Text 9995, 138 rader
Skriven 2014-02-16 20:46:30 av Ruth Haffly (1:396/45.28)
   Kommentar till text 9941 av Nancy Backus (1:261/1381.0)
Ärende: chili cookoff  was: yogurt
==================================
Hi Nancy,

 RH> It's all in fun anyway. The first couple of times I entered, I came in
 RH> 2nd to the youth pastor who made one similar to mine, but hotter. I
 RH> went with the other style the 3rd year (as well as the usual) and won,
 RH> then we weren't here for last year's contest. I understand a mild chili
 RH> took top honors then--sounds like the judges are getting less and less
 RH> fond of heat. (G)

 NB> Could be.  :)  And it also depends on who the judges are, and what
 NB> they are looking for... and as you say, it's all in fun anyway...  :)

Yes, and a chance for folks to socialise while a football game is on as
background noise. There are a few serious watchers, but not many.


 RH> My mom never served it with anything but bread, to help stretch it.

 NB> I often serve it with cornbread, just because I like the way the
 NB> tastes go together, and to augment the veggie protein when there's
 NB> beans in the chili...  ;)

I used to serve it with cornbread too, until we figured out that corn
gives Steve problems. But it seems to be such a natural side item for
chili.


 RH> She also made it very mild because Dad doesn't like hot & spicy. I
 RH> started playing around with her basic recipe, as well as that of my
 RH> MIL, to come up with our family friendly version. When I take it
 RH> somewhere, I'll set out cheese with it, as well as an assortment of
 RH> pepper powders and sauces for folks to heat up or cool off their chili.
 RH> (That came from making it a bit too hot once in AZ.)

 NB> Makes sense... people can have their portions to suit their own
 NB> tastes, with a basic chili for starters...  :)

Exactly! Had a jar lableled "Hab" (for habenero powder) at one
gathering, friend thought it was "Hot" and was generous in his use of
it. Yes, it was hot, hotter than he expected. (G)



 RH> Found a Mr. Food recipe for the competition style while we were in
 RH> HI and started experimenting; we like both chilis now.

 NB> And that's the one you'd likely enter into a proper chili competition.

Yes, but I don't follow the recipe exactly any more. (G)



 NB>  RH>> There were maybe a dozen different chilis in the competition; I
 NB>  RH>> think I was the only one to do 2. That was partly to ensure
 NB> there  RH>> would be enough chili for all who came.
 NB>  NB>> And so that you could go all out on the one, and still have
 NB> something  NB>> for those who couldn't appreciate the heat... ;)

 RH> Exactly! Actually, I have Steve do the seasoning as he is better able
 RH> to "layer" the levels of what's used. I can tell if it's a one note and
 RH> gone or a lingering thruout the mouth type of heat but he's better
 RH> about getting it "just right", overall.

 NB> Team work...  I'm sure you've picked up some bits from his expertise
 NB> over the years, though... :)

Several different types of peppers, cumin as a moderator and have a heat
that is more than one note and gone. He likes to have a flavor that
starts in the front of the mouth, goes all the way to the back and down,
but not burning hot on the way down.


 RH> Tho the other night when I made deconstructed fajitas & found out we
 RH> were out of the commercial fajita seasoning, I mixed up up a reasonable
 RH> sub. Used a bit of medium ground sea salt, fresh ground black pepper,
 RH> dried chipotle and ancho powders, mexican cinnamon and oregano & a bit
 RH> of orange peel--used on boneless, skinless white chicken, orange bell
 RH> peppers and yellow onions. Cooked & served over long grain brown rice
 RH> with a bit of sour cream and habenero sauce, no left overs.

 NB> As I said...  :)  As it was just for your consumption, you could just
 NB> punt and hope it worked... and it did just fine...  :)   Sounds quite
 NB> tasty...  :)

It was; I used about a teaspoon of salt, then the other ingredients
added up to maybe a couple more teaspoons by just doing a pinch of this,
shake or two of that. No one flavor stood out but a nice, overall taste.


 NB>  RH>> Desserts ranged from Steve's tropical trifle to banana pudding
 NB> to a  RH>> blueberry pound cake (and others).  Overall, nothing too
 NB> fancy in that  RH>> line (except the trifle) because we have a dessert
 NB> auction later in  RH>> the year.
 NB>  NB>> So one doesn't want to outdo one's self yet...  :)

 RH> Not yet; I've got to figure out what I'll do; Steve is already
 RH> planning another trifle.

 NB> That appears to be one of his specialties...?   Our pastor's wife
 NB> sometimes has made a trifle for church dinners... he's been known to
 NB> bake pies... both are good cooks...  :)

Our preaching pastor doesn't cook but his wife is a good cook. She's
used the church's trifle bowl for a layered dessert several times so we
bought one; that way there's no competition for the bowl--at least on
our part.


 NB>  RH>>> and they had no idea what kalamatas are. One said she didn't
 NB>  RH>>> like black olives; I told her that these are nothing like black
 NB>  RH>>> olives. (G)
 NB>  NB>>> After all, they're purplish olives... (G)   Oh, and taste
 NB>  NB>>> different, too...  ;)
 NB>  RH>> True, and true. Much better tasting than black olives but
 NB> probably a  RH>> taste not everybody enjoys.
 NB>  NB>> Some might have to develop a taste for them...  :)

 RH> Possibly, but I wouldn't bet too heavily on it.

 NB> If one doesn't like black olives, there's a good chance that they'd
 NB> find the kalamata better, depending on what isn't liked about the
 NB> black.. of course, probably also an even chance that the kalamata
 NB> would seem to
 NB> have too strong a taste for them, too...  ;)

I suspect they might be a bit strong for some of the folks, others would
enjoy them.

---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


... Are you sure you really want to know that?

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