Glossary
The vocabulary.
70 terms used by competition cooks, judges, parlor counters and chile growers, defined from the record.
B
- Back biteKitchen
The heat that arrives a few seconds after swallowing, usually from cayenne. The term pairs with up-front bite.
Raven describes cayenne as having a back bite, meaning it takes a few seconds before it registers. CASI’s fifth judging criterion, aftertaste, asks that chili leave a pleasant taste after swallowing.
See Up-front biteSee Judging criteriaSource 1Source 2Source 3
- Blind judgingCompetition
Judging in which the judges do not know whose chili they are tasting. Both CASI and the ICS judge competition chili blind.
CASI’s history credits Dr. Carl Jaks, a professor at Texas Lutheran College, with developing the blind judging system, first used at Chilympiad and later adopted by the CASI pods. Earlier, according to John Raven, judges visited each cook’s site, and cooks tried to win them over with treats and talk. Under current CASI rules, cups are mixed at random and renumbered at each level of judging, and discussing chili at the table is not permitted. ICS rules forbid judges from entering cooking areas and bar talking, faces or gestures that might sway another judge.
See Secret ticketSee ChilympiadSee Table monitorSee Final tableSource 1Source 2Source 3Source 4
- BlisteringChile
Roasting green chile over high heat until the skin puffs and separates from the flesh, so that it can be peeled.
NMSU Guide E-324 calls peeling the most important step in processing green chile, because the skin is hard to chew and digest. It gives oven, broiler, stovetop and grill methods at 400 to 450°F for six to eight minutes, turning often.
- Bowl of redHistory
A name for a serving of Texas chili. Frank X. Tolbert used it as the title of his 1962 book on chili con carne.
DeWitt and Gerlach list bowl o' red as a slang name for chili. The Handbook of Texas calls A Bowl of Red Tolbert’s most popular work.
C
- Carne adovadaChile
Pork long braised or baked in red chile sauce, a New Mexico specialty.
The James Beard Foundation called it perhaps the most characteristic of New Mexico’s dishes when it honored Albuquerque’s Mary & Tito’s Cafe in 2010. Recipes marinate the pork in red chile, garlic, oregano and vinegar or citrus. Wikipedia’s account, drawing on New Mexico cookbooks, says that before refrigeration the pork was fermented in red chile in a crock, which gave it a sour taste.
- CASIHistory
The Chili Appreciation Society International, a Texas nonprofit that sanctions chili cookoffs through its pods and runs the Terlingua International Chili Championship.
Its founding is told two ways. The Handbook of Texas says Frank X. Tolbert founded the society soon after A Bowl of Red appeared in 1962. CASI’s own history says a Chili Appreciation Society existed in some form from 1949 and credits George Haddaway as its founder. CASI was incorporated on 6 October 1979 and reorganized in 1983.
See PodSee Great PepperSee TICC (Terlingua International Chili Championship)See ICSSource 1Source 2Source 3
- CASI refereeCompetition
The CASI official who must be on site for a cookoff to be sanctioned. The referee observes and interprets the rules but is not required to run the event.
The referee may be a Regional or Area Referee, a Great Pepper or an authorized representative. Duties include attending the cooks' registration and meeting, reporting infractions to CASI in writing, signing the results sheet and sending results, entry lists and fees to CASI within thirty days.
- Chile and chiliChile
Chile is the Capsicum plant and its fruit. Chili is the dish.
The Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University draws the line this way. Its glossary defines chili as a dish of chile powder, beans, tomato and ground beef, a definition that would fail CASI’s no-beans rule.
See Chile powderSee Chili con carneSee Pod typeSource 1Source 2
- Chile powderKitchen
Ground dried chile with nothing added. The spelling follows the Chile Pepper Institute’s use of chile for the pepper itself.
Raven advises that any brand of chile powder varies from batch to batch with growing conditions, and that serious cooks who find a good batch buy a lot and freeze it. Patricia Mitchell’s Texas Cooking method for a homemade blend toasts ancho, New Mexico and árbol pods in the oven and grinds them in a blender before adding cumin, garlic and oregano.
