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Chili -- Cooking and Competing

A very complex topic... 

The first chili cookoff was held in Terlingua, Texas in 1967.  Since then, it's been held continuously, with a lot of interesting developments.  The early days involved luminaries such as Carol Shelby, H. Allen Smith, and Wick Fowler.  This history is recounted in the interesting book. A Bowl of Red  The book doesn't tell you that chili lovers, (called "Chili-heads") divided into two different camps.  It also does NOT contain recipes.

At the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, I competed (six times) in cook-offs sponsored by ICS -- the International Chili Society.   The cookoff I just entered in Tombstone was sponsored b CASI --  The Chili Appreciation Society, International.  which has over 500 cook-offs a year.  ICS has 200. Each of them talks as tho they were the only group of Chili-heads in the world.   The CASI entry in Wiki mentions ICS briefly but ICS doesn't have a wiki entry!  The discussion on that page is virtually non-existent. .

As well as I can tell, some of the contestants thought the championship ought to be moved around.  Terlingua was originally a ghost town.  It has grown considerably since 1967, but is still a pretty dreary place for an international event of this importance.  <snark>  So, ICS was formed about ??.

The differences in recipes are interesting   (more later)

Some Cookbooks:

 Chili Nation This cookbook has a chili recipe from each state.  Interesting, because of the similarities and differences between regions.  Some interesting techniques for preparation at the beginning of the book. 

 Chili-Lover's Cook Book: Chili Recipes and Recipes With Chiles (Cookbooks and Restaurant Guides)  This book has many recipes from all over, and it has a lot of recipes that use peppers.  The recipes are a little more varied than the previous book.  And it's cheaper!

My Chili experiences and Recipes are recounted here.  

 

 

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