“There’s one guy who’s pretty proud of his chili. He usually places each year.”
On Super Bowl Sunday, February 12th, the local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post just off Route 66 in Sapulpa was holding its annual chili cook-off event. Lined up on the table near the door were six steaming crock pots keeping their contents simmering.
The Post Commander, whose name is Mark, said the chili cook-off has been happening for “a number of years,” and has become a point of pride for several contestants. Whereas most of the attendees just wanted to enjoy some great chili, the contestants themselves put together customized recipes—or utilized a long-held family recipe—to craft the best chili they could, in hopes that they’d win one of the three trophies handed out by the Post Commander.
The judges, Joel and Rhonda Carson, proprietors of local restaurant Boss Hawg BBQ, were joined by a third judge (yours truly!) to taste the delights and try to suss out the winners from what turned out to be a number of great chili bowls.
Shortly before the contest got underway, a seventh contestant made their way into the room, heating up the contest even more, so to speak.
Though it was the first time for the Carsons to judge a chili contest, they had judged plenty of BBQ competitions in the past and knew what to look for regarding the best pot of chili. They brought in sheets that broke down the scoring to five categories: appearance, aroma, consistency, flavor, and finish. Each category was ranked from one to five, with five being the highest, and the points would be calculated to arrive at the top three—hopefully.
About half of the seven contestants scored top marks on appearance, depending on the judge. Attributes like color, variety and general appeal were noted. The chilis that scored highest on this category generally had a combination of peppers in addition to the expected meat and beans.
Consistency was another important topic that varied somewhat according to a number of factors.
“This one, you can tell he’s experienced,” Joel Carson said. “The way the chili kind of crumbles, it means that he’s been cooking it for a while, maybe more than a couple of days. He takes it seriously.” The judges agreed that this might be the contestant the Post Commander was referring to who was “pretty proud of his chili.”
The most surprising thing to note about each chili was what the Carsons call the “finish.”
Chili, by its very creation, tends to be a greasy product, but done right, it can be tasty without leaving too much of a greasy film in the mouth of the person eating it. Generally, a greasy finish or aftertaste will cost a contestant points in a competition like this one, the Carsons say.
Each of the contestants brought their own strengths to the competition, some choosing new and interesting blends (we caught a hint of brown sugar and indian curry in one dish), or down home staples that couldn’t be described any other way than “traditional.”
Surprisingly, the one who took the biggest trophy and came out on top was entering a chili contest for the first time.
Wanda Cumbey won the contest with her combination of good peppers and a well-done “gravy”—that is, the liquid sauce of the chili that settles at the bottom of the bowl; she said she’s never entered a contest before, but said her secret was “homemade spices. And you need to build a good base for it, before you start adding too much other stuff.”
Second place went to David Farley, who told the Sapulpa Herald that he had used an old family recipe and generally went by a philosophy of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
“It was my grandmother’s recipe that I use, both my sisters use. Occasionally, we’ll put in jalapenos or something, but nothing crazy. It’s a good traditional chili,” Farley said.
Third place went to one of the more innovative chilis—a strong tomato base with a lot of color and variety in the beans and meat.
Earl VanSandt, the third-place winner, says he bought all his spices fresh, and used special “mexican spices,” to get the chili taste. Among the large tomato chunks, peppers and onions was his secret ingredient: “I always use venison in my chili,” he said, “and 80/20 ground beef. Makes it really good.”
The Carsons were grateful for the opportunity, and said that all the chilis had their strengths, as he addressed the crowd of contestants and hungry patrons “It was tough a tough call to make.”