- Chili con carneHistory
Chili with meat: the stew of beef and red chile that Texas named its state dish in 1977. The shorter name chili comes from it.
DeWitt and Gerlach note that a bowl o' red was available at the San Antonio Chili Stand at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago.
- Chili gravyHistory
The sauce of old-fashioned Tex-Mex enchiladas. Robb Walsh described it as a cross between Anglo brown gravy and Mexican chili sauce.
Walsh, quoted by Barry Popik from The Tex-Mex Cookbook (2004), says it was invented in Anglo-owned Mexican restaurants such as the Original. Popik’s newspaper search finds “chile gravy” in the Dallas Morning News in May 1896 and “chili gravy” for enchilada sauce in the Chicago Daily Tribune that July.
- Chili grindKitchen
Coarsely ground beef sold for chili. CASI’s guidelines tell cooks to bring meat that is either hand cut or chili grind.
Wick Fowler’s recipe from the first Terlingua cook-off, as printed by John Raven, calls for three pounds of chili-grind beef, mostly lean. Raven describes eatin' chili meat as chunks or meat put through the coarse blade of a grinder, and wrote in 1998 that competition meat was diced into cubes about three-eighths of an inch. Tom Dozier’s 2018 and Greg Lindsey’s 2025 championship recipes start from ground beef. The ICS gives no preference to cut, ground, shredded or cubed meat.
See GrayingSee Traditional RedSource 1Source 2Source 3Source 4Source 5Source 6
- Chili macParlor
Chili con carne with macaroni, often topped with or mixed with cheese.
It has long been a staple of American military dining and joined the MRE field ration menu in 1995. Near Joplin, Missouri, a chili-topped spaghetti goes by spaghetti red. DeWitt and Gerlach apply the name chili-mac to Cincinnati chili over spaghetti.
- Chili parlorParlor
A restaurant that specializes in chili. DeWitt and Gerlach date the first Cincinnati parlor, the Empress, to 1922, noting that some say 1923.
In Springfield, Illinois, the Dew Chilli Parlor opened in 1909.
- Chili powderKitchen
A blend of ground dried chile with other spices, usually cumin, oregano and garlic. Most bottles sold as chili powder are blends.
John Raven: what most people call chili powder is a chili blend, and serious cooks seek out pure chile powder so they can control the other seasonings. Who made the first packaged blend is disputed. DeWitt and Gerlach report that some historians credit DeWitt Clinton Pendery of Fort Worth, who sold Chiltomaline powder in the early 1890s, while others credit William Gebhardt of New Braunfels, said to have produced the first packaged chili powder in 1894. Competition cooks today blend several named commercial powders across their dumps.
See Chile powderSee DumpSee Granulated and powderedSource 1Source 2Source 3Source 4
- Chili queensHistory
The women, most of them young and Hispanic, who sold chili con carne and other dishes from open-air stands in San Antonio’s plazas from dusk to dawn.
Frank W. Jennings places their tables on Military Plaza until City Hall was built there in 1889, then at Haymarket Plaza and Milam Park after the Municipal Market House opened in 1900. Their end is dated two ways: DeWitt and Gerlach say they were banned in 1937 for health reasons, while Jennings says the health department closed the stands for good in the early 1940s over their dishwashing.
See Chili con carneSee State dishSee Chili gravySource 1Source 2
- Chili VerdeCompetition
The ICS category for meat cooked with green chili peppers, spices and other ingredients, with no beans or non-vegetable fillers.
The ICS history dates the first Chili Verde category at its World Championship to 1999.
- Chili yearCompetition
CASI’s competition season, running from 1 October to midnight on 30 September. Points earned in it count toward the following November’s Terlingua championship.
The ICS runs its own season for World Championship qualification; its 2025–26 rules counted qualifying victories from 1 July 2024 through 30 June 2025 for the 58th World Championship.
See PointsSee QualifyingSee TICC (Terlingua International Chili Championship)Source 1Source 2
- ChiliheadCompetition
A devoted chili cook or follower. CASI’s rulebook describes its membership as chiliheads from around the world.
