Chili: Great American fare for game day and hearty arguments

Chili contests abound.

Lisa Hanson, kitchen manager for Urban Cannibals, is a veteran of many a cooking contest. “I check out www.contestcook.com to see what’s open and I like to enter the ones that involve a trip as a prize,” she said. She’s won trips and cooking equipment and a year’s supply of peaches, among many other things.

Her Korean BBQ Sweet and Spicy Chili took the top prize in the regional competition in the Riunite Ultimate Chili Challenge back in October. That won her a trip to Phoenix for two so she could compete in the national finals. “Every single person in Phoenix was someone who enters cooking contests every day. It’s mostly females and there’s great camaraderie. It’s so much fun. We laugh a lot.”

Not only did she win the trip, but she went home with all the supplies she’d used to make the chili at both the regional and the national contests including a Coleman grill and pots and utensils as well as prime tickets to NFL games in Atlanta and Phoenix.

How does a chef dream up a prize-winning recipe? In this case, Hanson said she looked at the required ingredients: Riunite Lambrusco, Louisiana Hot Sauce and Dippin’ Chips – and thought they’d all work well with Korean BBQ flavors. She went with lean grass-fed beef because she thinks using good quality beef is important.

“If you’re thinking about creating your own recipe, be creative. Think of a cuisine you like and use that as a place to start. My next chili just could be green Thai curry chili.”

Her most important tip for prize-winning chili? “Stop stirring your chili! In Phoenix, the guy next to me kept stirring and stirring his chili and in the end, it just looked sad. When I was a judge with Kevin Rathbun at Cabbagetown’s Chomp and Stomp (Chili Cook-off), he would barely taste anything that, in his words, looked like dog food.”

While Hanson’s chili took her all the way to a national competition, strictly local bragging rights are also available.

Howard Hsu of Sweet Auburn BBQ remembers when he put together a team of friends and won first place in Cabbagetown’s annual chili cook-off. “We were a group of guys living in Cabbagetown and we entered for fun. We made 30 or 40 gallons of chili.”

One of the guys in the group had come close to winning the year before, so Hsu and his friends collaborated, adding Sweet Auburn BBQ’s smoked brisket, and that’s what wowed the judges and won them first place. “We didn’t expect to win but it’s really cool that we did. I remember almost passing out when we heard we won. It blew us away.”

Hsu has the award in his office, a reminder of the days before Sweet Auburn BBQ was established as a full-service restaurant with 60-plus employees and a catering operation. “Cabbagetown is a really cool grassroots competition but those days of our entering contests for recreational purposes are long gone.”

The award-winning Brisket Chili has made it to the regular menu where you’ll find it listed as “Chomp and Stomp” chili.

Andy Gonzales, chef and general manager at Steinbeck’s Ale House, wears many hats including “manager” of the Great Oakhurst Chili Cookoff held each fall in the open field behind Steinbeck’s. “This was the ninth year of our home-grown contest. It attracts a lot of neighborhood regulars, maybe 35 or 40 different chilis made by both restaurant chefs and amateurs. People come, they eat a little chili, we have a live band. It’s a good time.”

The contest is open to anyone, and admission is $10 to enter the cookoff and $5 to come enjoy the chili and the event. Gonzales recruits local celebrity chefs to serve as judges. Past judges have included Kevin Rathbun, Rusty Bowers of Pine Street Market and Doug Turbush of Seed.

“The only rule is that the meat in the chili has to be raw when people start cooking. They can check in starting at 7 a.m. and most of them come with their own equipment. “People who like to cook have their own gear. Some bring decorations. Some bring tents. Mostly it’s regulars at Steinbeck’s or our sister location Universal Joint or folks from the neighborhood.”

This year’s winner of the first-place People’s Choice Award was Team Yacht Club: Michael Lee, Chris Lee, Phillip Nelms, Vijay Makar, Greg Hutcheson and Kent Fisher – who generously shared their recipe with our readers.

What does Gonzales say makes for a winning chili recipe? “It’s got to have overall savoriness and some heat. Spicy food has back heat and it’s actually addictive. It shouldn’t be enough to drive you away, just to make you a little thirsty. It’s a dish from the Old West where they had cows and dried chilis. That’s the beauty of it. It’s a straightforward, satisfying slice of Americana.”

Make up any of the winning game-day chilis and then put it in a covered slow cooker, set on low, where it will stay at the perfect serving temperature for several hours.

Lisa Hanson’s Korean Sweet & Spicy Game Day Chili

Hanson’s winning recipe will be on the menu at Urban Cannibals until the end of February.

She created this recipe for the Riunite Ultimate Chili Challenge, and the rules required the use of Riunite, Louisiana Hot Sauce and Dippin’ Chips. Substitutions of other red wine, hot sauce and corn chips are fine and will still yield delicious chili.

Korean Barbecued Beef, or bulgogi, is traditionally made with thin slices of marbled beef. Adding sliced beef round to this chili mimics the traditional cut and adds another texture dimension to the chili, one more reason it’s a prize-winning recipe.

While you don’t have to use grass-fed beef in this recipe, Hanson likes it because it’s lean and makes for a lighter chili. And you don’t have to make your own Korean barbecue sauce since jarred versions are becoming widely available, but Hanson includes a recipe if you’d like to try your hand at making your own.

