Chili Theorycrafting

enderw30

So my church has a chili cookoff next Saturday and I am theory crafting a recipe for it. Here is what I have so far.: 

Smoked pulled pork with traditional pork rub
Roasted sweet potatoes with paprika, cinnamon, and nutmeg for seasoning
Black beans
Roasted jalapenos
Beef broth mixed with apple cider vinegar and molasses/brown sugar (with seasonings like salt, pepper, paprika, cinnamon, and nutmeg to taste)

I'm thinking of a roughly even ration between the pork, potatoes, and beans. What would you add? What would you change? Any thoughts and suggestions are welcome!

Edit: I am not trying to win more trying to make something unique but that tastes good as well!

ColtsFan

I’m not sure how it would do with pulled pork, but I always add a couple dashes of good fish sauce to my beef chili. Adds a nice umami to it

lkapigian

Best of luck in your cookoff, not sure if this will be a peoples choice or “ judged” either way have fun

chili cook offs are the one event I always feel good going into, and I keep it very simple , chili goes in chili, always beef ,other than onions garlic and seasoning, that’s it for me, I make an adobo paste and build from that, a good dark roux to thicken If needed 

a good adobo paste here https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1229113/adobo-paste-base-recipe

enderw30

@ColtsFan I like the idea of adding some umami to it. I'll have to try and play around with what I should add

@lkapigian I will definitely have to try your adobo paste recipe in the future, it looks delicious! I don't care to win more to make something unique but not too unique if you know what I mean.

caliking

Add 1 star anise per 4 qts of chili. 

lousubcap

If people's choice, it will be a carp-shoot.  I entered one once (people's choice) and the winning recipe was two quarts of Hormel's chili out of the can, simmered with a pint of Jack Daniels.  It was a business (aka adults only) event. 

GrateEggspectations

Sounds good. 

If you haven’t done it before, I recommend smoking the chili as a final step. Have really like hickory on it in the past. 

Botch

lousubcap said:

If people's choice, it will be a carp-shoot.  I entered one once (people's choice) and the winning recipe was two quarts of Hormel's chili out of the can, simmered with a pint of Jack Daniels.  It was a business (aka adults only) event. 

Heh.  The last chili cookoff I entered was in my Mx organization, it was a fundraiser.  $3 a bowl, plus voting for bragging rights.  I slow-smoked a brisket, diced it very finely, and spared no expense to build a very nice chili in my large crockpot.
Towards the end of the feed/contest, I walked in and bought a couple bowls.  It looked like only two bowls were purchased out of my crock, so they made $6 out of the $40 I had invested; worse, they unplugged all the crockpots and piled them up in the hallway at the end, and when I left for home (5 hours later) my mostly-full crock of chili was room temp, and I had to throw the rest of it out.  
I decided to just donate $6 to the next year's fundraiser, but ended up taking early retirement before that even happened.  Sigh.   

enderw30

lousubcap said:

If people's choice, it will be a carp-shoot.  I entered one once (people's choice) and the winning recipe was two quarts of Hormel's chili out of the can, simmered with a pint of Jack Daniels.  It was a business (aka adults only) event. 

Yeah I don't even know if there is a prize. If there is it's probably not much more than a pat on the back. I did think about using Hormels just for fun to see if anyone notices.

enderw30

Botch said:

Heh.  The last chili cookoff I entered was in my Mx organization, it was a fundraiser.  $3 a bowl, plus voting for bragging rights.  I slow-smoked a brisket, diced it very finely, and spared no expense to build a very nice chili in my large crockpot.
Towards the end of the feed/contest, I walked in and bought a couple bowls.  It looked like only two bowls were purchased out of my crock, so they made $6 out of the $40 I had invested; worse, they unplugged all the crockpots and piled them up in the hallway at the end, and when I left for home (5 hours later) my mostly-full crock of chili was room temp, and I had to throw the rest of it out.  
I decided to just donate $6 to the next year's fundraiser, but ended up taking early retirement before that even happened.  Sigh.   

I thought about this as well. Nothing is worse than wasting good food!

stlcharcoal

Okra is always a great secret ingredient.  Adds a celery taste, but how it melts and thickens the chili is awesome.  

I'd leave the cinnamon and nutmeg out.  Thats a big turn off to a lot of people.  Depending on your region, might leave the beans out too.

buzd504

The latest episode of this podcast: https://www.americastestkitchen.com/podcasts/proof  tells the story of a huge chili cheating scandal in Texas in 2003.

Basically, a guy got a taste from all of the chili cooks that were cooking and submitted it just so he could get the T-shirt, and then he ended up winning.

It's a pretty good listen.

dbCooper

If going with a pork butt the results will be better if you cut it into cubes as opposed to pulling.  Pulled chunks in chili will separate and become stringy.  The taste is fine but the texture is unappealing to some people.

lkapigian

I do recommend A Bowl of Red by Frank X Tolbert and With or Without Beans by Joe E Cooper for those interested in the History of Chili Cook Offs and techniques 

fishlessman

if its peoples choice with lots of women in a church setting make it chicken, something healthy. theres panera bread copycat recipes out there, this ones with turkey

http://www.threecookingsisters.com/panera-bread-turkey-chili-copycat-recipe.html

enderw30

So this is what I ended up doing:
Chopped pork butt with a traditional rub (started on sous vide and finished on egg due to other commitments this morning)
Roast sweet potatoes with cayenne, ancho, smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper
Black beans
Roasted okra with cumin, garlic powder, salt and pepper
Beef broth with apple cider vinegar, molasses, roasted diced jalapenos, ancho, cayenne

It probably won't win as it isn't a traditional chili but I think it tastes pretty darn good which is what I was going for anyways. Thank you for all your suggestions!

lkapigian

I’m sure you will do well, way to think outside the box and you rocked the Ancho 

enderw30

It was a panel of judges that chose, and I ended up number 2 out of the 14 though mine did get a first-place vote from one of the judges. It was a unique chili but the sweetness and spice paired really well together.

@stlcharcoal Thanks for the okra suggestion that was a big hit in it and I discovered I like roasted okra!