John Raven writes that the early cook-off cooks came to be known as chili heads and spent the day entertaining the public, which grew into showmanship.
- ChilliParlor
The double-L spelling used in Springfield, Illinois. The Sangamon County Historical Society credits the Dew Chilli Parlor, opened in 1909, with making it local.
The same history notes that many prepared-chili makers used the two-L spelling earlier. John Raven, who met Joe DeFrates of Illinois at Terlingua in 1974, notes that DeFrates’s Chilli Man company sold canned chilli and chilli mix, and calls his recipe the shortest and simplest in Terlingua history.
- ChiltepínChile
A wild chile with small, usually round pods, also called bird pepper. Texas named it the official State Native Pepper in 1997.
The Chile Pepper Institute classes it as a wild variety of piquín. The Texas resolution, H.C.R. 82 of the 75th Legislature, calls the chiltepín the state’s only native pepper and ideal for red-hot Texas chili, and notes the Spanish word arrebatado for heat that is immediate and intense but does not linger.
- ChilympiadCompetition
The San Marcos, Texas, cook-off that began in 1970 as a fundraiser and by 1980 was, in John Raven’s account, the biggest in the world, with more than 500 contestants.
Raven calls the first San Marcos event, a fundraiser for the town’s main tourist attraction, the first modern-style chili cook-off held away from Terlingua. CASI’s history says the blind judging system was first used at Chilympiad.
- ChristmasChile
An order of both red and green chile on the same plate. A 2007 amendment made “red and green or christmas” New Mexico’s official state answer.
The fiscal impact report on House Bill 924 says the bill first proposed the single word christmas, and a Senate floor amendment changed it to “red and green or christmas.” Barry Popik’s earliest citation for the restaurant usage is a 1989 New York Times article in which the food historian Sam Arnold advises asking for Christmas to get both; Popik writes that it appears to have started in Santa Fe.
- CominoKitchen
Cumin seed. John Raven writes that cumin is simply ground comino seed, and that most cooks prefer the ground spice.
Raven recommends toasting the seeds in a heavy skillet and grinding them, and calls cumin the spice that gives chili its distinctive aroma. Julian Capers’s second-place recipe at the 1952 State Fair of Texas called for two tablespoons of ground comino.
- Coney sauceParlor
A fine meat sauce made to top a hot dog. Detroit’s is a beanless chili sauce; Flint’s is a dry topping built on ground beef heart.
The Michigan coney adds one or two stripes of yellow mustard and chopped onion. Coney stands were opened, apparently independently, by European immigrant groups in the early 1900s; in Detroit many were run by Greek and Macedonian immigrants. In Cincinnati a coney is a hot dog topped with Cincinnati chili, mustard and onion.
- Cooks' meetingCompetition
The meeting held before cooking or turn-in at which officials explain the rules, judging criteria, schedule and turn-in time. CASI calls it the head cooks' meeting.
CASI’s sample agenda has the head judge read the cooking rules, state the five judging criteria, hand out judging cups and secret tickets, and announce turn-in time and place. Its sample schedule places the meeting at 10 a.m. for a 2 p.m. turn-in. ICS rules require a contestant meeting no later than one hour before the competition cooking period starts, and a separate, mandatory judges' meeting at least thirty minutes before each cooking period ends.
D
- Double-ground spiceKitchen
Spice run through a grinder a second time for the finest possible particles. John Raven called it one of the secrets of competition chili.
Raven explains that the finer grind lets the spice release its flavor faster and more completely. He also describes cooks extracting cumin oil by toasting the seed, boiling it in distilled water and skimming the oil.
- DumpCompetition
A measured portion of spices added to a competition chili pot at a set time. Cooks divide their seasoning into several dumps and add them at intervals during the cook.
John Raven called the dump method one of the most favored techniques among cook-off contestants, and noted that flavorings such as garlic, which lose potency when overcooked, go in near the end. He described a cook-off as full of kitchen timers reminding cooks to add the next dump. The champions' recipes CASI publishes use two or three. Tom Dozier’s 2018 recipe and Greg Lindsey’s 2025 recipe each use two; Kathryn Cavender’s 2019 recipe uses three, timed at two hours, forty minutes and twenty minutes before turn-in.
