for example, is a classic umami agent, and there most definitely are people who are seriously allergic to fish.

its weird nowadays. i have not been able to eat lettuce for decades and it gets worse every year. you can tell people that and there it is anyways, then they get mad if you pick it off. last summer i picked the meat and cheese off a sub and rinsed it all off, women scowls the rest of the day   my throat swells, nauseous, puking, going to sit on the throne til my head explodes or i pass out.  a few years ago was the first time ive ever even seen it on google. its really strange, i used to eat about 6 servings in a sitting, now 3 strands in a taco takes me out.

JohnInCarolina

I’d like to think I’m as sympathetic as anyone to the allergy thing, but... if you have a severe peanut allergy, maybe going to any kind of cook-off is not the best idea?   

JRWhitee

White wine closes up my throat, not a big deal never really liked it anyway. Cooking with it doesn't bother me but drinking it does.

JohnInCarolina

JRWhitee said:

White wine closes up my throat, not a big deal never really liked it anyway. Cooking with it doesn't bother me but drinking it does.

I am also allergic to white wine.  Especially the boxed variety.

Theophan

fishlessman said:

its weird nowadays. i have not been able to eat lettuce for decades and it gets worse every year... 3 strands in a taco takes me out.

Wow -- never heard of that!  Sounds like an awful thing -- lettuce is in practically everything, and who would have supposed anyone could be allergic?

I don't have any food allergies, though I don't get along well with lactose and try to avoid dairy, or take SEVERAL Lactaid if I do eat any dairy.  But real allergies can be dangerous, even fatal.  Sorry about yours!

JRWhitee said:

White wine closes up my throat, not a big deal never really liked it anyway. Cooking with it doesn't bother me but drinking it does.

Yeow!  I use my throat pretty much every day -- I like to breath, eat, drink, you know, stuff like that.  I try to breath every day!  I consider it important for my health!  Sorry white wine does that to you!

JRWhitee

Theophan said:

fishlessman said:

its weird nowadays. i have not been able to eat lettuce for decades and it gets worse every year... 3 strands in a taco takes me out.

Wow -- never heard of that!  Sounds like an awful thing -- lettuce is in practically everything, and who would have supposed anyone could be allergic?

I don't have any food allergies, though I don't get along well with lactose and try to avoid dairy, or take SEVERAL Lactaid if I do eat any dairy.  But real allergies can be dangerous, even fatal.  Sorry about yours!

JRWhitee said:

White wine closes up my throat, not a big deal never really liked it anyway. Cooking with it doesn't bother me but drinking it does.

Yeow!  I use my throat pretty much every day -- I like to breath, eat, drink, you know, stuff like that.  I try to breath every day!  I consider it important for my health!  Sorry white wine does that to you!

Bourbon doesn't do it so I am fine. 

lousubcap

I am old enough to almost invite the great allergic reaction.  I'm sure it's out there somewhere but I have come around to the C2H5OH cure for anything.  And for the past few decades it has been working.  No changes on the front-line of health defense here  

Botch

fishlessman said:

so the allergy thing rules out soy, fish sauce, worcestershire sauce, shrooms. those are things i might add

Wow, this post hit me between the eyes, and the rest of the thread made it worse!  
I knew of allergies to peanuts, peaches, but that's about it; had no idea about all the other allergies mentioned above, including BOTH my secret ingredients, fish sauce and porcini powder.  I'll know tomorrow if I killed anyone; if I no longer post here you can assume the worst.  
 
I didn't win.  Despite what I said in the OP, that doesn't bother me, but when I saw less than half of the chili was even eaten, that kind've hurt.  I hate wasting food, and an estimated four bowls eaten, at $3 apiece, it would've been cheaper for me to just donate to whatever the cause was, directly.  The remainder had to sit in my truck for 4 hours afterwards, and thrown out.  The winning chili was VERY hot, so I guess that was the preference of the judge/judges.  
Two folks knew it was my chili and told me they really loved it, that was cool.  But I think I'm done with fundraisers and contests; when I cook for whoever wants it, it usually is gone by the end of mealtime.   

JohnInCarolina

Botch said:

fishlessman said:

so the allergy thing rules out soy, fish sauce, worcestershire sauce, shrooms. those are things i might add

Wow, this post hit me between the eyes, and the rest of the thread made it worse!  
I knew of allergies to peanuts, peaches, but that's about it; had no idea about all the other allergies mentioned above, including BOTH my secret ingredients, fish sauce and porcini powder.  I'll know tomorrow if I killed anyone; if I no longer post here you can assume the worst.  
 
I didn't win.  Despite what I said in the OP, that doesn't bother me, but when I saw less than half of the chili was even eaten, that kind've hurt.  I hate wasting food, and an estimated four bowls eaten, at $3 apiece, it would've been cheaper for me to just donate to whatever the cause was, directly.  The remainder had to sit in my truck for 4 hours afterwards, and thrown out.  The winning chili was VERY hot, so I guess that was the preference of the judge/judges.  
Two folks knew it was my chili and told me they really loved it, that was cool.  But I think I'm done with fundraisers and contests; when I cook for whoever wants it, it usually is gone by the end of mealtime.   

Uggh sorry you didn't have a better experience there Botch. That sucks. And I hear you about wasted food.

There are worse things than just cooking for yourself and friends and family though!

bgebrent

Yup, bummer but I bet you had the goods.  You know how to reach us for bail 

lousubcap

@Botch - Congrats for the effort and stepping up with the outcome.  As you well know, judging at any event is subjective and at an amateur one even more so.  Sounds like a bunch of cheap SOB's that can't front up to buy chili donated by the cooks with proceeds to a good organization related cause.

On a lighter note, should you ever decide to go again, just get two large cans of Hormel's chili and a pint of Jack Daniel's for the enhancement.  If you don't win you will enjoy the left-overs.  

Theophan

Botch said:

... I didn't win.  Despite what I said in the OP, that doesn't bother me, but when I saw less than half of the chili was even eaten, that kind've hurt.  I hate wasting food, ... I think I'm done with fundraisers and contests; when I cook for whoever wants it, it usually is gone by the end of mealtime.   

I only participated in one chili cookoff, at my church, and I got a few compliments, but I lost.  It bothered me more than I had expected, and I think it was because I tasted them all, too, and I thought mine was the best by far!  And it wasn't like I invented it -- it was a hugely award-winning recipe ("Reno Red," though I think I jokingly named it "Deliver Us from Hell-Fire Chili" for the church contest ), and it's really, really good!  I wasn't that crazy about the winner or runner-up chilis.  And yeah, I figured if I lost with my very best chili, no point trying again with one that wasn't as good as Reno Red.

Sorry it didn't go as well as you'd hoped!

YukonRon

@Botch
You were robbed. It is beyond obvious the judges knew exactly nothing about great chili.
Congrats for being above them.

milesvdustin

I did a chili contest at work once and everyone lost to some **** ass white chicken “chili”. Many of us were mad 

Gulfcoastguy

My younger sister is highly allergic to mushrooms. It’s sent her to the ER twice that I know of. Once a restaurant had switched from making a broccoli and rice casserole to warming up a frozen one that had “natural flavor” as an ingredient.