The heated battle for top chili chef of Virginia
Cary Bass | Wikimedia Commons
The 32nd Annual Virgina State Championship Chili Cook-off is Saturday morning at the Railside Plaza on Salem Avenue. Gates open at 11.
It’s a fundraiser for Greenvale School, and the top prize is a cool $1,000 and entry into the World’s Championship Chili Cookoff in Manchester, N.H. in October.
Yours truly, who in recent years has waxed poetic about that other “chile” they serve at the Texas Tavern, will be one of the judges.
It’s a great event that’s a lot of fun and indeed has some awesome chili.
See you there!
May 6, 2011 - 5:03 PM
Sorry I can’t attend the Chili Cookoff. However, I am considering getting a pizza from this place. See link below.
http://www.rollingstonebaker.com/
Ron, I like the description of the Purple Pig Pizza: BBQ Pulled Pork, 5 Cheese Blend, Sweet & Tangy Purple Slaw.
That sounds interesting … and delicious.
Dan,
That looked interesting. I just learned about this pizza truck today and have never had one of their pizzas. I am considering inviting to come to campus next fall for a pizza cookout for our students and staff.
I’m intrigued by the vintage fire truck that was built originally in South Bend, IN. The old fire truck is significant to this area because Studebaker was a South Bend company that employed thousands of people until it went belly up. They have just finished knocking down the last Studebaker building in South Bend within the last few weeks. It’s part of the industrial history of this part of Indiana.
Hope you have a great weekend.
I’m judging today, for the 3rd or 4th time. Not sure why I get asked back since after the first one I commented that the chili might have tasted better with beans. Doh!
Hope you enjoyed the judging Kristen!!
Ditto #5
Wish I hadn’t had a prior commitment.
Would like to have met you, as well as tried some of the chili.
BTW, did your judging score card look anything like this?
http://www.humorbin.com/showitem.asp?item=87
BTW2, what’s the cost to just try a few?
BTW3, You mentioned lack of beans in one, earlier.
At this “Annual Virgina State Championship Chili Cook-off” are most the entries “East Coast” style? Any true Texas Red? New Mexico or Colorado Green? Much in the way of bean variations? Much variety of meat, i.e., types such as Half-Smoke or Chorizo (or other pork), chicken, etc and/or style such as chunks vs. ground vs. pulled? Any cinnamon, cloves, allspice or chocolate highlights? Smokey chipotle, hatch chiles, serrano, guajilla, etc? etc. etc.
Once you catch your breath, please give us a report.
DaveH,
There were 50 entrants in the judged competition, and more than that on the lot. There were all different kinds of chili — ground beef, chunked beef, red, green, brown. Most of the stuff on the lot had beans in it (but not too many, properly). None of the judged stuff had beans. The flavors varied widely, from overly tomato to zip tomatoes, from overly cumin to the right amount of cumin. I tasted a couple of samples that had hints of clove and cinnamon, but not too much at all.
Kristen and I were red chili prelim judges. That meant we sampled the chile at a table in an office builidng. There were 10 styrofoam pots at the table, and each was numbered.
We judged 10, and other groups of judges in prelim judges others groups of 10. Each one of us listed a 1st, 2nd & 3rd on our judging forms. All of us wrote notes for each chili we tried. Points were awarded to each pot based on how many 1sts, 2nds and 3rds each pot got. Then there was another round of judging — the finals.
At our table, Kristen chose #27 as the best. That was my second best, and it was very good. I chose #33 as the best: large chunks of VERY tender beef, and a hard-to-believe complexity of flavors. #27 was very similar; the flavors weren’t quite so intense and the beef chunks were much smaller.
You can get in the fest for $5; that entitles you to all the chili you care to sample. Not all the chili is ready at the same time; some of the booths didn’t have their’s ready until almost 2 p.m. (the thing opened at 11 a.m.). Soft drinks/water is $1. There’s a bunch of bands. Beer is $4 for a 20-oz cup.
Zach and I rode our bikes up Mill Mountain before the fest, so we were hungry when we got there about 1. We did not leave hungry at all. The bike ride home was a hard one. I’d planned to cook dinner but skipped that.
You should go next year. The lines can be a little frustrating, as can the ready-not ready aspects, but overall it’s a great event, not at all a gouge, and you will probably never find so much good chili in one place.
Dan, one of the people I was with picked 33 as well. I think you might have picked the winner!
Ron, it’s always fun, but you feel such a weight of responsiblity after the woman running the show gives you your instructions. It’s very serious stuff.
The judging is very serious. They’ve got it organized on multiple tables and a bazillion plastic spoons and cups so there’s no double dipping. And with palate cleaners on the table, too. (You can also have soft drink or water during the judging). One of the palate cleansers are some high-quality tortilla chips.
The king hell palate cleanser is a wild one: They look like ordinary pineapple chunks. Actually, they’ve earlier been soaked in creme de menthe. Apparently this is the perfect palate cleanser for chili. It tastes like a chunk of pineapple that has gotten too ripe, and has begun fermenting.
DaveH, there’s also a “People’s Choice” competition that’s separate from the judging I did. That one is simple: Everybody gets a ballot at the gate and you mark you favorite on the ballot and drop it in the box before you leave. The booth with the most votes wins $100.
Anybody heard who the winners were?
#9 Dan, the Harley folks won both awards, I think.
The Harley chili was very good stuff.
My favorite was the Three Mile Chili. That stuff was awesome!
Dan, Kristen, Gdad
Thanks for the fine report.
Sounds like a blast.
I’ll have to keep an eye open for it next year.
I was there with my daughter and two of her friends (lucky me trying to herd three 9-year olds through downtown Roanoke, herding cats is probably easier). The Harley chili was hands-down our favorite.
This just in.
The danger if chili:
http://tinyurl.com/5r4eko8