See First dumpSee Second dumpSee Turn-inSee Chili powderSource 1Source 2Source 3Source 4
F
- Final tableCompetition
The last round of judging, where the chilis that survived earlier tables are scored to decide the winners.
CASI rules send at least half of each preliminary table forward and ask that the final table begin with no fewer than fourteen chilis and about twenty at most, judged by at least five and preferably ten or more judges who have not tasted chili that day and are not connected to any cook. Final-table ties are broken by drawing judging sheets at random. In ICS judging, the top five from each preliminary table move to a final table always lettered F, and ties are broken by a fresh panel of three judges.
See Blind judgingSee Judging criteriaSee Head cookSource 1Source 2
- First dumpCompetition
The opening spice addition in a competition chili, made when the meat goes into its cooking liquid. In the champions' recipes CASI publishes, it carries base chili powders, granulated onion, bouillon and some of the heat.
In Tom Dozier’s 2018 CASI championship recipe, the first dump goes in when the broth and tomato sauce come to a boil and includes granulated onion, beef and chicken-tomato bouillon, cayenne, garlic salt and two chili powders. Kathryn Cavender’s 2019 recipe adds her first dump two hours before turn-in. Greg Lindsey’s 2025 recipe puts onion granules, bouillon cubes, red jalapeño powder and two chili powders in the first dump, then cooks the meat in it for 45 minutes.
See DumpSee Second dumpSee Granulated and powderedSource 1Source 2Source 3
- Five-wayParlor
Spaghetti, Cincinnati chili, beans, onions and cheese.
- Floating a pepperKitchen
Simmering a whole fresh pepper in the pot for its heat and flavor, then squeezing it and taking it out before turn-in.
Kathryn Cavender’s 2019 CASI recipe calls for a serrano with holes poked in it, floated in the pot. Tom Dozier’s 2018 recipe squeezes the juice of two serranos into the pot before removing them, and Raven’s 1998 competition recipe does the same with a jalapeño. A pepper left floating in the judging cup is another matter: CASI treats it as an identifying object and disqualifies the cup.
See GarnishSee Judging cupSee First dumpSource 1Source 2Source 3Source 4
- Four-wayParlor
A three-way with either chopped onions or beans added. The diner names which: a four-way onion or a four-way bean.
DeWitt and Gerlach describe the four-way as adding onions only, with beans reserved for the five-way.
G
- GarnishCompetition
Any ingredient on top of a judging cup that is not also mixed through the chili. ICS rules ban garnishes and disqualify any bowl delivered with one.
The ICS rule of thumb: if an ingredient found on the top layer cannot also be found throughout the bowl, it is a garnish. CASI reaches the same end through its marked-cup rule, warning cooks against placing identifying objects such as floating jalapeños or bay leaves in the cup.
- Granulated and powderedKitchen
Two grinds of dehydrated garlic or onion. Both are made by drying and grinding; powder is very slightly finer.
America’s Test Kitchen describes garlic powder as having a negligibly finer texture than granulated garlic. CASI champions' recipes specify the form: Tom Dozier’s 2018 recipe uses granulated onion in the first dump and granulated garlic in the second, and Greg Lindsey’s 2025 recipe calls for onion and garlic granules. John Raven noted that because judges object to visible onion or garlic, some competition cooks favor the powders.
See First dumpSee Second dumpSee Chili powderSource 1Source 2Source 3Source 4
- GravyKitchen
The thickened liquid that binds competition chili. CASI’s guidelines define good consistency as a smooth combination of meat and gravy.
John Raven wrote that knowledgeable judges want to see nothing but meat and gravy in competition chili, and no red grease floating on top. Greg Lindsey’s 2025 championship recipe reminds the cook that the aim is gravy, not soup. The ICS asks for sauce neither too thin nor too thick, in balanced ratio to the meat.
