You can't fault me for not trying. Two years back, I entered the Cow
Hill chili cook off and lost badly. My error that time was in making
chili with red wine. It was pretty good, but it was also a mistake to
serve red wine to red necks.
Last year I had a conflict and wasn't able to enter the contest. This
year, however, I tried again. These are the ingredients of my contest
chili.
Two huge round steaks, timmed and cut to 1/4 inch dice.
about 1/3 of a chuck roast, ditto.
5 ancho chiles
3 pasilla negra chiles
one cascabel chile
one chipotle chile
about 3 tablespoons Spanish smoked paprika (sweet)
about 1 1/2 tablespoons Gebhardt chili powder
one tablespoon oregano
6 cloves of garlic
2 bottles of Shiner Bock beer
one quart of prepared beef stock
about 1 1/2 pints water
salt
scant 1 tablespoon brown sugar
enough masa to thicken the broth
I toasted the chiles (not the chipotle) and rehydrated them. After
tasting the rehydrating liquid to determine that it wasn't bitter, I
buzzed them with my stick blender (voltage converter plug-in for my
car) and strained them to remove the seeds and skins. I lightly
browned the meat in a little rendered beef fat. I added the beer and
the water and the stock. I skimmed the beer-induced scum off. I
simmered it for a while and added the chile puree. Simmer, simmer. I
added some oregano after a bit. D was there to help, so were some
friends. That's a lot of beef chopping for one person. She grated
the garlic with a microplane and we added it with the smoked paprika
and some Gebhardt's. Stir, simmer, taste. Salt. A little brown
sugar. Taste, simmer. More salt. The chili cooked from about 9 a.m.
till almost 2 p.m. with constant tasting and monitoring of flavors.
I'm telling you it was good. Eleven competitors placed. And I