Come and Get It
The votes haven't been counted yet, but this year's NetShops chili cook-off was a smash hit across the taste buds. Considering the logistics involved in preparing, transporting, and heating chili to optimum contest temperatures, 13 teeming crock pots is a very respectable turnout.
Entries in traditional, non-traditional, and spicy categories were judged according to aroma, flavor, consistency, and heat. The traditional chilies combined robust smokiness from meat and chili peppers, sweet tanginess from tomatoes and onions, and a balanced succulence from slow, patient cooking. Non-traditional entries showcased exotic flavors such as stout beer, rosé wine, dark chocolate, zucchini, garbanzo beans, and venison, just to name a few. Spicy entries sent some judges outdoors for mouthfuls of snow.
We'll have to wait a little longer to find out who will be decorated with the prestigious NetShops chili-pepper leis. But somehow I think the real winners, lingering over every bite and enthusiastically going back for seconds and thirds, were the judges themselves.
The best part is that there were plenty of samples to go around. No one walked away cool-mouthed and empty-handed. Now it's just a matter of coaxing our judges back inside to tally the ballots.