See Judging criteriaSee Masa harinaSee Chili gravySource 1Source 2Source 3Source 4
- GrayingKitchen
Cooking chili meat only until it loses its raw color, without browning it. Older Texas recipes tell the cook to cook the meat until it is gray.
Wick Fowler’s recipe, as John Raven printed it, says to sear the meat until gray, and the competition recipe in John Raven’s 1998 comparison cooks meat in shortening until gray. Julian Capers’s 1952 State Fair recipe, by contrast, cooks the meat until browned. Recent CASI champions differ: Tom Dozier browns and drains his ground chuck, Kathryn Cavender browns hers in large chunks with the lid on, and Greg Lindsey simmers meatballs in broth and keeps them medium rare.
See Chili grindSee First dumpSource 1Source 2Source 3Source 4Source 5Source 6
- Great PepperCompetition
The elected representative of a CASI pod. Great Peppers elect CASI’s board and executive director and approve its rules.
CASI’s history records that the 1983 reorganization gave Great Peppers the right to vote for directors and rule changes, and names Fred McMurry of the Houston Pod as the first Great Pepper. The rulebook opens for amendment every third year at the annual Great Peppers Meeting.
H
- Head cookCompetition
The cook responsible for a pot of competition chili and its single judging cup. Under CASI rules each head cook prepares one pot and turns in one cup from it.
Head cooks sign for their judging cups and secret tickets and are responsible for the cup until turn-in. CASI allows head cooks and knowledgeable team members to judge at preliminary tables, but not at the final table. All cooks at a CASI-sanctioned cookoff must be at least eighteen.
- Head judgeCompetition
The official responsible for fair judging at a CASI cookoff. The ICS equivalent is the Chief Judge.
CASI’s head judge prepares the cups, recruits and instructs judges and table monitors, runs the head cooks' meeting, rules on disqualifications and sees that the results sheet is completed and signed. At State, Regional, National and International championships the head judge must be a CASI Regional Referee, Great Pepper or designated official. ICS rules give the Chief Judge final decision on all judging matters and the power to disqualify a cook or dismiss a judge.
See Table monitorSee CASI refereeSee Cooks' meetingSource 1Source 2
- HomestyleCompetition
The ICS category for meat and/or vegetables cooked with beans, chili peppers and spices, in any color. Bush’s Beans are required and should be clearly visible in the cup.
The ICS also judges a Vegetarian Chili category, added in 2018 according to its history, which allows beans and bans meat and meat by-products. Its rules ask that vegetarian chili have the consistency of chili, not soup.
See Traditional RedSee Chili VerdeSee People’s ChoiceSource 1Source 2
I
- ICSHistory
The International Chili Society, which sanctions cook-offs in Traditional Red, Homestyle, Chili Verde and Vegetarian categories and runs the World Championship Chili Cook-off.
The ICS dates its articles and by-laws to 1970. CASI’s history says that in November 1974 Frank X. Tolbert resigned from CASI and invited Carroll Shelby to take the championship to California, which CASI calls the birth of the ICS. The 58th World Championship was scheduled for 16 to 19 October 2025 in Indianapolis.
See CASISee People’s ChoiceSee Traditional RedSee TerlinguaSource 1Source 2Source 3
J
- Judging criteriaCompetition
The qualities judges weigh. CASI names five: aroma, red color, consistency, taste and aftertaste, combined into a single whole-number score from 1 to 10.
CASI’s guidelines define them plainly: chili should smell appetizing, look appetizing, be a smooth combination of meat and gravy, taste good and leave a pleasant taste after swallowing. The ICS does not score; each judge ranks a top three. Its judging instructions ask for tender meat, sauce neither too thin nor too thick with a balanced ratio to the meat, distinct chili flavor, and heat that is neither bland nor too hot.
See Blind judgingSee Final tableSee PointsSee GravySource 1Source 2
- Judging cupCompetition
The identical, numbered cup in which each cook submits chili for judging. CASI calls it the judging cup; the ICS calls it the competition cup.
