Chili

One of the things that I can over think is cooking when there is some sort of judgment involved. I say this because last weekend, My Wife and I went to one of her co-workers house for a "chili cook-off" get together. So I just gather some of the vegetarian green chili I make at work, toss a few more bits of things like pancetta, diced whole roasted pork loin, white wine and some chili powder. I entered it knowing it wasn't great, but I knew it would be better than what was there. Sure enough the winner had like maple syrup, sausage and bourbon in it. Novelty wins, not the fact that there is complexity or mouth feel in my green chili.

This week, with all the happenings around, again I am faced with making chili for a cook off. Knowing novelty wins, we went ahead and went about it differently than the way do for the chili that is regularly on the menu. Grass fed Bison, black beans, kidney beans, house made liquid smoke, smoked tomatoes, bourbon, house made chili powder, yellow peppers, scallions, yellow onion and of course the most important piece time. The thing I have learned about making chili is actually letting it stew 4-6 hours then add the beans and let it sit over night before serving it. This allows for the body to develop, the beans to stay in tack and allow the chili powder to calm down. So on Monday our little pot of love and goodness gets entered in a cook off where the top three entries will receive a monetary incentive.

My worry is it novel enough? have we thought about the judges pallets? Will they appreciate body and depth of flavor? Have we sealed out fate at work and just made stewed bison and beans? All of this runs through your brain and you get to second guessing every step along the way.