well, i didn't win, but it was close. i wouldn't call it a proper cook-off, as there was not a panel of judges. to me a cook-off has an odd-numbered panel of judges. this was a popularity contest, in my book. my dept manager's team won it. everyone that bought my chili said it was real good. one guy (george) bought 2 bowls, giving me $1 extra. it was $3.00 for a bowl and a drink, with each adintional bowl $1, from the same person. if you went to someone else and bought a bowl, it was another $3.00. george gave me a $5 and said i want one bowl, then a re-fill.
one guy bought a bowl from 7 of the teams. the one team he didn't get to buy from sold all of their chili to their first customer, a "brother-in-law" type deal. a guy (steve) is in charge of any and all contractors that work in the building. he asked team #1, "how much for the whole lot?" the guy says, "$100". steve throws down a c-note and says bring it to the back, and gave it to the contractors working back there for lunch. steve used to be the boss of that guy. i thought that was kinda crappy. so did the guy at the table next to me. then there was another guy, dolan. he is the one that enters any cook-off he can. everyone of his buddies promised to buy a bowl from him, even though i told one of them about the cook-off before dolan did.
all in all it was good though. i got alot of compliments about just the aroma my chili had. here is a pic of the chili after i transferred it to my crock-pot. it tasted really good too. you know i had to sample it first. the only ingredient i didn't have was the green chili powder.
josh, you linked to the recipe, thanks. i didn't think to do it, as i figured everyone had seen the recipe already. i spent $40 buying everything for it. the wife and i spent the better part of last night making it. i went to bed at 0530 this morning, getting up at 0930 to finish and take it to the plant. i will be making this recipe again. it was not really spicy hot, even thought i put 2 tablespoons of cayenne pepper in it, instead of 2 teaspoons.