Under CASI rules all cups must be identical in color, size and shape, and a cook may turn in only one cup from one pot. A cup that is marked, altered or carries an identifying object such as a floating jalapeño or bay leaf is disqualified. ICS cups are 32 ounces, issued by the ICS, with the contestant’s number written on the bottom. Some CASI cooks prepare the cup itself: Kathryn Cavender’s 2019 recipe seasons the cup with whole comino seed and boiling water, poured out before filling.
See Secret ticketSee Turn-inSee GarnishSource 1Source 2Source 3
M
- Masa harinaKitchen
Flour made from dried, powdered masa, the dough of corn cooked in a lime solution. Chili cooks stir it in as a thickener.
The 1974 Terlingua winner, Allegani Jani Schofield, finished her Hot Pants Chili with a runny paste of masa flour and water, stirred in rapidly to prevent lumps and cooked thirty minutes more. Earlier recipes used wheat flour: Julian Capers’s 1952 State Fair recipe and Wick Fowler’s recipe both call for it. The CASI champions' recipes published for 2018, 2019 and 2025 list no thickener at all.
See GravySee Texas redSource 1Source 2Source 3Source 4Source 5Source 6
P
- Palate cleanserCompetition
Food or drink set out for judges between tastes. The two rulebooks recommend different things.
CASI rules require beverages and bite-sized snacks such as crackers, cheese, celery and grapes, and CASI’s cookoff supply checklist lists soft drinks and beer alongside the crackers, celery and cheese. ICS rules recommend flour tortillas cut into bite-size pieces, sour cream and bottled water, and prohibit alcohol in the judging area. Both require a clean spoon for every taste.
- People’s ChoiceCompetition
Chili served to the paying public at an ICS cook-off, whose winner is decided by public vote. Every adult ICS contestant must prepare it unless local law prohibits it.
ICS rules allow any type or color of People’s Choice chili as long as it is homemade and contains beans; the ICS does not support canned chili. Organizers set the required quantity, with two gallons recommended where an entry fee is charged and five without. Sales of People’s Choice help fund the charity every ICS cook-off supports.
- PodCompetition
A local or area chapter of CASI. Each pod elects a Great Pepper to represent it.
CASI’s rulebook describes its members as chiliheads who belong to local and area organizations called pods. CASI’s history names the Houston Pod, founded in 1972, as the first. Each established pod may hold one official pod cookoff a year whose winner qualifies automatically for the Terlingua championship, regardless of the number of cooks.
See Great PepperSee ChiliheadSee CASISee QualifyingSource 1Source 2
- Pod typeChile
A horticultural division within a chile species, such as jalapeño, bell or New Mexican. The Chile Pepper Institute uses the term to group cultivars.
The Institute lists the New Mexican pod type, also called long green or Anaheim, with cultivars including NuMex Big Jim, NuMex Joe E. Parker and Sandia.
- PointsCompetition
The credits CASI awards for placing at sanctioned cookoffs, used to qualify for the Terlingua championship. First place earns four, second three, third two, and fourth through tenth one each.
Showmanship earns four, three and two points for the top three teams. The word means something different inside an ICS judging tent: there, ballot points are tallied to pick winners, with three points for each judge’s first-place vote, two for second and one for third.
See QualifyingSee Chili yearSee ShowmanshipSee Judging criteriaSource 1Source 2
Q
- QualifyingCompetition
Earning the right to cook at a championship. CASI cooks qualify for Terlingua on points, by winning designated championships, or as past champions.
The CASI points required depend on the number of cookoffs in the cook’s home state the previous year: six points for one to five cookoffs, nine for six to ten, and twelve for eleven or more. State, Regional, National and International open championships qualify their top three outright, and a past Terlingua winner is eligible for life. ICS cooks qualify for the World Championship by winning a category of at least seven cooks; ICS also holds Last Chance qualifiers at the championship itself.
See PointsSee TICC (Terlingua International Chili Championship)See Sanctioned cook-offSee PodSource 1Source 2
R
- Red chile puréeChile
The base of New Mexico red chile sauce: dried red pods, stemmed, seeded, softened in boiling water and blended smooth.
