Chili gets me out of bed.
Lens

Technique

How it is made.

The methods behind the bowl, from the competition cook's timed dumps to the parlor's boiled beef. For the terms, see the glossary. For the competition rules, see CASI and ICS side by side.

Glossary →The rules →Recipes →

  1. 1The dump methodCompetition cooks divide their spices into timed portions and add them to the pot in stages, on a schedule set by turn-in.
  2. 2Meat: cuts and chili grindThe rulebooks set conditions on the meat but not its cut, and the cut favored in competition has changed over time.
  3. 3Browning and grayingCooks disagree on how far to cook chili meat before it goes into the liquid, and printed recipes record three different answers.
  4. 4Dried pods into pasteBefore chili powder, chili was seasoned with the pulp of dried pods, and the method of softening and grinding them remains in use.
  5. 5Building chili powderChili powder is a blend, and serious cooks either buy pure ground chile and season it themselves or blend several commercial powders.
  6. 6ThickeningJudges ask for a smooth combination of meat and gravy, and cooks have reached it with wheat flour, masa harina or reduction alone.
  7. 7The Cincinnati methodCincinnati chili starts with raw ground beef crumbled into liquid and simmered, which gives the sauce its fine texture.
  8. 8New Mexico red chile from podsNew Mexico red chile sauce is a purée of dried ripe pods, simmered with a few seasonings and poured over the plate.
  9. 9Roasting and peeling green chileGreen chile is blistered over high heat so that its tough skin can be peeled, then used fresh or frozen.
  10. 10Judging procedureCASI and the ICS both judge blind, but they ask judges to do different things, and the difference shapes what a winning chili is.