1999 Terlingua International Chili Championship Winner

Greetings, all:

I'm very passionate about real Texas chili, and have collected many award-winning recipes. In honor of LisaDiane starting this cool blog, I will contribute the recipe that won the 1999 Terlingua International Chili Championship in Texas.

Terlingua is the Super Bowl (no pun intended) of chili cookoffs; to be invited, you have to accumulate a certain number of points in other national and international chili cookoffs. To learn more, check out http://www.chili.org/terlingua.html.

As you might imagine, this is not your garden variety, "throw some ingredients in a pot and let it simmer for a while" chili. Befitting this group, it is complex, requires hard work, dedication, and attention to detail, and success with it brings great reward--in the form of a great "bowl of red"!

This recipe involves three separate "dumps" of spices at specified time intervals. Remember, this is a competition chili recipe, designed to be made from scratch within a contest time limit. I would recommend making it and refrigerating it overnight, as difficult as that will be when it's done and your house smells so yummy.

To make it exactly according to the recipe, you will actually have to order some spices from Texas (web sites below); you can find Sazon Goya in the Hispanic section at the grocery store. Truth be told, you can probably get away with substituting chili powder you already have on hand--your diners will forgive you when they taste the results, I'll betcha. However, if I know the "go the extra mile" spirit of this group, I imagine those chili folks in Texas will be sending some orders up here to the Old North State.

So, without further ado:

"Out O Site Chili, Too"
Bob Coats - Irving, Texas
1999 Terlingua International Chili Championship Winner

Gray 2-1/2 pounds of cubed beef chuck tender in 1 TBSP Crisco

Add
1 Can – Swanson’s Beef Broth
1/2 Can – Swanson’s Chicken Broth
1 - 8 oz Can - Hunts Tomato Sauce
Float 2 Serrano Peppers

Bring to a boil and add the following:

First Spices
2 TSP Granulated Onion
1/2 TSP Cayenne
2 TSP Wyler’s Beef Granules
1/4 TSP Salt
2 TSP Wyler’s Chicken Granules
1 TBSP Pendery's Fort Worth Light Chili Powder
2 TBSP Gunpowder Foods Texas Red Chili Powder
Cover and cook 1 hour - squeeze peppers and discard pulp

Second Spices
2 TSP Pendery's Ground Cumin
2 TSP Granulated Garlic
1/4 TSP Gunpowder Foods Hot Stuff
2 TBSP Gebhardt Chili Powder
1 TBSP Pendery's Fort Worth Light Chili Powder
1 Packet Sazon Goya
Adjust liquid with remainder of chicken broth, if necessary
Cover and cook 30 minutes

Third Spices
1 TBSP Gebhardt Chili Powder
1 TSP Pendery's Ground Cumin
1/4 TSP Granulated Garlic
1/4 TSP Cayenne
1/4 TSP Brown Sugar
Reduce heat to a slow boil; cook 10 minutes
Adjust Salt, Cayenne, and Gebhardt Chili Powder to taste

Gunpowder Spices - 1-800-PEPPERS - Website: http://www.bigbruce.com
Pendery's Spices - 1-800-533-1870 - Website: http://www.penderys.com