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 small Vidalia onion, diced

1 serrano chili, minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 pound ground grass-fed beef

1 pound thinly sliced grass-fed beef round

1/2 cup Riunite Lambrusco

3 cups diced fire-roasted tomatoes

3 cups Korean BBQ sauce (see recipe)

3/4 cup Louisiana Hot Sauce, divided

1/2 cup Dippin’ Chips, pulsed in blender or food processor into crumbs

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 cup thinly sliced scallions

1/4 cup toasted sesame oil

1/4 cup sesame seeds

1 cup sour cream mixed with 1/4 cup Louisiana hot sauce

In a large stockpot over medium heat, combine oil, onion, chili and garlic and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add ground beef and sliced beef and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the Lambrusco. Add the tomatoes, Korean BBQ sauce and 1/2 cup hot sauce and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in the crushed Dippin’ Chips and simmer another 10 minutes until thickened.

While chili is thickening, in a medium bowl, stir together cilantro, scallions, sesame oil and sesame seeds. Set aside. In a second bowl, stir together sour cream and remaining 1/4 cup hot sauce. If not serving immediately, refrigerate sour cream until ready to use.

When ready to serve, top each serving with a spoonful of the sour cream mixture and scatter the cilantro mixture on top. Makes: 12 cups

Per 1-cup serving: 415 calories (percent of calories from fat, 60), 12 grams protein, 28 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 27 grams fat (8 grams saturated), 35 milligrams cholesterol, 2,114 milligrams sodium.

Korean BBQ Sauce

1 cup soy sauce

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup mirin

1/4 cup Louisiana Hot Sauce

1/4 cup Riunite Lambrusco

1/4 cup toasted sesame oil

4 tablespoons grated fresh ginger

4 tablespoons minced fresh garlic

In a medium saucepan, combine soy sauce, brown sugar, water, mirin, hot sauce, Lambrusco, sesame oil, ginger and garlic. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. Use immediately or cool and store for up to two weeks. Makes: 3 cups

Per 1-tablespoon serving: 25 calories (percent of calories from fat, 38), trace protein, 4 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 1 gram fat (no saturated fat), no cholesterol, 376 milligrams sodium.

Sweet Auburn BBQ’s Brisket Chili

This brisket chili won the top prize at the 2011 Cabbagetown Chomp and Stomp and is available by the bowl at Sweet Auburn BBQ in Poncey-Highland, served with a hunk of cornbread.

Your version won’t taste exactly like the winning recipe without the restaurant’s barbecue sauce. Howard Hsu, the restaurant’s owner, says he can’t share the recipe for the sauce, but tells us it’s built on a tomato base and is flavored with coffee, molasses, brown sugar and spices and perhaps a few other things. Their chili powder is also their own special mix of onion powder, garlic powder, brown sugar, red chili powder and other secret ingredients.

But if you buy your two pounds of smoked brisket at the restaurant, it comes with a cup of barbecue sauce so you’re one step closer to the prize-winning taste.

This makes a big batch perfect for a Super Bowl party, but yes, you can cut this big batch in half.

1 pound ground beef

3 cups diced onions

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons cayenne

2 tablespoons black pepper

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

2 pounds chopped smoked brisket

1 (102-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

4 cups water

2 (15.5-ounce) cans great Northern beans

2 cups apple cider vinegar

1 cup barbecue sauce

1/2 cup chili powder

Sour cream and sliced green onions, for garnish

In a large stockpot, cook ground beef over medium heat until meat is cooked through. Use a slotted spoon to remove beef and leave the fat in the pot. Add onions and garlic and saute 10 minutes over low heat. Stir in cayenne, black pepper, salt and Worcestershire. Simmer 5 minutes. Add brisket, tomatoes, water, beans, vinegar, barbecue sauce and chili powder. Simmer one hour. Makes: 27 cups

Per 1-cup serving: 248 calories (percent of calories from fat, 47), 14 grams protein, 20 grams carbohydrates, 5 grams fiber, 13 grams fat (5 grams saturated), 33 milligrams cholesterol, 517 milligrams sodium.

Team Yacht Club Chili

This recipe won the top People’s Choice Award at the 2015 Great Oakhurst Chili Cookoff. It makes a very traditional style chili (minus beans) and is likely to please most anyone in the crowd. The only “unusual” ingredient is the liquid beef concentrate. Knorr’s liquid beef concentrate is what the team used in their winning recipe. It’s a professional concentrate sold for restaurant use. You can substitute 1 cup of beef stock and a few tablespoons of beef soup base, widely available in the soup section of your grocery store.

3 pounds lean ground beef

2 red peppers

2 green peppers

1 white onion

1/2 cup chili powder

1/4 cup chopped garlic

1/4 cup ground cumin

1 bottle light American lager

2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes

2 cups water

1 cup liquid beef concentrate

Salt

Grated cheese, corn chips, sour cream for garnish

In a large saucepan, cook ground beef until done.

While beef is cooking, core, seed and chop red and green peppers. Chop onion.

When beef has browned, remove from pan leaving cooking juices in pan. Add chopped peppers, chopped onion, chili powder, garlic and cumin. Saute until vegetables turn translucent and the mixture becomes fragrant. Add beer and bring to a boil, cooking until mixture reduces slightly. Return beef to pan and add tomatoes, water and beef concentrate. Cook at least 30 minutes up to 2 hours. Taste for seasoning. Serve garnished with grated cheese, chips and sour cream if desired. Makes: 16 cups

Per 1-cup serving: 282 calories (percent of calories from fat, 60), 17 grams protein, 10 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 19 grams fat (7 grams saturated), 64 milligrams cholesterol, 297 milligrams sodium.

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