Judging the Texas Nectar

My family, like most, flies by the seat of our pants and most of our well laid plans are to the wayside as soon as we make them.  That’s why I make it a point to make a few “musts” each year. You know, honor some family traditions if you will. If you’ve read my blog before, you can see the yearly blueberry trip, the BBQ cookoff (which is coming up again soon), the Texas State Fair, and this yearly trip to Kappa Beta’s Annual Chili Cook-Off. (Sign below). 

 

The Welcome Wagon

This group of lovely ladies set up another fun event this year to benefit the Susan G. Komen charity, you know the one that is trying to help find the cure for breast cancer. You can read more on their website. http://ww5.komen.org/ . A great event for a great cause.

 

Well enough of the promotional stuff, let’s get to talking about the fun stuff. If you ever get the chance to be a judge at a chili cookoff, jump at the opportunity. It is a fun experience and these Kappa Betatonians have made this chili judging into a fun-filled and memorable experience. That is why I come back each year to be a part of it. Don't tell them this but personally, I feel I should be paying them to have a seat at the table.

 

Some of the chefs hard at work .

Or hardly working. I don't know.

  First things first. There are rules to being a judge. I won’t bore you will all the rules but here are a few:

1. You can’t talk to other judges about the chili itself (though a certain person at my table felt it necessary to interject from time to time).  

   

   One of these guys was Talkie McTalkerson... Can you figure out who?

2. You have to cleanse your palate in between each chili. This was made so much more enjoyable with the endless (well for me anyway) supply of beer these ladies provided and the cheese/veggie/cracker tray that was well prepared with what I am sure was loving hands.

   

   The Volunteer Palate Cleaners

3. You need to base your judgement on the 5 fundamental truths of true Texas chili:
1. Aroma
2. Red Color
3. Consistency
4. Taste
5. Aftertaste

Of course all of this is objective according to your preferences.  I for one enjoy my chili with a nice paprika/slight cumin and beef scent, with a deep red and amber hue, with a smooth consistency but with slight chunks (imagine home made mashed potatoes), a salty sweet forefront with a beefy but well seasoned mid palate and a smooth but strong chili bite on the finish, and I want the finish to last but the salt to dissipate.

4. You score the chili from 1-10 and each chili is scored on its own merit and not compared to other chilies you have tried.
5. You can have as many spoons of chili out of the same chili to judge as long as you use a new spoon. Also keep in mind that there needs to be chili left for other people to judge it too.

The Rules as Stated in Article....

Now that the rules are out of the way, there a few inside tricks that big eaters like myself should know. Get to the judging early. You might get the chance to judge the beans too! They have a bean-off prior to the chili cook-off and if you know the right people and have the room to store that amount of food, you can taste some of the beans. I wasn’t fortunate enough this year to judge beans. Last year I was and it was sure good eating.  I guess I saved some calories... 

If you have a small appetite and there are lots of chilies to judge, you want one of the preliminary tables to judge. For big eaters like me, you want the grand daddy final table. The best of the best chilies make it to the final table and you get more to judge (in most cases). In this case, I believe there were 21 chilies at the glorious final table. Yay me!

 

As I sat down at the final table this year, my lovely wife (who I have started to drag with me to the judgings) was sitting pretty on my right, some co-workers and friends around me, and a plate of palate cleaners and cups of beer right before me. This must be how utopia greets it patrons because you couldn’t wipe that smile on my face even if you wanted to. 

The fixin's as I call em.

One of many piles I needed to use.

My beer and the tickets that produced it.

Well, I loaded up my napkin with tasty treats and downed my first beer to get myself in the mood.  Out came the chili! The 1st cup is always the toughest to me.  I try to figure out how tough I am going to be. How strict I will be judging. My criteria for all the fundamental truths are for the day and such. First bite was a 5. For sure. It wasn’t great. It wasn’t bad either. The look of it was red in color but a crimson color with a light brown. The taste was really briny and salty on the front. Too much to be enjoyable and the spice that invaded my tongue in the background was almost a passing thought. The aftertaste was bitter and tasted as if some of the spices were thrown in to finish the chili instead of being cooked in. Not my cup of tea.

My first cup to judge.

Been judging her for a while now. I'm thinking an 8 due to the lack of red hue. She's definitely spicy enough though.

An inside look at what I was privy to.

 

The tasting went on as such with some really memorable highs and one really disgusting low. So terrible was one tasting that I wanted to know what the other judges where thinking at the time they rated this cup because there is no way it should be at the final table. Picture Chef Boyardee meets Wolfe Brand. Yes, it tasted about like that. Others were trying to be creative but failed with a one having tasted as if it was using one of those salt packets that's included in Ramen Noodles.  The king tasting for me was sweet lucky number 13. The perfect 10. Colored the way good chili should be colored, complex flavors in the front, really beefy and smooth with a little chew and the pow punch of real spice at the back that waters your mouth and tingles your face but not too much to make you sweat. A beautiful cup of chili right there. I had three spoons of it, not that I wasn’t sure of its greatness but because I just couldn’t help myself.

 

Usually with about 10 chilies to go, I gage my level of fullness to see how many spoons of the remaining chilies I want to eat. Yes, I plan on making myself miserable. This is also when my wife next to me looks like she will need to be wheeled out of her on account of her fullness. Lightweight. I start doubling up on my tastings unless it’s really bad or really good chili and I will up or bring down my intake accordingly.

 

This year I had only 1 perfect 10 and two high quality 9’s on my list. The rest of them were really ho hum and nothing noteworthy but I was happy, relaxed, and stuffed so what more could I ask. I want to thank Kappa Beta for allowing me the honor of being one of the judges again this year and I hope they keep up their great work in supporting the Susan G Komen foundation. I have the pleasure of working with some of these great women and I couldn’t ask for better people to spend my day with. I hope this entry has some of you itching to judge some chili. Just remember to come hungry, have fun, and take your time to enjoy it. If you come to the Kappa Beta cook-off though, my seat is taken. Find 

your own. 

These are random pics of the fun. I didn't stick around this year to hear the winners. We had to get back to our kids before grandma put them out on the curb.

The Mrs. with some random work guy and his lady.

Being seated.

Getting served.

The Recipe for the blog:

 The Bacon Wrapped Pineapple Spear

My recipe this time is simple. Bacon wrapped pineapple spears. It is as easy as it sounds. I take some pineapple spears and run a skewer through it. Then I wrap bacon on it and grill it. Nothing else is needed seasoning wise or anything wise. The pineapple is sweet and caramelized and the bacon is well bacon greatness. Here's a wrapped pic. None ever made it to the final product pic since they are that good. Enjoy. 

If you ever try any recipe I suggest. This is THE one to try. Simple and great.