If you're not cheatin', then you're not trying!

Chili is largely a state of mind; consequently predesignated quantities are not as important as ones instincts in estimating the proper amounts of ingredients, and ultimately the taste that determines whether the proper amounts have indeed been added. Competition chili, starting in 1967 after an article written by midwesterner H. Allen Smith scorched the fustrations of Texas chili cooks and began a series of challenges and cooking contests. The controversies that were to originate from the "Great Chili Confrontation" held in October, 1967 in Teralingua, Texas are far too many to list here, and besides I'm getting off-track from what this page is about.

Cooking competition chili, at whatever level of challenge, is a matter of pride. Chili basically consists of fat, meat, chile, and expertise. More than anything else it is this expertise or savy that makes one chili cook's efforts stand out from another's. It is not only the creation, but the reaction (hopefully favorable) by those tasting ones recipe that is rewarding to any cook. To achieve a reward by any other means creates a void and an uncertainty that maybe your beans just ain't worth beans.

It was a few years back at a Liz y Dave chili cookoff when she and her team finally arrived. They submitted their entry very late explaining to everyone that it had been a long, sleepless night before, ensuring that the proper flavor had been achieved, ensuring that this entry was indeed a worthy opponent to Dave's famous "Oklahoma Crude" (Well-made Chili). Her team dispersed throughout the guests, whispering to any open ear that Lucy's entry was the chili entry distinguishable by the large pepper floating atop the pot, resembling, well, you be the judge...

This competition had been setup to judge taste, to judge consistency, to judge the visual appeal, not by votes gathered because of bribery, trickery, and the recognition of a green johnson calling out; "yo' here I is!"

But then again, this is America, and this is a competition... and we do whatever we have to in order to win. So steal the catcher's signs if you can, hold the wide receiver if you need to, and never claim it all on that 1040, or just as in Lucy's case - throw in that one-of-a kind pepper - 'cause if you're not cheatin', then you're just not trying.

Yeah, she got the most votes that year and what did I learn? Well, I'm offering fifty dollars for a green chile or jalapeno shaped like Oklahoma.

©2006 Pepperville