NMSU Guide E-327 says twelve to fourteen large pods make about a pint, and calls straining optional. The purée is simmered ten minutes before use or storage. John Raven describes the older Texas version, ancho pulp pressed through a food mill, as the method only traditionalists still use.
- Red or green?Chile
New Mexico’s official state question, asking which chile sauce a diner wants. Red is made from dried ripe pods; green from roasted fresh pods.
House Joint Memorial 3 of 1996 asked the governor and secretary of state to proclaim “Red or Green?” the state question, noting that the legislature had already passed House Bill 716 proposing it.
- RistraChile
A long string of New Mexican chiles, used for storage and decoration. Ripe red pods are tied on in clusters of three and dried in the sun.
NMSU Guide E-327 calls for about 130 pods for a two-foot ristra and recommends New Mexico 6-4 and Sandia for their drying qualities. It allows pods from a ristra to be made into sauce unless the ristra has been sprayed with plastic, shellac or insecticide. Patricia Mitchell’s chili powder method advises against ristra chiles because they dry out and lose their flavor.
S
- Salsa categoryCompetition
A former ICS championship category. The ICS history records Santos Menchaca as the first World’s Salsa Champion in 1995 and the retirement of the category in 2018.
- Sanctioned cook-offCompetition
A cookoff run under a governing body’s rules so that its results count toward that body’s championship. CASI and the ICS each sanction their own events.
A CASI-sanctioned cookoff must be registered with CASI, follow the current rulebook, have a CASI official on site, be open to at least fifty cooks, and receive at least fifteen cups of chili from cooks present and cooking. CASI will not sanction a cookoff that gives cash prizes for chili or showmanship. At an ICS-sanctioned event, the winner of a category with at least seven cooks qualifies for the World Championship Chili Cook-off.
See CASI refereeSee PointsSee QualifyingSee CASISee ICSSource 1Source 2
- Scoville heat unitChile
A measure of chile pungency named for Wilbur Scoville, based on how far a sample must be diluted before a taster no longer detects heat.
The heat comes from capsaicin and related alkaloids, the capsaicinoids. The Chile Pepper Institute also lists high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) as a way to measure pungency by machine.
- Second dumpCompetition
A later spice addition, made after the meat has cooked in the first dump and often after a rest off the heat. It typically carries cumin, garlic and the brighter chili powders.
Dozier’s 2018 second dump, added when the rested chili is brought back to a boil about 45 minutes before turn-in, holds cumin, granulated garlic, white pepper, a little brown sugar and two more chili powders. Lindsey’s 2025 second dump adds three chili powders, garlic granules, cumin, cayenne, white pepper and brown sugar. Where a cook uses three dumps, as Cavender did in 2019, the third goes in about twenty minutes before turn-in for final adjustments of cumin, onion, chili powder, salt and heat.
- Secret ticketCompetition
The two-part numbered ticket that links a CASI judging cup to its cook. One half stays taped to the cup; the cook signs and keeps the other.
Cooks must sign the removable half in ink with first and last name when the cup is issued. Judges see only a letter-and-number code written on the cup at the judging table. At the announcement, the ticket is cut from each winning cup and read out, and the cook must present the matching signed half to claim the award and points. An unsigned ticket makes a cook ineligible to place in the top ten.
- ShowmanshipCompetition
The judged performance side of a CASI cookoff, in which teams compete on theme, costume, booth setup, action and audience appeal.
CASI scores showmanship from 1 to 10 like chili and awards points to the top three teams. Show periods last one hour for six or fewer teams and two hours for more, and must end at least thirty minutes before chili turn-in or begin at least thirty minutes after. The rules ban hired professional performers, nudity, firearms, pyrotechnics and handing out alcohol. John Raven traces the practice to the early cook-offs, when costumed cooks entertained the crowds; at Terlingua, CASI judges large, small and one-person teams separately.
See PointsSee TICC (Terlingua International Chili Championship)See Cooks' meetingSource 1Source 2
- State dishHistory
Chili’s official title in Texas, conferred by House Concurrent Resolution 18 of the 65th Legislature in 1977.
