Chili Cook Off

Last Friday I participated in the local chili cook off. I had a lot of fun making the chili. I made it up the night before, and brought in my slow cooker to work. I turned it on low around lunch time, and by 5pm it was ready to go. I think everyone in my office hated me - although many showed up at the cook off to try the chili, so maybe that earned me a few votes.

I didn't win, but I made a decent showing with seven votes (there were nine chili dishes and a crowd of about two dozen). My bosses bosses boss (the BIG boss) wound up winning the cook off with his spicy chili which I thought was pretty good.

Here's the recipe I used with a few local substitutions for the specialty chili peppers that were definitely not available on the local economy. I can't claim ownership of this recipe: it was the blue ribbon winner of the 27th annual World's Chili Championship. Google for recipe for detailed cooking instructions if you want to give it a try.

Puppy's breath chili recipe

	pounds	Tri-tip beef or sirloin tip; cut in small pieces or ground coarse
2	teaspoon	Cooking oil
1	small	Yellow onion
1	can	(14.5-oz) beef broth
3 ½	tablespoon	Ground cumin
½	teaspoon	Oregeno
6		Cloves garlic; finely chopped
3	tablespoon	Gebhardt chili powder
1	tablespoon	New Mexico mild chile powder (up to)
6	tablespoon	California chile powder
1	can	(8-oz) tomato sauce
1		Dried New Mexico chile; boiled and pureed
3		Dried California chiles; boiled and pureed
1	can	(14.5-oz) chicken broth
1	teaspoon	Tabasco pepper sauce
1	teaspoon	Brown sugar
1		Lime
1	dash	Msg
		Salt to taste

I also wanted to announce that my other blog, Costume Diva, is once again being updated. I hadn't been able to attach any photos to my blog for the last several months, which doesn't make for interesting reading on a sewing blog. The new version of blogger has corrected this problem, so you'll find several new posts about my latest project.