Pulled Chuck Chili

[Preacher Man]

We had our annual New Year's Eve Chili Cook-Off at church tonight. I had 2 lbs of smoked chuck leftover from my chuck tacos, so I decided to use that in my chili.

My 8 year old heard the word "competition" and wanted in. She's insanely competitive and started working on a recipe about 3 months ago all on her own.

We're chili purists at this house in the style of Texas. Beef and chiles. No beans. No tomatoes. Just a delicious bowl of red.


All of these Montanans scoffed at our "Texas Chili Puritanism". To make a long story short, I took 1st and my 8 year old took 2nd.

 

[chilerelleno]

Nice!

 

[dcecil]

That’s awesome, congrats

 

[bmudd14474]

Thats awesome. Great job

 

[gmc2003]

Way to go.

Chris

 

[SmokinAl]

Congrats!
The chili looks delicious!
Al

 

[Winterrider]

Looks like something i would totally enjoy. Congrats on placing 1&2

 

[okiefisher]

Looks like something i would totally enjoy. Congrats on placing 1&2

Looks amazing! I too like it without the beans. Now all you need to do is share your recipe.

 

[zwiller]

LIKE. Totally doing some red when I finally do brisket. Even if you don't post the actual recipe some pointers would be cool.

 

[Dafish13]

Outstanding. Congrats from down in the Lone Star state!

 

[Bearcarver]

Nice Job Preacher Man!!!
I'd be all over that Chili.
Kinda hard to do better than 1st and 2nd !!
Like.

Bear

 

[disco]

The chili sounds great but the Like is for cooking with your daughter! Some of my favourite memories are doing things with my parents!

 

[redheelerdog]

Greetings from East of the Rockies.

That Chile looks absolutely delicious!

The results tell all! Boom!

Nice pic with your daughter.

 

[noboundaries]

My wife and are are both under the weather today (and it ain't from partying). This story made us both LOL with my Texan wife giving me a high five for sharing your story. A great big LIKE!

 

[Preacher Man]

LIKE. Totally doing some red when I finally do brisket. Even if you don't post the actual recipe some pointers would be cool.

I'm usually one to share everything...but for some reason I'm wanting to hold this one back.

My daughter and I cooked from two different bases. She decided she wanted to use fresh peppers and put them in a food processor to make a paste and build from that. I built straight from powdered spices. I've never done it like her, but in her research that's what she wanted to do and over the course of the last 3 months we have wore out every grocery store looking for all the different available peppers and tried each one out 'til she settled on what she liked.

If you go the fresh route, remember that a little bit of a chile can go a long way, depending on the taste and heat. Add slowly, and make sure you use enough salt to bring out those flavors. Sweat your paste really good in a pan before adding your meat and liquid.

If you go the spice route, make sure that you give your chili long enough to simmer in the spices, or else you'll get the bitterness of fresh spices that haven't had time to meld. Also, I use specific chili powders (as in ground up dehydrated peppers), not just a "chili powder" mix.

 

[Preacher Man]

The chili sounds great but the Like is for cooking with your daughter! Some of my favourite memories are doing things with my parents!

Thanks! I didn't cook much with my parents, but my grandmother and I cooked together all the stinkin' time. They, too, are some of my most precious memories from my childhood. She also worked with me in the 4-H Food Shows and taught me tons about cooking that I still use today.

I figure I got one shot at this dad business, and I'm giving it all I've got.

 

[hardcookin]

Good job!! Great team work.

 

[jcam222]

Love that you cook with you daughter!! I haves loved cooking throughout my life based on cooking with my grandmother as a child. Cooking is a joy.

 

[Bigtank]

Fantastic kudos to the young chef.

 

[uncle eddie]

Congrats twice! First for getting 1st place and second for making the headlines here. LIKE!

I do a lot of chili cook-offs. One of the most important things AFTER the taste of the chili is how does it look?
Yours presents very well - something different and well balanced! Kudos!

The real test after the winner is picked by the - ahem - judges is which chili runs out first...that is essentially the 1st runner up and will be obligated to step forward should the winner not be able to fulfill their chili title obligations :-)