The resolution, as CASI reprints it, ties chili to a tradition begun in San Antonio more than 140 years earlier. In 1997 the 75th Legislature named the chiltepín the State Native Pepper.
T
- Table monitorCompetition
The official who runs a single CASI judging table, instructing judges, enforcing the rules and checking each cup before it is tasted.
Table monitors remove each lid to check for interior marks and fillers, keep chili talk off the table, make sure every judge scores every chili and signs the sheet, and refer disqualification questions to the head judge. CASI instructs monitors and head judges not to offer their own definitions of the five judging criteria.
- TerlinguaHistory
The West Texas ghost town where the 1967 cook-off between Wick Fowler and H. Allen Smith ended in a draw. CASI’s championship is still held there each November.
Which cook-off came first is told differently. John Raven’s history of cook-offs dates the first modern chili cook-off to the 1952 State Fair of Texas in Dallas, with 55 contestants and Mrs. F.G. Ventura of Dallas as winner. In a later piece on showmanship, Raven writes that cook-offs as we know them began at Terlingua in 1967. The ICS calls the 1967 contest the first World Championship Chili Cook-off and credits Carroll Shelby as its pioneer.
See TICC (Terlingua International Chili Championship)See CASISee ICSSee Bowl of redSource 1Source 2Source 3Source 4
- Texas redHistory
Texas-style chili con carne: beef and dried red chile, without beans. It is the bowl Texas named its state dish in 1977.
Competition red follows the CASI rule: cooked from raw meat on site, no marinating, no beans, macaroni, rice or hominy, and only evenly cut onions, peppers, tomatoes and garlic. The ICS calls its equivalent category Traditional Red.
See Bowl of redSee State dishSee Traditional RedSee Chili con carneSource 1Source 2Source 3
- Three-wayParlor
Spaghetti, Cincinnati chili and shredded cheese.
Oyster crackers usually come alongside, and a mild hot sauce is often on the table.
- TICC (Terlingua International Chili Championship)Competition
CASI’s championship, held each year on the first Saturday in November at Rancho CASI de los Chisos in Terlingua, Texas. Only qualified cooks may enter.
CASI’s history records that the championship stayed at the Terlingua ghost town until 1977, moved to Villa de la Mina, and moved again after CASI bought Rancho CASI de los Chisos in 1990. To cook there, a qualified cook must also be a paid CASI member.
See QualifyingSee PointsSee CASISee TerlinguaSource 1Source 2
- Traditional RedCompetition
The ICS category for meat cooked with red chili peppers, spices and other ingredients. Beans and non-vegetable fillers such as rice and pasta are not allowed.
ICS rules give no preference to cut, ground, shredded or cubed meat. The CASI rulebook has no separate category name; its one chili competition bans beans, macaroni, rice and hominy as fillers and allows onions, peppers, tomatoes and garlic if evenly sized and distributed.
- Turn-inCompetition
The moment when cooks deliver their filled judging cups to the judging area. All judging starts together, and no chili is accepted once it begins.
CASI rules require turn-in at the place and time set at the cooks' meeting and fill the cup to three-quarters of an inch from the top or to the level announced there. ICS rules ask for a 32-ounce competition cup filled to the bottom of the rim, delivered at the end of each category’s cooking period. ICS cooking periods run a minimum of three hours and a maximum of four; the CASI rulebook sets no cooking period, only that chili be cooked on site the day of the cookoff.
See Judging cupSee Cooks' meetingSee Blind judgingSource 1Source 2
- Two-wayParlor
Cincinnati chili served over spaghetti. The numbered orders build up from it.
Sources disagree on whether there is a one-way. The Cincinnati Enquirer’s list, as cited on Wikipedia, starts at the two-way. Dave DeWitt and Nancy Gerlach describe a one-way as straight Cincinnati-style chili.
See Three-waySee Four-waySee Five-waySee Coney sauceSource 1Source 2
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- Up-front biteKitchen
In John Raven’s usage, the tingle of pepper tasted immediately. Competition cooks get it from white pepper, since judges frown on flecks of black pepper.